Laminating acrylic

gafftapegreenia

CBMod
CB Mods
I want to bond two pieces of 1/4" acrylic together, to ultimately make a 1/2" thick disk. The pieces are 5" square. What adhesive would you use to achieve an optically clear joint?
 
For a piece that small, I would head to my local plastics dealer. My guy sells their scraps by the pound, and a 1/2"x 5" square would be probably less than $1. Not worth the time or cost of adhesive to glue (weld) to fabricate my own piece.
 
For a piece that small, I would head to my local plastics dealer. My guy sells their scraps by the pound, and a 1/2"x 5" square would be probably less than $1. Not worth the time or cost of adhesive to glue (weld) to fabricate my own piece.

I should have mentioned, the pieces I'm using are amber, which was only conveniently available up to 1/4"
 
Ah great we can add that to our preferred list:
Weld-On No. 3
Chanel No. 5
Jack Daniels No. 7
Marshall Stack No. 11
 
What about Mambo #5?
 
So @gafftapegreenia how many of these 5" blocks you gonna make?

And also what are you using it for?Making plastic gels for a led fixture or something?
 
5" seems undersized. The kid must be small for 5" to look right.

Either way if it had to be more I was gonna suggest a cool dying method to do if you had to make them en masses.

Personally a little texture between the pieces would give it some life clear candy always has some bubbles or something odd.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ora...Wh8LVAhWoz4MKHexMDksQ_AUIEigC&biw=375&bih=591

Post pictures. I always enjoy a good prop.

I'm still game to hear about a "cool dying method".
 
So this is only theory as it never made it past research. I scourged the internet looking for effective ways to dye plexi/acrylic

There were a few different methods from cooking to chemical softening.

The one that looked the most promising and cost effective was a simple cook with fabric dye , little bit of water, little bit of dish soap and of course the plexi. Bring it to a boil 10 mins or longer depending on how dark you want it.

Now like I said all research didn't really try it. Boiling the plexi makes it soft and the dish soap would act as a lubricant for the dye to work its way into the plexi. The water would protects everything from burning and also help bathe the plexi.

The method and process sound legit even if in theory.
 
Acrylic Casting material from Amazon is super cheap if you need to make a 1 or 2 off.
 
Cut the pieces a bit over-sized. line up one side. apply a generous amount of cement, fold the pieces together, Hold tight for bonding. Over sized pieces will allow you to cut the inevitable bubbles from the perimeter. Once routed, sanded and scraped I would not attempt to flame the edge. Use a small heat gun like what you'd use for heat-shrink tubing.
 
Cut the pieces a bit over-sized. line up one side. apply a generous amount of cement, fold the pieces together, Hold tight for bonding. Over sized pieces will allow you to cut the inevitable bubbles from the perimeter. Once routed, sanded and scraped I would not attempt to flame the edge. Use a small heat gun like what you'd use for heat-shrink tubing.
@Van Why do you caution against flaming?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
@Van Why do you caution against flaming?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
I've had...issues, flaming cemented joints, with certain cements. I learned, the hard way, to stay away from the open flame and stick with a heat gun.
 
I thought it was only bad try to adhere a piece that had already been flame-polished? It will crackle the entire piece. My training suggested that flame-polish was a last-step only. Is there more to it than that?
 
I thought it was only bad try to adhere a piece that had already been flame-polished? It will crackle the entire piece. My training suggested that flame-polish was a last-step only. Is there more to it than that?
You are correct, heat polishing a seam is always the last step. and NEVER clean a flamed edge with Alcohol...
 

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