Glueing Acrylic sheets, using acetone

[NetSapiens]

This may be old news to all but a newbie like myself, but I thought I'd post it anyway.

DISCLAIMER:
This tip is NOT fully tested as of yet, so it may be in the wrong forum, in which case any admin should feel free to move it.
- Has not been tested for water resistance
- Has not been tested for durability
- Has not been pressure tested

I will try to complete a full set of tests for this, if I get a chance.


The tip:

When you need to glue sheets of acrylic together, like when making an acrylic case, or possibly a reservoir for water, there's a really simple recipe for some insanely strong glue:

break some left-over acrylic into small pieces (coin size) and put them in a metal jar of some sort. Pour acetone over the acrylic pieces, not too much, no more than to cover the acrylic. Put a lid on the jar, and leave it for approx. 48 hours. When you open up the lid again you will have some really nice acrylic glue, which seems to hold up really well. My initial testing indicates that a little glue, on a small piece of acrylic, gluing another piece in a 90 degree angle, holds up to stress astonishingly well. Astonishingly in this case meaning I could break it if I wanted to, but I'd have to WANT to break it. I applied stress using my hands, and holding it to my ear, I could hear it slowly creak, but I was applying quite a bit of pressure to do this.

I will continue to perform my own testing, since I will soon be making a reservoir in this manner, and I'll try to get a setup going where I can pressure- and water-test it in a proper manner.

If anyone has any knowledge of this tip, or feel it should be changed/updated/deleted, please let me know in this thread, and I'll update as appropriate.

[Mach]

Regarding the tip, I saw a tutorial over at pimp rig on this idea. They have some pics at the link.

http://guides.pimprig.com/modding/di...lic_cement.php

We always avoided using acetone on acrylic because of hazing and embrittlement but maybe dissolved acrylic is what the adhesive is made of(?)

I will say if anyone is not familiar with acetone, be careful. It is extremely flammable. Wear gloves and glasses. It also dissolves plastic especially the expensive pieces that you didn't intend to drop it on.

I heard a story that Tom Savini was using it so much for his FX work that he wound up in the hospital. Turns out he was using it without gloves, so he was absorbing it through his skin.