What type of glue works best for acrylic? I used brush on loctite to glue gold mirror acrylic to frosted acrylic and it left visible residue. Or is there a way to clean that off? I’ve also used E6000 with similar results. Thank you!
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for example:
Acrifix 192 acrylic adhesive
Clear, colourless adhesive that is suitable for acrylic (PLEXIGLAS®)
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High concentration acetone (not the nail polish remover quality) melts acrylic and bonds itself stronger than most glues.
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Anything that’s a “glue” bonds by binding the adhesive to the surfaces being glued. Even “transparent” glues can be visible after curing because they have a different index of refraction than the material being glued. Light is bent and refracted when it passes through the glue. But also, glues can “haze” as they cure.
Anything that’s a “solvent” bonds by melting the surfaces to be bonded so that the material flows together, and then evaporating causing the melted material to reharden. These are much less likely to be visible once cured. There is no residue (provided you use relatively “pure” solvents) so there is no “foreign” index of refraction, and they tend not to “haze” the surfaces as they evaporate.
Nail Polish Remover will work, but it is only 70% and it has other stuff in it that will mar the bonded surfaces. You can get 90% at any decent hardware store, and it will work just fine. And you only need a little. I clamp the two surfaces I want to bond, and then I take a needle and apply drops of Acetone along the seam. Capillary action quickly wicks it in to the joint.
Your local HW store might also have “Weld-On #3” or “#4” which are also Acrylic solvents.
Solvents can cause the Acrylic to “craze”. Annealing before bonding will fix that, but it’s a lot of work and you have to have the right oven.
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I use weld on and it work great!
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If you are sticking acrylic together in layers and it doesn’t need to be optically clear, 3M 467MP is fantastic. It is a super thin, super strong, laser safe double sided tape and it is available in many sizes. It isn’t cheap but it is incredibly useful.
If the bond needs to be optically clear a solvent is best, but it takes practice to apply them without drips and runs.
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Thank you so much for the detailed explanation! I really appreciate it!
Thank you so much! This looks like it could be a great option - will have to get some and test it out!
What about:
SCIGRIP 10315 16 Acrylic Plastic Cement, Low-VOC, Medium Bodied and Fast-Setting, Clear, 5 fl oz Tube
I located on Amazon? Thanks.
That’s a glue, not a solvent. May not produce as strong a bond, might produce a better bond, depending on the smoothness of the mating surfaces of the two pieces being bonded. But it will also leave material behind. “Cement” is the giveaway. It “cements” Acrylic like actual cement cements bricks. By providing interface material that bonds to both pieces.
what glue do you use if you are bonding acrylic to wood?
Depending on the scale and the design specifics, CA, epoxy, e6000, hot glue or, construction adhesive (liquid nails) might all be good choices. I would probably do a small test piece representative of what I wanted to glue with the one that looked most promising.
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