Hi!
I’m making these sailor neptune transformation rods and im having a bit of trouble with my 3M glue and appearance. I found the perfect color acrylic but unfortunately its translucent and you can see the 3M glue once its attached which I hate. I don’t want my customers to notice this when using it. Has anyone figured a way to attach translucent acrylic to another piece without the glue showing? I’ve tried 3M tape glue and super glue both which show up when put together. Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!
Photos are showing how opaque the material is and how you’d be able to see anything underneath it.
The solvent glue works really well if done right, but is really hard to do right. Perfectly matched surfaces held securely together, with the glue nearly at boiling point at room temperature, and the tiniest drop sucked up by capillary force, (and not finding capillary paths with what is securely holding it) that does not overflow and run across your piece, or leave air gaps where the match is less than perfect, and but for that it is very easy.
It is also a good idea to keep the glue/solvent tightly closed in a tightly closed glass jar in the freezer so it will not have boiled away the next time you go to use it.
I was struggling with this last fall on a project for a non-profit I was helping out with. They ended up deciding to switch to opaque solid colors for this reason. I did recently get some Weld-On 4SC to try. Weld-On 4 is the most recommended, but I’m super sensitive to some products and 4SC sounded like a more reasonable choice for me. (I can’t use epoxy at all, had horrible reactions.) But I haven’t tried it yet - I’m a little nervous, I won’t lie. lol
I’ve also considered trying using some kind of clips or something that holds it together, without using any adhesive. I wonder if you could find a way to tightly fit into the pieces above and below on the rod.
(I had no idea what a sailor neptune transformation rod is, so I had to Google it, haha.)
I used UV resin yesterday and while it did work (besides two little air bubbles) it stole my beautiful acrylic color after pressing the pieces together lol! I’ll just have to go back and look for another, non translucent acrylic.
I’m unfortunately going to have to make the same decision and switch my acrylic. UV resin worked but took all my color when I pressed it together. I went to try my weld-on yesterday and it seems I didnt close it correctly and it evaporated (?)
No worries, lol! It’s just some geeky anime stuff I’m working on. Thanks for your input!!
I usually use 3m, which is what I used for the rest of the project, the problem is you can see it through the translucent acrylic which I don’t want. The project is some cosplay/fan merch I hope to sell soon! Thanks for your input!!
Wait a minute, what happened with that UV resin and the acrylic? Did it turn matte instead of glossy? I know lots of people that use that for keychains, with glitter etc and I don’t remember them having that type of result. I feel like it might work, with the help of a few other groups I’m familiar with (related to tumblers and keychains). Are you in any Facebook groups involving those communities?
