Bonding Acrylic?

[ken_wied]

What is the best product to use to bond acrylic? My sump seam has a broken seal, and need to fix it. Thanks

[tecwzrd]

Under water glue or Weld On #3.

[ken_wied]

is that something that home depot / menards would carry or do i need to order it?

[tecwzrd]

HD and Lowes usually don't have those product in stock but they may have similar acrylic bonding material. I just know that those two in particular are popular and work well.

[mkultra]

I use plastruct plastic weld. It can be bought at any hobby store or http://www.kitkraft.biz

[helicopter]

When I did a lot of undergraduate research we often had to make fixtures and devices out of acrylic. We used to use acrylic solvent. It literally becomes one solid piece again. I stole this from the internet

Nathan asks,
Hello, I'm interested in trying to construct
an aquarium out of acrylic. I'm considering what the
best way to glue the pieces together with is. I've
heard that some chemicals actually form a weld between
the pieces. Thank you, Nathan

Answer: Gluing Acrylic and Polycarb
There are several types of glue used with acrylic. The main type and most common are solvent adhesive. They are available thickened and water thin. The water thin is used in common fabrication. It uses capillary action to flow between the pieces of acrylic. The chemical is actually a solvent and breaks down the plastic surface, allowing the pieces to flow together. The solvent evaporates and you have a beautiful seam. We use methylene chloride, (MDC), as our solvent adhesive. We mix it with a small amount of another chemical that allows us to adjust for temperature. It is applied using an applicator bottle that has a needle tip. Edge preparation prior to glue application is of utmost importance. Your final seam will never be better than your beginning edge. We use a joiner to prep the edge for general assembly but a hand scraped finish used on our art quality work yields the best results.

[Ziggy953]

If you just have a leak in your sump I would use weldon #16 as it is much easier to use and apply for a leak. Weldon #3 and #4 are fast and very fast setting solvents. #16 gives you a little room to work and will seal up nicely.