Gluing Acrylic Sheets With Acetone

Though super glue can be removed with acetone that chemical as luck would have it also creates a reaction in acrylic in the form of significant scratching.

Gluing acrylic sheets with acetone.

Acrylic is a very distinct material. I have heard of polishing acrylic with acetone on a cloth or cue tip to remove glue marks but haven t tried it. Projects that require gluing two or more acrylic sheets together can be very difficult as acrylic should not be glued together with an adhesive. This is because in order to properly connect acrylic sheeting the adhesive solvent needs to be placed along the joints to ensure a durable finish.

I was concerned with the ammount of pressure required to successfully bond two pieces of plastic. The methods for gluing acrylic that i found involved bonding heavy pieces together using acetone. The glue must be applied with a syringe because it is water thin and works by melting the acrylic to bond two pieces together. Acrylic is one of the most commonly used plastics in home craft projects.

In fact gluing acrylic sheeting together is considered joining rather than gluing. Adding the right amount of acetone to the acrylic glue stops it from creating strings when you pull the needle tip away and makes for cleaner joins. During testing just sitting the pieces to be bonded together on top of eachother with a nice puddle of acetone resulted with an extreemly strong bond when left for a day. Allow the plexiglass to soak for between 60 and 90 seconds.

Gluing together acrylic sheeting is a completely different process than traditional gluing methods. The best method of gluing acrylic sheets together involves a chemical solvent that must be used very carefully. Using a 25 gauge syringe apply a small amount of methylene chloride such as weld on 3 to the joint between the two acrylic glass pieces drawing the syringe toward you rather than pushing it away. It also reacts extremely poorly to super glue.

Make the level of the acetone between 3 and 5 mm.