Does Lowes or HomeDepot sell weld on or acrylic bonding glue?

[spankey]

Pretty much the topic? I want to make a bracket for a float switch for my son's nano out of plexi and wonder if home depot or lowes sells weld on or what you use to bond plexi together?

Anyone and if its another name can you let me know what its called???

Thanks so much
Spankey

[Highlander]

Not sure about Lowes, but the HDs around here have no idea of what acrylic cement is .

TAP plastics is probably your best best online : http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/cate...82759292616006

[spankey]

LOL

Thanks I was told for just the float switch I could just use super glue gel or superglue to bond the plexi? Would this hold????

THanks.

[mtrcyclefish]

You can make your own acrylic cement by mixing a couple ounces of acetone with some acrylic chips. Use more or less chips and/or acetone to adjust the thickness of the cement.

[Mikeeal]

Lowe's and HD will not have it. I found some at a local plastic supplier and I didn't have to pay for shipping, plus they have all kinds of scraps you can buy to play with. Did you check your phone book?

[Highlander]

Originally posted by mtrcyclefish
You can make your own acrylic cement by mixing a couple ounces of acetone with some acrylic chips. Use more or less chips and/or acetone to adjust the thickness of the cement.

Mike, where can you buy acetone in our area?

[Mr. Ugly]

Acetone might work but it isn't all that great. I'd be concerned about the plastic coming apart later.

Weldon is mostly dichloromethane, CH2Cl2 (common name methylene chloride). You could just get some methylene chloride from a chemical supply place and use that on your plastic. If you want a thicker cement, you dissolve some plastic in that. If you want to get more working time with the cement, you could add a drop of glacial acetic acid to the solvent.

Be aware that CH2Cl2 is carcinogenic.

[javatech]

You can heat it up and bend it for just a float switch

[Clownish]

lol...this was the same question that i had.....i can never find the stuff anywhere.....but i think i will end up goin mail order if i cannot find it at a plastics shop

[mtrcyclefish]

Dave, you can usually find acetone at HD, Lowe's, or Menard's. It's in the paint section. I usually get the 1 gallon size and it comes in a square metal can. I think last time I got some it was about $7 a gallon.

[likeavillain]

mcmaster.com has it. you can try hobby shops too

[enforcer8621]

I found some at my local hardware store that also sells plexiglass. I was telling them I wanted an acrylic adhesive and they were clueless. I was looking at what they had and the guy said, "we use this to glue plexiglass" which is exactly what I wanted. Apparently they didn't know plexiglass is acrylic. The adhesive I used is called plaskolite solvent cement and it's $4 for 2 fl. oz. It's really thin and watery.

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

Bending with a MAP torch is a great way in this case to get around glueing; do it all the time for hang-on brackets, frag clips, probe holders, etc...but if you need some acrylic cement and dont want to order a whole thing of weld-on from midland plastics, tap, us, etc...weld-on can be made by buying a can of MEK from the paint department and mixing it 1:1 (by volume) with acrylic shavings/scraps. MEK can even be used by itself, but it dries too fast and as a result makes for a very poor bond with alot of crazing. The acrylic mixed in helps the MEK dissolve longer before evaporating. You can even try mixing thicker versions of it by adding more acrylic shavings...easy as that. And dont worry, the primary ingredient for weldon is MEK...so your not taking a short cut really...its the real deal. Stay away from acetone...it wont actually dissolve acrylic long enough for it to create the bond you need.

[Mr. Ugly]

Originally posted by Herbert T. Kornfeld
weld-on can be made by buying a can of MEK from the paint department and mixing it 1:1 (by volume) with acrylic shavings/scraps. MEK can even be used by itself, but it dries too fast and as a result makes for a very poor bond with alot of crazing. The acrylic mixed in helps the MEK dissolve longer before evaporating. You can even try mixing thicker versions of it by adding more acrylic shavings...easy as that. And dont worry, the primary ingredient for weldon is MEK...so your not taking a short cut really...its the real deal.

Check out the msds sheets for Weldon 3 and 16. Weldon is mostly Dichloromethane with a little bit of acrylic monomer. Neither of these two Weldons contain acetone, or methyl ethyl ketone(MEK). Ketones don't work very well for solvent welding acrylic.

I've done tons of acrylic fabrication for chemistry labs. I've used Weldon, and if we ran out, I just got some dichloromethane from the stockroom.

[orlenz]

MSDS for Weldon #16
http://www.ipscorp.com/ind_html/msds.../16MSCR-05.pdf

up to 40 percent MEK

[phatstanley02]

for something as light and simple as a float switch super glue gel will work fine. i have used it several times and it holds quite well as long as theres no real weight on it

[Mr. Ugly]

Originally posted by orlenz
MSDS for Weldon #16
http://www.ipscorp.com/ind_html/msds.../16MSCR-05.pdf

up to 40 percent MEK

Hmmm...strange. This other one shows no MEK:

http://www.cityplastics.com.au/pdf/w...016%20msds.pdf

Could be your MSDS is for a new formulation for 16. It's dated March 2005.

The IPS Weldon 3 MSDS shows no MEK either.

http://www.ipscorp.com/ind_html/msds...5/3CCMS-05.pdf

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

orlenz beat me to it...lol.