Intro:
As part of an upcoming series of posts on “diy project enclosures” I will describe how to make acrylic / Perspex cement at home with very few elements. This very same technique may be applied to other similar plastics as well, although in such cases the outcome is almost always a “putty” instead of a proper adhesive.
To make your own acrylic cement you’ll need the following materials:
- Acrylic bits / scraps (These will be sacrificed in our solvent)
- Glass jar with a lid (Must be perfectly clean and the lid must seal properly!)
- Acetone (Low purity, 99% is more than fine)
- Humongous cup of coffee (Thou shall drink the coffee!)
How to obtain the cement:
The process is quite simple, all we have to do is place the scraps into the jar, pour some acetone until the acrylic is fully covered and simply close the lid. Stir it every few hours by wiggling the jar, about a day or two after you’ll have a powerful cement for acrylic. You may drink the coffee now!
Notes and observations:
The acrylic bits have to be small, the bigger they are the longer it’s going to take for them to dissolve into the acetone. I reckon if you were to grind the acrylic into a dust, it would work almost instantly — However finding a safe way of doing it may be challenging (Old blender, coffee grinder perhaps?) — The dust may not be very healthy though.
A few words on safety:
Keep the acetone and glue away from children and pets; it is quite flammable and thus inherently dangerous if mishandled. Always store the containers fully closed and away from ignition sources. It’s worth noting that casual exposure to acetone is “a-ok” and it will merely dry your skin.
That’s all there is to it, enjoy and be safe!
Cheers,
Gus
[…] on my recent post about using cheap paint-stripper DCM to solvent-weld acrylic hipped me to this cool method of making thicker-bodied acrylic adhesives by dissolving acrylic chips in bulk acetone. I […]
[…] [Źródło] […]
I think we use to use Trichlorethylene as the solvent —would Perchlorethylene be less toxic ? Certainly no fire risk as is with Acetone
\geriatric mel
Not entirely sure, what is Perchlorethylene used for?. Acetone is readily available for me; so that’s the go-to solvent in my case.
Can I use this cement to cast my own items?
Yes, in fact if you don’t attend it the cement will eventually dry and you’ll get a cast of the container. I’ve made fake molten ice-cubes with this method by stopping the process (opening the jar and letting the acetone evaporate once I got the effect I was looking for).