Glue & silicone for acrylic, what is safe?

[irishmarine]

Hi,

I am making a filter container from some acrylic, so I will be using glue, can you just use any glue or silicone or do I have to get the stuff from drfostersmith website?

I have a 34gallon reef commuinity tank!

 

[nicks387]

You have to use weld on. You can get tubes of it on E bay. Silicone wont hold long on acrylic.

 

[JohnK]

No, No, No

Silicone doesn't bond well with acrylic. If your building something out of acrylic, you need an acrylic solvent or acrylic specific cement. "weld-on" is the most common brand. You need to get it from a plastics supplier. (and you probably can't get quality acrylic at HD either)

Give me a minute, I'll be back with a couple of informative links...

Here's Marc Levinson's page, IIRC He'll be a speaker at BRASS;

http://www.melevsreef.com/allmysumps.html

This is a reccent local thread. See post #64 and on, follow the links;http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86898&page=7

And here's the mother of all acrylic DIY threads. It's thosands of posts long, but if you want to know and are patient.......;

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1056956&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[cakemanPA]

In an emergency, crazy glue will also work nicely with acrylic

 

[JohnK]

In an emergency, crazy glue will also work nicely with acrylic

To actually scratch build something? (I think that's what he's looking to do, right?)

 

[cakemanPA]

depends on what he is making... If something small or non-display, I have used crazy glue

 

[JohnK]

Right. Your talking about using it as a glue though, not as a solvent, correct?

 

[cakemanPA]

I use it as a glue. But I am not convinced that Crazy Glue does not also have some solvent properties with acrylic.

 

[silverbaby]

You have to use weld on. You can get tubes of it on E bay. Silicone wont hold long on acrylic.

correct, silicone will not bond to acrylic.