Weld on #3 question

compucrap · Post by **compucrap** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:50 pm

Hey,
I just ordered some weld one #3 to make some repairs to some clear acrylic plexiglass. I was wondering how visible, and how much acrylic weld on melts, and if it will distort thin acrylic pieces?
thanks,
Josh

rpauly · Post by **rpauly** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:09 am

Back when I could find it, Weld On was my liquid assembly medium of choice. It reacts like Tenax (if you've ever worked with that), which is to say that if used sparingly, it won't cloud your acrylic, and you shouldn't have any issue with distortion. If you will be looking through the sandwiched pieces of acrylic, I don't know that Weld On would be ideal - it bonds by melting the surfance of the plastic and literally welding it together, so you will get some inherent distortion (visually, not in the shape of the pieces) in that regard...It does it's job well, tho. To quote Elwood Blues, "This is glue. Strong stuff."

compucrap · Post by **compucrap** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:31 am

cool. Luckily, this will be painted over, but Ive had some thin pieces break off, and need something that will bond but not severly melt (like when you put waaayyyy too much testors glue on a model peice and the plastic starts to melt.) Sounds like it will do what I need, about how long to do you to aling the acrylic before it bonds for good?
Josh

rpauly · Post by **rpauly** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 7:08 am

I've not done much with acrylic, but with styrene it's pretty quick. You get a bond within seconds, though a complete cure will take a few minutes. I was generally able to take the clamps off large joints (even with warped parts) in 20 minutes or so...

USSARCADIA · Post by **USSARCADIA** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:29 am

Just be careful not to drip it on the surface. I've ruined several project pieces with a drippy needle bottle. I still use it because I get it free from IPS(through one of my sub-contractors).

rpauly · Post by **rpauly** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:22 pm

Oh, yeah. Spills are bad. I dumped an entire bottle across the top of a Tamiya 1/32 F-14 way back when. It was MONTHS before it was solid enough to start sanding down the damage and rescribing the panel lines...

Talk about being PI$$ED at yerself...

USSARCADIA · Post by **USSARCADIA** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:10 pm

Ah feel yer pain! I usually dripped to much on a seam and it ran over a large area, leaving a nice goopy line to repair.