Acrylic Welding: The Basics

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Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 61

@daveash9572 8 ай бұрын

Useful, interesting and informative video, thank you so much. Thumbs up for being that rarest of beasts from your side of the pond who pronounces the word Process correctly. You got a thumbs up for that alone! 😂

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

That has to be the most unique reason for receiving a thumbs up lol. Thanks for taking the time to come by and watch!

@chance9979 8 ай бұрын

You're getting a like just for the beautiful glassware that you use. Thanks for decanting your product, it looks so much better and I do the same on my bench. It the sign of a true professional IMHO.

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

Very kind of you! Thanks so much!

@Umski 8 ай бұрын

Thanks, I remember joining acrylic at school having cut them on a BBC micro driven CNC but I don't think the solvents are easy to obtain in the UK anymore 😕 Your voice reminds me of Frank Howarth - very easy to listen to 🙂

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

I've heard that from several people about the difficulties of get solvents in Europe. I can understand the need for caution, but if treated properly it's quite safe. If that's the Frank Howard I'm thinking of, thanks. I've seen a bunch of his movies

@customwalldisplay Ай бұрын

Great video, I use glass syringe with a break works great and no need to worry about the rubber stopper. Try it if you do a lot of solvent welding like I do.

@customwalldisplay Ай бұрын

Also last for ever been using the same one for over 8 months .

@justmakeit2849 Ай бұрын

I used to have some, but they got lost a long time ago. Are good ones expensive?

@kenhelix4494 7 ай бұрын

Facinating. How did you drill all the holes without splitting/cracking the acrylic? My experience is poor and frustrating. Of course you may have used a laser cutter, but it would be good to know or see the holes being made. Good video

@justmakeit2849 7 ай бұрын

I drilled them out on my mill. A sharp bit and a firm backing really help

@stuartgray5877 7 ай бұрын

One secret taught to me by an Acrylic expert: Take some of the old needles from your solvent dispenser and pound them flat. Then use those as shims in your joint before flowing the solvent. Once the solvent completely "wets" the joint, let it set for a few seconds to soften the material, then pull the shims out and let the joint compress.

@justmakeit2849 7 ай бұрын

I've heard the same thing, but only when welding thicker material. Thanks for coming by!

@makers_lab 8 ай бұрын

I think you should cover the safety aspects and PPE for those not aware as it's known to cause damage to the liver, skin, heart, eyes and likely cancer too from both inhalation and skin contact. It has gradually been increasingly banned. If wearing gloves, two layers are suggested with the inner ones being of PVA/EVA because that is resistant, and nitrile (which isn't) on the outside as it's less likely to rip. Some suggest that not wearing gloves would be better if you did get any in a glove, as it would stay longer against the skin inside a glove than if unprotected where it would evaporate quickly. Half masks are not recommended because of potential eye damage, so it should be a full face mask with supplied air. Using it with a fume hood or outside occasionally would you be ok? Tempting to say probably, and everyone should make their own risk assessment, but I really think anyone considering using it should fully research it so at least they can never say they didn't know.

@growleym504 8 ай бұрын

The one-off exposure is not a good thing, but not as big a deal as repeated exposures. Exposure of bare skin to vapors is nothing like inhaling them. A person who frequently solvent welds acrylic needs to be a bit more paranoid than the guy who just wants to make a nice display case for something, and might go many years without a repeat exposure. Doing it for a living, day in and day out? TBH I would simply not do it on a regular basis even with full PPE. A quick project? I am fine with working in a well ventilated area without gloves, using a simple respirator and goggles or full face shield. Something else will kill me long before a fleeting exposure to these vapors will, or even a droplet or smear of the liquid on a finger. EVERYTHING is "poisonous". Too much of anything, too often, too long, is "bad" for you. The numbers vary with the substance, is all. And something is gonna get you sooner or later, anyway. Cheeseburger? Bad, 3x/day for a year. Not so bad, once or twice a week. Beer? Pretty bad, 15 bottles a day. One or two? Probably good for you. Polonium? Pretty bad, even mg probably killing you if ingested. You can die from drinking too much water, but that would be a lot of water. A cigar once or twice a year is probably harmless. 5 or 6 per day, you are taking a big chance at cancer and possible death by it. MEK or similar solvents are "somewhere" on the scale, closer to the upper danger range than the lower, but like with anything, more exposure is worse than less.

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

Precautions for working with hazardous chemicals are too involved for a simple video. I have years of experience with this sort of thing and education to back it up and would find it almost impossible to relate this simply. I will put a warning in the next video though

@alfredoprime5495 8 ай бұрын

@@growleym504all good points. Another thing to bear in mind is to make sure that your ambient temperature is fairly cool. Methylene chloride has a very high vapor pressure (boiling point is 40C or 104F) so it has a tendency to squirt out of things like syringes all by itself. One might not mind about the health aspects too much if it's a one-off thing, but if the darn thing starts squirting solvent all over your project then it might become... irksome.

@growleym504 8 ай бұрын

@@alfredoprime5495 Good tip there!

@scottsolar5884 8 ай бұрын

Safety is oversold. There is not nearly as much risk as this message portrays

@jackfitzgerald8838 2 ай бұрын

What do you use to cut your acrylic into panels?

@justmakeit2849 2 ай бұрын

I use my table saw on a cross cut sled to control the feed rate.

@newmonengineering 8 ай бұрын

I have done this many times. I built overflows for fish tanks and a few other things.

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

Cool! Thanks for coming by!

@jjdawg9918 8 ай бұрын

I also like that ground glass bottle both form and presumably function. Do you find it prevents evaporation better than those metal cans? I find that unless you use a wrench on the can, solvent will evaporate quickly though even the tiniest gap(very high vapor pressure). Also do you use vacuum grease on the bottle cap? Thanks

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

I'ts great! It's specifically designed not to lose any of it's contents. No grease necessary.

@regardsome 8 ай бұрын

beautiful capillary action at 4:11

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

I was hoping it would show up while I was recording it. Thanks for watching!

@CreatureCribs 6 ай бұрын

Hi, what’s the solvent called please? Thank you 🙏🏻

@justmakeit2849 6 ай бұрын

Methylene chloride

@ABD4VIDS 8 ай бұрын

Very cool!

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

Much appreciated! Thanks!

@fownine4life853 7 ай бұрын

Where can I purchase methylene chloride?

@justmakeit2849 7 ай бұрын

If you live in Canada, any plastics shop should have it

@Creator_Nater 7 ай бұрын

@@justmakeit2849what is a “plastics shop”? A hobby store? Paint shop? US here, thank you in advance!

@growleym504 8 ай бұрын

Acetone works, yeah. I tried it and found MEKP works better, makes a stronger joint. Never tried what the OP uses. MEKP is a common hardener for polyester resin.

@justmakeit2849 7 ай бұрын

I've never tried either of them. I will have to see what's available here

@0Turbox 8 ай бұрын

Do you temper the parts?

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

Acrylic doesn't have a temper process. The only way to get harder acrylic is to buy cast, but it's twice the price

@0Turbox 8 ай бұрын

@@justmakeit2849 I talked to professionals and even with Evonik/Röhm officials, and they said, that you have to temper their products after you drilled or put heat with a laser into the material. The same goes to some glues. You get the tension out of the material by tempering it.

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

Thanks. I will check into that@@0Turbox

@beakytwitch7905 8 ай бұрын

I use either Acetone or Cyclohexanone. The Acetone evaporates very fast so work quickly. The cyclohexanone evaporates slowly, but even a tiny amount of it stinks the house out... In the future I might try dissolving a little styrofoam into the acetone to make it stickier.

@TheStigma 8 ай бұрын

Acetone doesnt actually dissolve polystyrene despite what it looks like. It weakens it and releases all the air, but the polymer chains mostly remain, so you get a "snotty glue" that you cant really thin further. Lots of other common solvents work for PS though. Xylene, toluene, benzene, ethylacetate, MEK ect. (beware of fume hazards for many of these) But why not use acryllic itself as a binder/thickener ? Using exactly matching plastics always give the strongest welds.

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

I've never used either of those. Thanks for watching!

@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT 8 ай бұрын

Very interesting. Unfortunately, suitable solvents, like methylene chloride, xylene, or chloroform are off-limits for non industrial use in Europe, and the only easy alternative is cyanoacrylate, that does not fuse the parts together.

@justmakeit2849 8 ай бұрын

That's unfortunate

@JoseSilveira-newhandleforYT 8 ай бұрын

@@justmakeit2849 Yep. Killed my will to make acrylic contraptions.