How to glue plexiglass to make a reservoir?

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gclg2000

Gawd
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Jun 27, 2004
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Anyone done this...i want to make a long tall clear reservoir. Maybe 3" x 3" by 12" tall and sqaure. Just use what type of glue and silicon to seal the lining....?
 
Just go down to your local auto store and get some permanent or semi-permanent silicon sealant. Though for permanent I really like J-B weld. :)
 
go to a plastics shop and buy some acrylic cement. There are some out there that will actually melt the plastic pieces together, more or less into one solid piece. tapplastics.com = your friend

you might have one in the area.
 
Alright the only way to do this and be sure it wont leak for ever is to get acrylic cement from some plastic store. The stuff I got melted my acrylic box together its awesome and strong.
 
FrozenOver2 said:
Alright the only way to do this and be sure it wont leak for ever is to get acrylic cement from some plastic store. The stuff I got melted my acrylic box together its awesome and strong.
Click to expand...
Yep, this is the stuff i'm talking about. I actually took a trip to tap plastics today... pretty nice layout
 
i second tap plastic as my plastic source. what nice company they have there :). go for the acrylic cement :)

flip
 
yeah tap is cool but I got a company that is like 2 min from my house its in a ware house and there prices are amazing for what i do there. I have them cut the arcylic to the exact specs then I buy it and slap it together I got all the acrylic for my external cooler and the glue for under 20 bucks and it was good quality acrylic (Lexan)
 
I used Plumbers Goop for my plexi reservior. While it worked OK, in retrospect, I would have done some things differently.
The issues I've had:

Normal plexi is too brittle. When I remove hoses from the barbs that I have attached to my reservior, I get cracks which I have to seal with the Plumbers Goop. I also had to go back numerous times and apply more goop to the seams. Also, Plumbers Goop will not fully cure in a completely enclosed environment. What I mean by this is that on the top of my reservior, I made five 2" x 2" plexi plates which I glued together and drilled a hole through in order to have a threaded fill/bleed port at the top of the reservior. The goop between the plates would not cure and ended up getting bubbles in it.
It worked in the long run, but if I could do it over (which I may) I would use Lucite Tuff (not as brittle) and the glue that these guys are talking about.
 
FrozenOver2 said:
yeah tap is cool but I got a company that is like 2 min from my house its in a ware house and there prices are amazing for what i do there. I have them cut the arcylic to the exact specs then I buy it and slap it together I got all the acrylic for my external cooler and the glue for under 20 bucks and it was good quality acrylic (Lexan)
Click to expand...
lexan is not acrylic... it is polycarbonate ;D

Re: above poster
i agree plexi is pretty damn brittle, i like polycarb/lexan for projects like these because it's easier to tap and strong enough to resist over-tightening of my barbs (which i tend to do)
 
When I made my waterbox, which was completely acrylic (to match the acrylic case) I used some plastix glue I got from Meijer to meld the acrylic sheets together. I would have preferred acrylic cement, but I didn't want to pay the shipping. The Plastix was very similar to superglue, anyhow. I've also heard you can make your own by melting plexiglass chips into acetone, then using that. The acetone will break it down enough to form a pastey substance, which then when applied will melt together and fill the gaps in the sheets.

Because my box included a reservoir as well, and the plastix wasn't going to be a perfect seal because of cutting imperfections and whatnot, I also got some silicone to put on the edges. However, I didn't like how that turned out. It didn't hold well enough and wasn't completely clear. So I was able to peel that stuff off and got some Plumber's Goop from Home Depot. That stuff dried a lot harder, providing additional structural integrity to the reservoir. It took several rounds to make it watertight, and I actually broke the damn thing just when I had it almost done, but of the things to survive the fall off the bed, the waterbox fared surprisingly well. :)

So, I'd go with acrylic cement if you can. The Plastix adhesive might be a second choice. And for sealing, go with the Goop. My two cents.
 
or just get Weld-on number 4 acrylic bonding agent and save ur self alot of pain and time trying to get regular glue to look half as good.
 
The problem with glued acrylic is that it becomes brittle and starts leaking, usually within months. I'd add a bead of clear silicone to the inside of the seams to avoid problems later on. And if you use an acrylic cememt (usually polyacrylate dissolved in THF) to glue polycarbonate you're just asking for trouble (so it will look glued at the onset). Make sure you know what you're glueing and that your glue is compatible.
 
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