A commenter 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 haven’t tried it myself, yet, but it seems like a fairly well-known method in the PC case-modder community, among others.
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Following on the heels of our Working with ABS piece, here’s a Make: Project that furthers your working with ABS (assembling via rivets) and includes use of translucent polycarbonate sheeting to create a cool dodecahedron lamp.
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Neat off-the-wall idea from Instructables user blightdesign, who’s been experimenting with preserving folded paper by rubberizing it with Plasti-Dip. More pics in B. Light Design’s Flickr set.
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Unless your application is critical, cheap liquid paint stripper from the hardware store (not the gel, paste, or color-changing varieties) is a fine substitute for commercial acrylic solvent cement. Comparing one MSDS to another, we see that each product is about 75 wt% dichloromethane (AKA methylene chloride), which is the “active ingredient” that softens the plastic and allows it to weld. Purpose-made acrylic solvent is a bit thinner, in my experience, and evaporates a little faster, and contains trace amounts of acrylic monomer that may result in a slightly stronger bond, but for most practical purposes I have not found these qualities to justify paying twice as much for it.
Continue ReadingMy first attempt at injection molding with PETE plastic (Mountain Dew bottles). The molded part is the shape of a fishing lure (crankbait). This type of fishing lure needs to have a buoyant body to keep it upright in the water. The PETE plastic used in the video is more dense than water so it […]
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It was a pleasure to present the Makey awards on the special Make: Live show at World Maker Faire NY 2011. There I met Tom Simpkins, accepting the award for PanaVise, a Reno, NV company that developed a maker’s improvised vise improvement into an accessory for the product – the speed control handle. As Tom handed me the injection molded plastic part I noticed the paper packaging– featuring its “Makey nominated” status.
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This is a piece of free-burning ABS tubing showing characteristic flame color and smoke. The burn test, as it’s known, correlates a plastic sample’s composition with a set of observable properties including…
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