How to Glue Polycarbonate Plastic to Plexiglas
Polycarbonate and Plexiglas have different chemical compositions, which makes gluing or solvent welding more difficult that solvent welding to pieces of like plastics. Fortunately, there are glues available that are capable of gluing plastics of different compositions. These types of glues are specialized and you need to be sure that the glue you purchase will bond dissimilar plastics. If you use glue that is not designed for different types of plastic, the solvent welded connection may hold temporarily, but the joint will eventually fail under strain.
Things You'll Need
- Piece of polycarbonate
- Piece of Plexiglas
- 200-grit sandpaper
- Dissimilar plastic glue
- Syringe
Instructions
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1
Place the piece of polycarbonate and Plexiglas on a firm flat work surface.
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2
Sand the end of the polycarbonate with 200-grit sandpaper to smooth the edge of the plastic sheet. You can change this step and sand one end of the Plexiglas sheet if you need to butt the Plexiglas to the polycarbonate sheet.
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3
Slide the end of the syringe into the bottle of dissimilar plastic glue and pull the plunger toward you to fill the syringe with glue.
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4
Set the sanded end of the polycarbonate plastic sheet on top of the Plexiglas sheet. While applying pressure downward on the sheet standing vertically, squeeze the plunger of the glue filled syringe to apply glue to the plastic joint.
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5
Drag the syringe along the joint between the plastics, as you continue to push the plunger of the syringe to glue the plastic joint. If you are gluing plastic thicker than 1/4-inch, you will need to apply glue to both sides of the plastic joint, to ensure that the glue thoroughly penetrates the plastic joint.
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6
Return any unused glue left in the syringe back to the bottle of dissimilar plastic glue.
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7
Allow the glued joint to cure for the time specified on the bottle of dissimilar plastic glue to ensure that the joint has achieved full strength before using the pieces of glued plastic.
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