Best Glues??

Just curious what is the strongest bonding glue for printed parts. I usually print in nGen, or PLA. I have a project that needs a strong bond. Do you guys just purchase products like Gorilla Glue from home Depot?

Thanks,
Chris

I was at a boat show last year and there was a booth where a guy had some Max 1 glue. Looked like super glue, smelled like super glue, even tasted like super glue! kidding, of course.

He took a .5" rubber o-ring and snipped it. Put a drop of the glue on one end then rolled the two ends together and held it tight for about 10 seconds. He handed it to me and I pulled on it quite hard and it did not separate. He broke a small tile in half, brushed an accelerator on one side then the glue on the other, held the two pieces together, I could not break them apart. There were of course other demos. I was impressed enough I had to buy some even though I didn’t need it. A tad expensive, but it was the boat show so…

Since then I have used it successfully many times. My daughter somehow broke a plate in the microwave baking a potato. Glued it back together and it was as good as new (except for the hairline of the crack). I’ve repaired a rubber bracelet of hers, similar to the original demo.

And, to your question, I have bonded several ABS and PLA, and PETG parts together like there’s no tomorrow. It is Max 1 glue. Plain name but really good stuff.

I’ve used Loctite super glue gel with success as well. The gel is nice because it stays in place - particularly convenient when you have long, thin parts to bond that may even require multiple axis bonding.

I like Plastruct Plastic weld for bonding ABS.

In regards to nGen and any other co-polyester (PETG, PETT, T-Glase, ColorfabbXT & HT, etc), the acrylic cements are the ones you need. Look up for Weld-On #3 or #4 (faster or slower setting) on Amazon (you better look for a needle applicator too). These cements work also on ABS and Polycarbonate by definition. What you do, is to get your two printed pieces together and carefully pour a little of these water-like welders at the joining point. The liquid is so thin it will creep right in between the connecting surfaces and there it will break the chemical bonds of the material to be joined and when the thinner in them evaporates (#3 really fast, #4 a bit slower) the chemical bonds will reform and the two parts will become one and you won’t be able again to separate them at that point.

In regards to PLA I’m afraid I am not aware of any specific glue. What I have tried is the new type of “super glue” that is out there and works also well on nylon. Taulman3D calls it “ComPlete”. On Amazon you can find it as “RapidFix”. They are all the same. It does work better than the traditional “super glue” but it is still a glue.

That all said, if you are looking to making something big that it will look like one piece at the end, without being afraid of coming apart at the joining points, I would suggest to use the nGen or any other material (co-polyester, ABS, Polycarbonate, etc) where you can use a plastic cement.

Reviews say the Weld-On #3 is very hard to use at first. Runs everywhere. Any suggestions?

https://forum.lulzbot.com/download/file.php?mode=view&id=7072 I’ve had good results with this particular brand.
Plastic Glue.JPG

Do you guys think the glues you are recommending work well with big parts as well as small? Here are my prints.

Is Loctite a quick drying glue?

Truth to be told, there is no perfect solution for everything. But it is also true that all depends on what you are used at.
Is true that with Weld-On and all products like this, due to their extremely small viscosity, is difficult at first to apply them because they tend to run everywhere like water. What you need is a glass surface to practice a bit with the applicator on how to control the flow. After that you won’t go back to using glues.

A great advantage over glues is that you bring all pieces together in place and then you apply the cement at the joining surfaces. It just goes by itself in the tightest places using the capillary effect. Leaves no residue and if anything drops on the glass it gets cleaned very easily. Parts’ size doesn’t matter :wink:

One disadvantage is that if you accidentally lose alignment you don’t have much time before the two parts become one forever.

Another disadvantage is that I have yet to find the perfect applicator. It’s the only thing missing in the whole process. Best control you can achieve is with a syringe with a very small needle. The only problem is that the cement corrodes the piston rubber seal, in all of them, rendering the syringe useless pretty quick.

Small parts are always easier to glue/weld together with either type.
Big parts put a bigger challenge, mostly for the quick curing glues like the Loctite and all the super glues. By the time you complete laying the last section with the glue, the first sections might be cured already before you actually have the time to bring the pieces together!
That is where the slow cure 2-part epoxy glues come into play. The only problem is that they don’t do very well with all plastics.

If I’m not mistaken from your picture, you are looking into putting together parts with large flat surfaces. If you can set these surfaces on the horizontal then I believe the epoxies are a viable option. If you can bring the surfaces together on the vertical then the cements, I believe, are better choice.

Love this info. But here’s a curve ball. I use an X-carve for a lot of parts where it makes sense to machine a flat sheet. Its a matter of seconds to produce a part instead of the hours it would take to print on the Taz. And I now use the Taz for a lot of other parts where a part just cannot be produced from sheeted parts.

On the X-carve I am addicted to sheets of HDPE (although I also use acrylic and ABS). HDPE is really easy to machine and relatively cheap compared to other sheeted plastics. So far, I have only used nGen on the Taz since I’ve only had a few months and know little about the other filaments. Is it possible to glue HDPE to nGen? Or to any of the other filaments? Does anyone know where you can get sheets of co-polyester that I can use with the X-carve and then glue to 3D printed parts from the Taz?

I’m sorry but I’ve never worked with HDPE. In general, all solvent based plastic cements/welds claim to work only with same material. And it makes sense since the goal is to weaken the chemical bonds on two surfaces of the same material so that when the solvent evaporates then the chemical bonds will be reinstated between same materials leading to unification.

Now, if the two materials are somehow similar (chemically), then there is a chance of welding but the joining won’t be as strong. I have done welding between different co-polyesters and I know it can be done but with the aforementioned disadvantage.

In any other case, only glues can do what you want. And some specialized epoxies are the way to go. Look for the 3M DP8005.

As for co-polyester sheets, just check with your local hardware stores or on the internet. I’m confident you’ll find plenty.

I apologize for bumping this old thread…just my two cents…

Gluing plastics can be difficult. To know what kind of glue will work typically requires knowing what type of plastic you are dealing with And there are so many types of plastic - vinyls/pvc, ABS, acrylic, styrenes, lexan(polycarbonate), delrin (acetal resins), etc…

Most plastics are “glued” properly with adhesives that are actually solvents and dissolve the plastic at point of contact to chemically weld them together.
Example - plumbers PVC and ABS cements, Testors plastic model glue (styrene). Industrial supply houses make a solvent glue for lexan.

Some plastics cannot be easily glued with anything, due the surfarce finish being so slippery
Example - Delrin/acetal - this is typically used to make plastic gears in consumer products


You can try epoxy like this https://besttoolexpert.com/glue-for-plastic/ It may hold for a while, but the bond is only going to be as good as the physical grab (rought up the parts with coarse sandpaper to improve your odds) … Since plastics typically are not porous epoxy bonds are not usually that great. If you want a really strong epoxy, look for one of the Loctite Hysol epoxies. These are industrial grade adhesives and some grade are even approved/used in aviation - however they commensurately expensive and cannot be found in your average home center.

I would NOT use super glue from Amazone https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DD1QQ/ref=s9_acsd_topr_hd_bw_bHLAVn_c_x_w/142-0897303-1199304?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-11&pf_rd_r=VZW6C2ACCPQHAXDPR9DY&pf_rd_r=VZW6C2ACCPQHAXDPR9DY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=58e7f4df-f4e9-50ac-a94f-36e5fd31c767&pf_rd_p=58e7f4df-f4e9-50ac-a94f-36e5fd31c767&pf_rd_i=256243011 Its main benefit is the very fast cure time, its actually a very brittle and low strength glue.


FYI, without seeing it, if I had to guess I would bet that part is ABS. Unless you use a proper solvent weld adhesive, anything you try is likely to break again in typical use. I know its expensive but for things like this I usually try to get a replacement part, my luck with gluing plastic is bad.
There are a lot of cool YouTube videos on this subject, here’s one of them. Good luck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djtKXkTqPUI

Yeah, happens at times Even I attached a plate with a glue which is broken in microwave ad it sticked really well. I am impressed.

Sorry for bumping such an old thread. I have used a lot of differnet glues and most of them have both advantages adn disadvantages. But I can recommend this one https://chemicalwiki.com/permatex-heavy-duty-headliner-aerosol-can/ to use. Permatex produces quality waterproof glues that you can use to bond differnet surfaces.