Re: Development Tubes?

Beakman (beakman@netcom.com)
Tue, 29 Nov 1994 07:52:13 -0800 (PST)

>
> The best way to join acrylic is with chemical welding. If you live near an
> acrylic supplier in the USA you can buy the necessary solvent fairly
> cheaply. You can also buy tubes of acrylic dissolved in the solvent to make
> a sort of glue. I prefer the solvent used straight but the goo-in-a-tube
> works ok but it makes messier joints. The solvent you want is ethylene
> dichloride. It is explosively inflamable and as effective as chloroform as an
> anasthetic (sp?) so work carefully. The resulting joints are very strong and
> effectively turn the acrylic into a single piece. After the joint ages for a
> day or two there should be no chemical residue other than the original
> acrylic. Acetone may work for the solvent welding but in my experience it
> makes grossly inferior joints to the dichloride.

Thanks for the suggestions Gene. I have done some work with acrylic in
the past, and I have some acrylic welding "glue". I'll have to check the
tube see exactly what it is. I was making some of those shake-em-up
tubes with baby oil and glitter inside, and the oil eventually leaked
through. After many careful attempts, it seems as though the oil was
dissolving the stuff. In any case, I would need to be absolutely sure
there were no leaks - the last thing I need is a dichromate spill in my
living room. :)

- david