There is plenty of info out there re gluing 3D parts including just melting with acetone and sticking together.
I am thinking about a small part I would have to make in pieces due to the internal support needed to print. What do you favor for gluing together an assemby of printed parts?
While I am asking this question, maybe my assumptions are wrong re the printing problem so you can tell me what you think about it as well.
In simple terms, my part is a cylinder that has a flat top. 0.6" dia cylinder 0.6" tall with 75 mil thick wall and a top that is an extruded circle with a thickness of 25 mil.
I am thinking about printing the cylinder and the top separately and gluing them together. The inside must be totally clean without struts or support.
@rice81 & @cottjr - David & Carlā¦ Thanks for posting GREAT questions!
@themitch22 - Mitch, Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Iām definitely leaving this topic open, as I know we have several members who have printed large and/or complicated objects that required āgluingā so to speak.
I believe most members either use Super Glue (aka: ācaā / Cyanoacrylate) or at times āABS glueā (which is just abs melted in acetone to make a mixture that will āmeltā the pieces together). From what I understand, both work pretty well. Personally, I have only used the āABS glueā one time - because itās easier to pick up the super glue than it is to mix up a small batch of the āabs glueāā¦
Hopefully others will share their experiences, too!
I usually use superglue for small, non structural parts. You should consider adding pins or tabs in your design to join larger parts to increase the structural integrity. Though I havenāt used it personally, Iāve heard that ABS glue works really well. I made a helmet for Halloween this year that printed in several parts. I used my 3Doodler (handheld 3D printer) to weld the plates together with a classic butt weld. I used the heated tip to join the pieces and create a bit of a trough, then came back and filled the trough with filament from the 3Doodler. I did it on the inside of the piece, but was able to sand down the seam and it held very well, especially considering the wall thickness was about 3-4mm. About halfway through construction the 3Doodler crapped out so I used a soldering iron to fuse the rest together. That worked really well. PLA joins good this way too.
Cool thanks!
FWIW, there once was a TV episode on a poor country, where they showed a street vendor using a soldering iron to repair all kinds of plastic items - I distinctly remember seeing a moped fender getting a significant rebuild this way. In fact, that provided inspiration to use a soldering iron to repair a part I broke on my dishwasher (since none of the glues on hand would work)ā¦ 2 weeks later and itās still holding up fine.
I recently did a repair on a rather large hole in a large plastic diesel tractor fuel tank that was going to cost and arm and leg to replace. I used a device sort of like a cross between a soldering iron and hot glue gun (poor manās 3Doodler!) and a hot air gun. I removed the chunk of cedar. (Rotten luck! There was only one vulnerable spot where the tank was not armored and that stick found it.) Next, I heated the area with a hot air gun and fashioned a hook out of a metal rod and pulled the plastic back in place. Next I sort of applied the ABS rods through the plastic doodler while semi melting the tank plastic with the doodler. The thing was rock hard when I finished and is good so far, two months later. It was a $60 plastic repair kit from Amazon
but you can get the same thing from Horrible Freight for around $15
It sort of showed me that plastic things can indeed be repaired. See more info on youtube - plastic welding. I learned a whole new repair technique.
