What to use to glue acrlyic to glass?

[Acrylics]

I would definatly not use acetoxy cure. It brakes down the hotmelt bond in double glaze windows so god only knows what it would do to fish/corals

It might be okay but hey

It's what most all glass tanks are put together with, neutral cure silicones don't work as well on glass. I don't know the particulars, but it's the way it is

James

 

[kevreh]

I'm not sure how inert it is, but I can tell you what would definately do the job- 2 part epoxy. Epoxy doesn't make a chemical bond but it sticks to everything and is super strong.

This site has good info: http://www.epoxyheads.com/
(no affiliation)


kevin

 

[rabagley]

Despite your personal observation that epoxy "sticks to everything", epoxy adhesion to nonporous surfaces (including glass and acrylic) is at least a full order of magnitude less than silicone and is completely inadequate for aquarium construction. To verify this, glob some of your favorite 2 hour epoxy on a clean piece of glass, let cure for two days, and then attack the edge of the blob with a single edged razor. Do the same for GE Silicone II from Home Depot. The epoxy will delaminate from the underlying surface. You'll have to repeatedly scrape the glass to remove all of the silicone.

Epoxies can be (usually are) stronger than acetoxy cured silicone adhesive, but an epoxy that is as strong/stronger than GE RTV108 in small thicknesses (aquarium construction) will be much more rigid, which along with the adhesion issues means nobody is going to use epoxy for glass glue-up any time soon.

The cohesion of epoxy is off the chart, and the surface tension is much lower than silicone, which makes epoxy MUCH MUCH better as the resin in composite materials and also highly appropriate for permanently gluing porous materials, where the epoxy can mechanically lock into the surface structure. Acrylic and glass simply don't offer epoxy anything to "grab on" to.

Regards,
Ross

 

[WaveFanatic]

Just wanted to give my 2 cents in here. I have used this in 2 glass sumps of mine for setting up the dividers. I used Household Goop to attach the Lexan panes to the glass. There should be around a 1/16 of a inch gap between the joins so the Goop can fill it. Then once its dried for 24 hours, apply Silicone I (I think its for Window sealant) to cover up exposed Goop.

My one sump has been running for 1 1/2 years with about 1000 GPH of flow. My latest sump has been only runing for a month with about 2000 GPH flow. The bonds are as strong as when I put them on. I'ved actually cracked my old sump moving some rocks around and sandwiched the leaking pane with the same Goop and silicone mix and it worked great.

BTW, must be glued when dry, of course.

Robert

 

[Acrylics]

Robert,

Keep in mind that Lexan is not acrylic though . It (Lexan) shares some similar properties as acrylic but is a completely different plastic altogether.

James

 

[Fatal Morgana]

Yes, Lexan is a brand name for polycarbonate.

 

[WaveFanatic]

Yes, I do understand that Lexan is not the acrylic. This glueing technique should still work though, since I'm using the Goop as a binder of the 2 different materials (not melting with a solvent like Weld-On). Goop works on most(if not all) forms of platics anyway. The real delema here is finding something that can bind with glass, and I think Goop does a good job in my experiences.

thanks,
Robert

 

[ChrisRD]

FWIW... ...IME GE Silicone I was able to hold acrylic baffles in a glass sump, and an acrylic overflow box to a glass tank with no issues for several years...

In fact, the bond on the baffles was so strong I actually had to saw them in half to get them out of the glass sump when I broke it down!

 

[dizzy]

I agree with James (acrylics) that Dow Corning 795 is probably the best choice. Call Dow Corning for a list of dealers.