# Wood and Acrylic



## BigFish54 (Feb 21, 2007)

I know and I am sorry for asking this question, but Has anybody done any experiments with wood and Acrylic bonding. I thought I saw a thread not to long ago were some guy was doing some testing with different adhesives to see how well they bond and I can not find the thread, maybe I was jsut dreaming. If anybody has any suggestion all help would be appreciated.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

You're not dreaming, but there has not been an update yet.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... p?t=178870


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## BigFish54 (Feb 21, 2007)

Ok, I have been looking at a lot of info on this, some people claim that silicone is good enough others say there is no way it works, then i read that epoxy will bond to acrylic.....I dont pesonally know this, but according to this Sanitred, that is what you would use to get your bonadable surface.

If this is the case...let me reiterate IF..............then why shouldn't you be able to use lets say West System to make the bondabel surface are on acrylic sheet, and on your frame like you would have done anyway, give the frame and the sheet a couple of coats of epoxy frame would be epoxy/fiberglass, and then use the third coat of epoxy as the glue to bind the acrylic sheet and the frame together. and after they are bonded together use anoher couple of fiberglass epoxy coats across the back of the frame and the acrlic sheet meeting point to make sure the seam is water tight. This is all based on the fact that epoxy will bond to acrylic.............

Any thoughts, I would do any experiment, but money is short, but I may have to make a sacrifice in the name of DIYers. :dancing:


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## BigFish54 (Feb 21, 2007)

Here is a illustration of what I am talking about

Epoxy the surface of acrylic and epoxy/fiberglass the frame (the red indicats the epoxies area (fo course he whole frame will be epoxied, I am just talking about the connection










After a couple of coats of epoxy, the next coat will be the glue layer to bond the acrylic and frame together 








Afer they are bonded apply a few more epoxy/fiberglass layers to finish up the water tight connection, this layer is represented in blue









note: i realize that I will probably have to ruff up the acrylic with 60 grit sand paper were the epoxy will be applied to get the best bond possible.


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## Chad_Asmus (Sep 27, 2008)

I tried it with a scrap peice to see if it works, and it did. it was just a scrap so i don't know if water would leak eventually. its hard to tell how strong it is also, because water would be pushing it to the frame on at least 3 sides, so i was able to break it apart. it did take quite abit of force though i thought.


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## dooo_36 (Jul 16, 2008)

i was told by the manufactures of the epoxy i used to torch the surface of the acrylic for about 3 to 6 seconds to oxidize the surface of the acrylic. you change the chemical properties ofthe surface which then create a better bonding surface. others say to sand the surface and he said that would work also but torching it was highly recommended.

it doesn't damage the acrylic.

the only bad part about about applying an epoxy to the acrylic and letting it dry (say your doing this in an attempt to change the surface of the acrylic) is that you no longer get a smooth working surface. the acrylic dries HARD and bumpy which then forces you to have to use alot of glue to fill in any possibly valley's that water can pass through.

i liked big fishes idea myself cause thats what i saw also on the sani-tred website. and i was like oh yeah change the surface thats perfect! but that is exactly what you do is change the surface from a smooth one that can easily sit flush up against your plywood or whatever your using for your structure. to a bumpy surface that makes sealing very cumbersome.

what i did was simular to big fish's illustration but just use the epoxy one time to bond straight to the framework but also taking the advice of torching the surface of my acrylic. i also took a different approach instead of relying on the bond of the adhesive for strength and sealing i kind of manipulated my structure to just incorporate the adhesive as a sealer so therefore reducing the stress on the adhesive to just for its use as a sealer. here is what i mean ...

in this illustration it shows a 4x4 (front exterior) 2x6 (interior) and the acrylic in blue. (top section view of one side)
i used a bolt to basically clamp down on the acrylic sheet with the epoxy adhesive as the glue and sealer. but the key is that i squeezed my bolts so tight i don;t think water would even escape even if i hadn't used the epoxy. i think with this method you could use elmers glue and you'd be fine. i ran this framework design around the entire sheet of acrylic. this is primarily to get the seal and the transition from acrylic to wood. 









cause now i can as you see in this image... place the glass up against my structure and bond the wood to wood with any product i desire. the Yellow bolt is being use to restrain the glass from the pressure of the water. and the 2x6, inside the tank, is used to lap over my sheet of ply wood. 









heres a couple of illustrations you may be able to see what im trying to get across 

















this one shows the start of the interior framework.


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