Tough PLA Adhesive

[ARTFX23 0]

I am printing a few parts in Tough PLA Black and am looking for a permanent compatible adhesive to Glue them together after they have been printed.

[geert_2 557]

For *standard* PLA I have good results with cyanoacrylate glue. Never had any problems after hundreds of glued models. But I never used tough PLA.

 

Maybe you could try it on a few small test pieces? Don't waste a nice model on tests, just design and print a couple of small test plates.

 

I don't know how well cyanoacrylate will handle flexing models, but if the area that is bonded does not flex, or not too much, I think chances are good.

 

[Smithy 1,144]

36 minutes ago, geert_2 said:

I don't know how well cyanoacrylate will handle flexing models, but if the area that is bonded does not flex, or not too much, I think chances are good.

I think you mixed it up with TPU, because ToughPLA is not flexible at all.

 

I haven't tried yet to glue ToughPLA parts together, but I would try it with cyanoacrylate, I think this should work.

[geert_2 557]

18 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I think you mixed it up with TPU, because ToughPLA is not flexible at all.

...

Ah okay, thanks for the clarification. I haven't seen or felt Tough PLA in life yet, so I was just guessing that it would be a bit more flexible.

 

So then I would definitely give cyanoacrylate a try, but still on a test piece first. I have good success with both Locktite standard cyanoacrylates, and the versions for plastics.

 

[Smithy 1,144]

I glue my normal PLA parts with the Revell Contacta Professional, because you can move and align the parts for several minutes. The drawback you have to fix it afterward until the glue is dry. 

 

17 minutes ago, geert_2 said:

I haven't seen or felt Tough PLA in life yet, so I was just guessing that it would be a bit more flexible.

You should definitely give it a try if you print technical parts and don't need temperature resistance. It is easy to print as PLA and much tougher than normal PLA. I like it and use it a lot.

[ARTFX23 0]

The CA glue works well, just ordered some Revell to do further tests.

 

Is there a Tough PLA in Bronze, Tan or Light Brown, what makes it tough?

 

[Smithy 1,144]

17 minutes ago, ARTFX23 said:

Is there a Tough PLA in Bronze, Tan or Light Brown

 I don't think so, from UM not, but you can check Polymaker PolyMAX PLA, I think they have some more colors.

[ARTFX23 0]

Cheers!

 

[gr5 2,172]

Tough PLA is indeed slightly more flexible.  It's most obvious when handling the raw filament.  It is subtle though.  It seems very similar to PLA mostly.  The flexibility is what makes it tough.  It is actually weaker than regular PLA.  Also I think it probably stretches a little more before breaking (for example clay isn't flexible exactly - it just deforms (permanentlyish) before breaking).

 

This graph shows more stiff to the right on the X axis and stronger vertical on the Y axis.  Both axes are logarithmic.  You can click and drag to zoom in.

http://gr5.org/mat/

[Smithy 1,144]

11 minutes ago, gr5 said:

Tough PLA is indeed slightly more flexible.

Could be if you measure it in some way, but not flexible that you have to take care about gluing parts together 🙂 

 

I am not able to bend a TPLA part with my fingers,

[gr5 2,172]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

am not able to bend a TPLA part with my fingers,

Yes!  I agree.  It is only slightly more flexible.  If you take 10cm of regular pla and 10cm of tough pla, one in each hand, you can barely tell the difference.  I really notice it though when I am loading filament (I never use the auto loading thing - I always slide filament in by hand on all my printers: UM2, UM3, S5).

[Smithy 1,144]

On 1/15/2019 at 2:47 PM, ARTFX23 said:

just ordered some Revell to do further tests.

 

I glued yesterday some CPE+ (PETG) with the Revell Contacta without problems. I like this glue because you have time to align the parts. I know not the answer for ToughPLA, but I am sure it works also with ToughPLA.