How do you do plastic surgery?

[FraggleRock 4]

Just wondering if there are any good options to glue two narrow pieces of PLA together.

Looking into ways to connect two patches of 3d printed chainmail but I don't have much space to work with.

 

 

[geert_2 556]

I use cyanoacrylate glue for PLA, just the standard one. Usually after sanding or roughening the surface with a file. This works well. I also tried using an activator but that makes the glue cure too fast for good alignment. Thin glue tends to soak itself into tiny openings, so that helps covering the whole bonding area.

 

 

[FraggleRock 4]

On 5/20/2020 at 7:10 AM, geert_2 said:

I use cyanoacrylate glue for PLA, just the standard one. Usually after sanding or roughening the surface with a file. This works well. I also tried using an activator but that makes the glue cure too fast for good alignment. Thin glue tends to soak itself into tiny openings, so that helps covering the whole bonding area.

Thanks for the tip. I did have canoacrylate glue in my possession but your suggestion made me research it a bit more. My current glue is a gel consistency and the dispenser tip was a bit too wide so it wasn't helping. But I found this glue on Amazon which is thin consistency and has special tips for precise delivery. I think that would help a lot.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C32ME6G?pf_rd_r=4GWFVAQYWRGYJED5YB92&pf_rd_p=edaba0ee-c2fe-4124-9f5d-b31d6b1bfbee

On 5/20/2020 at 7:10 AM, geert_2 said:

 

 

 

[VicP 2]

On 5/20/2020 at 12:10 PM, geert_2 said:

I use cyanoacrylate glue for PLA, just the standard one. Usually after sanding or roughening the surface with a file. This works well. I also tried using an activator but that makes the glue cure too fast for good alignment. Thin glue tends to soak itself into tiny openings, so that helps covering the whole bonding area.

 

 

 

If you want to still use the activator with cyrano then spray it on "after" you've aligned the parts. It will harden any cyano that's oozed out and lock the piece in position while the rest cures.

 

[geert_2 556]

On 6/24/2020 at 12:48 PM, VicP said:

 

If you want to still use the activator with cyrano then spray it on "after" you've aligned the parts. It will harden any cyano that's oozed out and lock the piece in position while the rest cures.

 

 

Thanks, this is a good idea. My current activator is not a spray, but a pen with felt tip, like a fluo marker pen. But I could probably apply it to the outer edge only, where glue would ooze out indeed, to get the same effect. I will try next time.