Another Case question haha

Yes it is nice to be able to put your projects INSIDE something isn't it? You know, to hold everything together so it doesn't flop around? Discuss the techniques here!

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Tat2artist
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Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:44 pm

Another Case question haha

Post by Tat2artist »

I plan for my future project to frankencase my design. My question is Ive been reading for the past couple days and see a lot of different people mention things to use. What is the absolute hands down strongest stuff to use as a welder for misc plastics. also does it sand well or should you apply layers of a bondo and sand that for a smooth finish? thanks in advance for the help I just wish to plan everything out and get much of what I need to prepare for the long haul ;)
bacteria
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Post by bacteria »

Depends on the plastics you are using.

Bondo sticks really well to different plastics, hot glue sticks really well to some and quite well to others, people will probably say epoxy although I didn't get on with it and poly-weld is supposed to be excellent, which it is on hard plastics but only on certain ones (others it fails badly). Some of the above are also easy to rectify if you make any mistakes, others less so. Some say ABS although that seems to have issues with cracking. Personally, I like hot glue but many don't like that method; however I find it works well, is easy to control, sticks really firmly to things and can be repaired: although hot glue is not good for anything that might twist or bend; good idea to use screws for these components. Also, if you live in a very hot country, hot glue is not ideal as it melts at about 60 Celsius (so probably prolonged heat at over 40 Celsius could be a problem I guess); I live in the UK so that is hardly relevant!

In other words, everyone has an opinion about what is best, it depends on what your criteria are and what you have to hand. Best idea is to test the plastics you need to adhere together and try and pull them apart and see what you think is suitable for your project. If what you use works well and does the job, that is what you need, and is the bottom line: we are hobbyists after all, not mass production. BTW - some components and controllers I have opened use hot glue to secure parts together, and these are in commercial products - so don't disregard it!

In regards to the other query, yes, plastic sands down well; and of course doing so will improve adhesion anyway.
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