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Best adhesive for acrylic to stainless?

mvanmeter

New Member
Could someone recommend a good adhesive for acrylic to stainless?

Will be in an indoor environment.

Thanks,

Mike
 

nashvillesigns

Making America great, one sign at a time.
i think the West marine two part epoxy might be your best bet. just sayin. totally worth the money..
 

artbot

New Member
depends on the size and weight, location, opaque/clear? size of parts to be glued, etc. youi'll need highly flexible it's two large parts, they will have different rates of thermal expansion.

give more details or upload a rendering of the project.
 

visual800

Active Member
dude, let us know what your installing. if its small signage( up to 2' x 3') I would use 3M automotive double stick tape and I dont mean none of that white squishy junk!

anothing larger might wanna consider screws but have you screwed into stainless....its not fun
 

mvanmeter

New Member
The stainless is on the top, acrylic underneath (stainless is viewable by customer, acrylic is not).

This is for a small sample 16" x 16" so no real load issues

Can't use screws

Will the West Marine 2 part epoxy hold onto acrylic? (I'll also Google it).
 

artbot

New Member
from what i've experienced the west marine will fall right off of acrylic.

after a great deal of testing (lord, loctite, everything)...months of testing. reltek was the winner of the "best adhesive for low surface energy". i believe i used reltek b-45 back in the day. we'd go through gallons of it on this one particular process.

http://www.reltekllc.com/adhesives-coatings.html#B45
 
if we are talking about something like 1/8 - 1/2" acyrlic with .040-.080 aluminum laminated to it,as mentioned 3m has an adhesive that I have boight in sheets ,they were an odd size like 22" x 27" if memory serves me correctly. Companies like Briggs & Stratton use it to adhere badges to their products. I have used it to laminate acrylic sheets to brushed aluminum sheets prior to routing dimensional letters, I have multiple projects that have been installed outdoors for 15+ years now that have not failed & are showing no signs of delamination.

the only problems that I have had were from employees skipping steps,not cleaning the substrates properly,not applying pressure etc. Follow proper procedure & I've yet to find a better solution & I spent a good year testing every product that we could find or was recommended when I was producing wholesale dimensional letters years ago.
 

J Hill Designs

New Member
if we are talking about something like 1/8 - 1/2" acyrlic with .040-.080 aluminum laminated to it,as mentioned 3m has an adhesive that I have boight in sheets ,they were an odd size like 22" x 27" if memory serves me correctly. Companies like Briggs & Stratton use it to adhere badges to their products. I have used it to laminate acrylic sheets to brushed aluminum sheets prior to routing dimensional letters, I have multiple projects that have been installed outdoors for 15+ years now that have not failed & are showing no signs of delamination.

the only problems that I have had were from employees skipping steps,not cleaning the substrates properly,not applying pressure etc. Follow proper procedure & I've yet to find a better solution & I spent a good year testing every product that we could find or was recommended when I was producing wholesale dimensional letters years ago.

I use mactac IB-2107 laminating sheets for this...I think sheet size is 17"x22"
 

J Hill Designs

New Member
I'll second this. We just used it to glue some aluminum to acrylic. we hand sanded the front of the acrylic and the back of the aluminum with 32 gritt to get deep grooves for added insurance.

i did a few tests a few years ago - it actually seemed that the less prep-work I did on the materials (save for cleaning with denat. alcohol) the better they stuck...go figure
 
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