I need to glue a broken piece of an ABS Plastic door mirror body back on. I think I should use a product that will chemically weld the pieces together based on everything I could look up.
I found a product called Testors Liquid Cement For Plastic that seems to have the right solvents. Seems a lot of epoxies only have a surface bond and cannot penetrate onto the plastic.
Let me know your thoughts
The best solvent is butanone also known by its old name MEK (methyl ethyl ketone)
You can make your own glue with it by dissolving some pieces in it, of the same plastic that you want to glue.
Oof. No. Stay away from MEK! For ABS just mix a little bit of ABS filament (or failed ABS print) with Acetone. Then brush that solution on to the two ABS parts to join. Acetone melts ABS so this will create a chemical weld.
I am curious why we should stay away from butanone. I would stay away from acetone.
I started using chloroform in the nineties to glue plexiglass. I tried acetone but then the plexiglass becomes opaque. Not really a problem for ABS but I don’t want to keep several solvents in stock for all plastics that dissolve in it.
In later years, when the world went mad with al kind of security rules, I could no longer buy chloroform and I switched to butanone. Both butanone and chloroform do not affect the surface finish of the plastics.
So please let me know why we should stay away from butanone. If it is availability then I can understand. It took me a while to find a supplier.
My understanding is that it has more health dangers, including CNS symptoms, than acetone.
I dissolve uncolored ABS filament in acetone and use it as ABS glue all the time. I repaired the baskets in my freezer with it, and I glue 3d-printed ABS parts with it frequently.
Exactly my concern. I recall hearing about people using MEK to weld PLA (or PETG?) and someone died as a result. Cardiac arrest IIRC.