Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is there any way to seperate two pieces of 1/4 inch acrylic that has been bonded together with the plastic adhesive? i got a few interesting things the other day but need to remove some of the thigns attached to it in order to turn into nice cage or somethign

kind of dumb answer but do you have the box Tim or the product name to where you look it up and find out how to dilute it like water based paint water, oil based paint mineral spirits. I would soak it in something like above and drive a shim preferrably not wood but the composite shims from home depot in between them at different entry points and go from there. Prolly didn't help but I thought I would give it a go for a Tim since that alcohol is prolly still in your systemlol
Bob

nope i got the plexi things from a buddy he had them layin around and i go ooo i could do somehtign with them lol my frist thought was hammer that way if it doesnt work then it will fit nice in the garbage can lol

can hi-jack a thread around here but the point of this one is to ask if your sponsor logo was gonna get upgraded like Mike's or is that an extra-don't answer that one lol but I really like the homepage logos (or whatever you call them) rather than the text a lot more but I vote for the no text and I'm willing to donate 5 whole bucks to your cause lol
Bob

i think they have to have the whatever level account on KS as to where they have that lil logo in the classifieds as you see and a pretty color bar lol anywhos i think you need that account in order for it to work that way everythign is sized already etc. i could be oh so very wrong tho lol

it all Tim and you can't get 2 pieces of acrylic apart lol When stuff works like it should it is damn near impossible to reverse but soaking will prolly help a little I would imagine to soften up the adhesive and the shim trick should work by standing up the acrylic vertically. But you prolly right about the logo part but ks looks spiced up all of a sudden with all those nice flashy logos everywhere. Best of luck seperating the two and better use two energy drinks to get amped up
Bob

but it does look nice with the little logos instead alot better i must say myself. this week is get ideas to seperate and stay up for the next week straight my ball pythons are due to hatch tonight or so roughly they are all soft so its coming very very very soon then rest up finish getting the house in order and fixing my dryer that broke on me the other day grrr then next week we are having a HUGE rummage sale and using the plexi thigns as shelfs for the rummage then i am destroying the shelfs or sorry tryin to get them apart but i feel it will end up with me with a sledge hammer lol

...attatched the two pieces. If it is actually an adhesive then you could POSSIBLY find a solvent that disolves the glue but not the plexiglass.

That being said the only glue I ever used for plexiglass to plexiglass work, back when I worked with it, was a glue which was not an adhesive(sorta like some PVC glues). What it was composed of was some colored(or clear) plexiglass dissolved in a solvent. When you applied it between two pieces of plexiglass it slightly melted/dissolved the two touching surfaces. You then clamped them together with slight pressure for about 15 minutes after which the two softened edges would have fused together.

If they used a plexiglass glue like the ones I used then you won't be able to seperate them cleanly, at least not in whole pieces. You could use a tool(saw, rasp, file, or grinder of some sort) to remove almost all of the piece you do not want and then sand the remainder off. If you do this though you will have to go through the process of sanding plexiglass smooth and pollishing it if you want it to look good. This takes alot of work cause you have to work all the way down to wetsanding with emory paper then using cloth and polishing agent if you do not want the plastic to look scuffed but it will do the job.

If you try the solvent route then make sure it is not a solvent that dissolves plastic.

Also remember that while plexiglass does not shatter from impact type force it shatters pretty easily from compression or torque so be carefull trying to wedge something between the pieces that you do not shatter the part you want to keep.

Sean.

Before spending money on a solvent or something to try to get them apart that may or may not work - go to Home Depot or a similar type store and check the price on new acrylic (usually located in/near the window section). It may be worth the savings in spend, time and effort to start with a new piece.
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Mike

6.7 BRB
1.2 Spotted Python
1.0 Cal. King

and if what you need is a width or size that they don't carry at home depot(mostly carry window replacements) then lookup local plastics companies. Plexiglass is normally fairly inexpensive.

Sean.