Prudence The Safety Goat here, bleating for safety. While 3D Gloop is just about the only material that provides a solid bond with PLA through solvent action, and it may be the only solution for some use cases, be aware that it’s main ingredient is methylene chloride. A chemical not to be trifled with. I’m not saying don’t use it. I’m saying know what you are using. If I end up needing to bond PLA with a solvent type solution, I will buy and use 3D Gloop but I will do so knowing it’s hazards. It’s as simple as out in the garage with the door open, on the porch or with a fan blowing across the work area and out the window.
3D Gloop solves the issue with CA glues as mentioned above. As far as I know, it’s the only option as methylene chloride is the only solvent for PLA that I’ve heard of so far. CA glues are very brittle and do not create a solvent or “welded” bond but instead a superficial bond with surface imperfections in the parts which will break as noted.
Thanks for the info. I have to be extra careful as I have three cockatiels which are very susceptible to toxic fumes. I have a pretty good ventilation system to the outside for my airbrushing station so it appears I may need to use that for 3D Gloop as well.
3D Gloop is the only thing I use now. A little pricey, but it’s well worth it. Well at least for PLA on PLA. Like someone else mentioned here it doesn’t seem to like when you try glueing it to a different type of material like a magnet. I still use like a JB weld type of superglue for that.
I’m allergic to superglue and two component epoxies. I had to find a substitute. I’ve found DUCO cement to be great for PLA. It does not set up super fast and ultimate bond strength is 24 hours. However, it makes fo super strong joints. You can also use it to fillet around items to make the attachment are stronger. Dries clear
I bought one of those a couple of weeks ago (Scrib3D) but haven’t gotten around to opening it up yet. I saw a couple of videos of people using that to fuse parts together. It seems to add a bit of post processing with the sanding and such, but it might work. The one concern I have is that a lot of the prints I will be doing for later airbrushing are action figures (less than 12 inches in height (< 30cm)) and you end up with a lot of nooks and crannies which I imagine are difficult to sand while maintaining the detail.
However, all these little issues and concerns are why I knew I would love this new hobby, so many things to consider and learn.
I use superglue with a spray activator, the activator is only a couple of euros. Makes the object stick properly and very quickly. Normal super glue looses adhesion after a week or so without it.
I have used a printed dowel and place receiver holes on sides A & B…at that point, you can either glue or place ridges on the dowel, so it locks in place.i have printed PETG dowels for PLA, still playing with CF, etc…hope it helps
I’ve used Weld-on to glue petg parts together. They have different numbered Weld-ons. You have to look in a table to see which number works for the plastics you want to stick together.
BTW, since we’re melting these plastics anyway in order to print them, maybe a friction weld would be an option in some cases. Basically spin the two parts together, generating friction heat, to the point where they melt into each other.