bonding rubber sheets

[Don Y]

I have two sheets of "rubber" -- ea approx 6x12" -- that I would like to bond together (face to face) AS IF they were a single sheet. I.e.,

6x12" but thicker.

"Rubber cement"!

But, last time I used this was in grade school and I don't recall using it for *rubber*!

Nor do I recall it as being a particularly strong bond! OTOH, I (belatedly!) understand that such an adhesive needs to be flexible (at least in some applications -- mine) and not brittle!

I'm concerned primarily with shear loads, vibration, temperature extremes (-30F -- +130F), moisture, etc.

Does "rubber cement" have these characteristics? Was my childhood exposure to it just driven by some *other* "advantage" that it had, back then (cheap, safe, etc.) -- considering the uses a kid would have for it wouldn't tend to need "strength", durability, etc.

[Terry Coombs]

You want contact cement . Try to get the solvent based , the latex stuff (at least in years past) is junk .

[Don Y]

Thx!

[clare]

There is a product called "last glue" - very much like superglue, but designed for bonding "O"ring material etc. I've never had any luck with "crazy glue", but this stuff is FANTASTIC.. Bonds virtually anything to anything and is not a "brittle bond"

[mike]

Would be interesting to know how thick the sheets are, how much bending/flexing is needed and what's the consequence of failure. Off the top of my inexperienced head, wouldn't vulcanizing be a better choice than trying to glue something that's flexing?

Half a square foot of rubber sheet can't be all that expensive.

[herb white]

How thick are these sheets? Maybe you could try sewing them together.

[hubops]

Clare's suggested product - a new one on me - but sounds good.

My first thought was the rubber cement used for patching inner tubes.

Also - an old web site was once dedicated to gluing -

John T.

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[Don Y]

Visited a larger, well stocked hardware store this morning. I.e., they have a "glue aisle". After reading labels, selected what *I* thought would be the best product.

Sales droid, unaware of my selection, then selected the same product.

Tried this on returning home. Perfect! Those pieces will never be coming apart, now! Though product claims it should cure for many *days* (WTF?!).

Having *finished* the job, read the label more thoroughly and note that it calls itself a "contact adhesive". (sure dries *fast*, though)

Thanks, again!

[clare]

I used to use "Plyobond" for a lot of that kind of use, years ago. Not sure if it is still available. Found it was tougher than Lepages "contact cement"

[Tekkie®]

Oren posted for all of us...

Only the dean knows...

[Jon Danniken]

IMNSHO, things like rubber cement and contact cement are basically the same solvent(s) at different concentrations and with different amount of thickeners.

I recently needed to bond some rubber, and not having anything appropriate, I used an already opened can of plasti-dip (which has a very strong solvent stink). The rubber stuck to itself very well, but in the future I would like to do some experiments and try to figure out which specific solvent(s) are the best to use for rubber.

We already know that tetrahydrofuran is the cat's pajamas for vinyl (and PVC) applications, now we just need to figure out what rubber wants.

Jon

[clare]

It will depend on what kind of "rubber" it is - - -many kinds of synthetic rubbers, and different concentrations of natural rubber mixed with them - -

[Mary.Schooner]

I've never used Rubber Cement. I just slip the rubber on my dick and get down to business!

[Jon Danniken]

This is true; for my application, the rubber in question was a section from an inner tube intended for use inside of a tire.

Jon

[clare]

So likely fairly high in Butyl.