Glue for polythene

I used to use slabs of polythene to make work surfaces for a clean room. The only thing I found that worked reliably to hold two parts together was to drill, tap and bolt together.

You either need to heat weld it or use a superglue with an activator so that it 'takes' on the polythene. Polythene is difficult to mend.

Almost impossible. It is too 'waxy' for anything to stick

I have only ever found two solutions that almost work, but at rather low strength Car body filler and the original evo stik.

Xylene is the most common solvent, but I have never come across it in a D-i-Y context although you seem to be able to get it on Amazon

You might try hot glue for a low strength bond

Momentarily exposing the polythene surfaces to a hot flame can make them more reactive and might make some degree of weak adhesion possible. This method is used on PTFE, although aggressive chemicals that attack the surface such as "Tetra-etch" are more repeatable. John

It's to repair a self tapping hole that's too loose. I drilled a larger hole for a polythene plug , but can't bond it. I tried hot glue as well. It looks like from the responses I'll have to make a metal threaded insert and tap into that

Cheers

Brian

Perhaps something is this can help?

Use an eyelet, there are plenty of cheap kits on Amazon complete with setting punch & die.

Er no. If that is your problem its WAY easier than that. Simply buy some threaded inserts made for 3D printers, pop one on a not too hot* soldering iron tip and press it into the polythene.

I bought a load of these as soon as I started 3D printing a few weeks ago and cannot say how much better they are than self taps.

• you want to melt the polythene, but only locally and only just.

I might have to do that. I had to use a plastic plug since the metal one shorted on something. The plastic plug unscrews itself

Brian

If its any help, I need occasionally to bond PTFE components and use Loctite 770 as a primer and Loctite 406 as the adhesive.

I don't know if they will work on polythene, but may be worth a try.

However the 770 and 406 Loctites are not cheap - it may not be economically viable fix.

Just as an aside, at flame temperatures PTFE can give off some very toxic stuff, so that is a rather hazardous operation.

I think at work we used hydrofluoric acid as an etching agent - not something to try at home.

I persevered with my PTFE screw plug ( my polythene rod wouldn't thread easily) and locked the thread with self amalgamating tape .Next step was to drill a keyway between the threads an fill it with something.

Tnx

Brian