DIY Plexi Boxes

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FraminGal

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
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Apr 24, 2002
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Pittsfield, MA - The Berkshires
I believe I've seen a thread re building plexi boxes but can't find it now. Any tried & sucessfull techniques for this? A customer brought in a DIY looking plexi box that had several real, but dead, butterflies mounted on thin plexi rods. A couple of the butterflies had come off their mount and the customer wanted to take those out of the box. My employee made a mess with the super glue when trying to glue the lid back on. I've built another box somewhat successfully but was wondering if there was any other methond I could try.
 
Call Lois at Superior aka the "Acrylic Queen"

Don't use Super Glue, use Acrylic adhesive (Mainly methylene chloride) make sure that the surfaces you are trying to join are clean, and flat.

Look in the phonebook under Plastic Suppliers and you may find a wealth of information right down the street, I get all my stuff from a local supplier when I'm tinkering, however when I want something to sell to a customer I still call Lois!!
 
I've made 4-5 boxes, since I was accumulating odd pieces of acrylic from more conventional purposes.

It is immensely tedious to do it yourself on an occasional basis, and it's unlikely I'll ever build another.

If you simply must do this (which would mean you're a masochist) you'll need some Weld-On #3 solvent cement and the appropriate applicator. You get these from a plastics dealer - not a hardware store. Get the smallest can available (probably 4 oz) since it will evaporate before you can possibly use it all.

There are some websites that will give you basic instructions, but I've deleted my bookmarks so I wouldn't be tempted to do this again. Basically it involves about 80 sanding steps - each with a progressively finer grit - to ensure nice, polished seams. You have to then dry assemble the whole box before applying the solvent along the seams. It works by capillary action, so the seams need to be a very good fit. If you spill one drop where it doesn't belong, your box will be unusable, since the solvent doesn't care whether it's dissolving a seam or a face.
 
Thanks Jerry! I too have used Superior for most plexi orders. In this case I'm just trying to replace someone elses DIY plexi box. I went out and got some PLASTIC SURGERY glue which seems to be working well. Thanx for the input.
 
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