Started building an acrylic res - need some advice

[JayMax]

So I've just finished cutting and sanding the pieces of acrylic.
The pieces look fine to the eye - but with a T-square there is slight imperfections where they are going to join, and I've been having trouble getting the flat edges true.
I've got some methyl ethyl ketone and was going to put some acrylic shavings in it to form my cement.
I've been roughly following the guide from Pimprig - except I have no acetone, which I assume won't be a problem, it will just take longer to cure.
Will viscous cementing be forgiving enough to fill in my imperfections?
And will the MEK be sufficient? - any ideas on ratios/quantity of shavings to mek - should I be aiming for thin/runny or thick cement?

[jhurliman]

Originally Posted by JayMax

So I've just finished cutting and sanding the pieces of acrylic.
The pieces look fine to the eye - but with a T-square there is slight imperfections where they are going to join, and I've been having trouble getting the flat edges true.
I've got some methyl ethyl ketone and was going to put some acrylic shavings in it to form my cement.
I've been roughly following the guide from Pimprig - except I have no acetone, which I assume won't be a problem, it will just take longer to cure.
Will viscous cementing be forgiving enough to fill in my imperfections?
And will the MEK be sufficient? - any ideas on ratios/quantity of shavings to mek - should I be aiming for thin/runny or thick cement?

I've never played with methyl ethyl ketone before, I used Weld-On #4 to hold the thing together, but it's not an adhesive. It has the thickness of water and will chemically bond acrylic together, but unless your sheets are perfectly laser cut and assembled (mine weren't by a long shot, totally rounded corners) you need to seal up the seams. Aquarium sealant is 100% silicone which should probably work, but a butyl based marine sealant is a little bit more "hardcore" stuff and will definitely do the job, as long as you are patient and give it seven days to cure.



Oh yeah, and butyl based sealants are extremely sticky/messy.