Sunday, July 25, 2010

ABS leftovers turn to glue

When printing, you're bound to have a heap of little scraps of extruded ABS (rafts, test extrusions, clogs). Untill the day comes when granulated ABS can be extruded, here's a great way to utilize something you would otherwise throw away!

Take your scraps and crush/cut them up as small as you can, then put them in a GLASS container (an old drinking glass for instance). USE GLASS because acetone dissolves certain plastics (polymers, like abs!!).
Pour in Acetone and stir it around every half hour or so. Repeat the stiring for about a day. Add more acetone untill your solution has the desired thickness. Now, acetone is very fleeting when exposed to oxygen, so cover the glass - unless your mixture is too thin and in that case leave it uncovered. Make sure to keep the mixtuer in a well vented area when uncovered. Eitherway keep it in a vented area because Acetone stinks and can cause a nasty headache. Depending on the pureness of the acetone, it might evaporate fast or slower.

A good way to seal the glass is to use parafilm. This is used in chemistry labs and is a great way of sealing the beaker. Don't use any type of plastic (polymer based) cling film, because the acetone vapor will dissolve it (like household cling film).

ABS is used in allot of products, including car parts. You could use the ABS glue to touch up parts of your bumper or any other application that uses ABS. With a bit of creativity you could even use the mixture to mould things.

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