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I have printed some connectors from PLA, in order to make a frame for a "tent" cover for my Ender3 printer

Since printing rods would be a long process with likely poor results, I'm using some cheap thin-walled metal tubes as the main structure, and printing the corners.

I plan on using 2 part epoxy to secure the metal rods into the sockets in my printed part, but can find no real chart of what glue to use with which FDM plastics.

Is 2 part epoxy a suitable adhesive for PLA and other hard items?

Criggie
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  • I'm thinking this question might be extended to cover all combinations of FDM plastics, and common other materials, if there are sufficient combinations. Or if it is only "superglue plastic to plastic and epoxy plastic to everything else" then there's not enough depth for a CW. – Criggie Nov 14 '21 at 00:09
  • your epoxy plan should be alright. https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/q/6723/23523 – Abel Nov 14 '21 at 03:54
  • Does this answer your question? [What glues for bonding printed PLA to injection-molded plastic?](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/6723/what-glues-for-bonding-printed-pla-to-injection-molded-plastic) – Trish Nov 21 '21 at 01:04
  • @Trish Good spotting but **no**, that's about injection molded plastic to 3d printed PLA is a different combination. I'm wondering if there should be a community wiki answer that charts all the combinations. For example, PLA, PLA+, Wood PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU.... And down the other side, the same list of plastics plus non-printable things, like steel, aluminium, grown-wood, processed wood, glass, paper, fabric, leather, concrete, Injection Moulded plastic, Polystychrene, etc etc etc. That could be a "knowledgebase answer" or Canonical answer to expand over time. – Criggie Nov 21 '21 at 05:35
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    The answer there is actually very much "any - any", only few polymers can't be used with those glues. – Trish Nov 21 '21 at 08:29
  • @Trish hmmm - maybe there's a shorter question by itself - what glues/adhesives are incompatible with various printed plastics ? ABS and Acetone, for example. – Criggie Nov 21 '21 at 09:33

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Confirmed - 2 part epoxy works fine between PLA and other things.

I used "selleys" brand, and found that the fastest-setting 5 minute version worked fine, but on paper produces a "weaker" bond than the slow-curing one.

The 5 minute version also has a distinct odour of cat pee, which is not present in the slow version.

Downside, the slow version took 2 days to harden completely, but my item is definitely secured together well.

https://www.selleys.co.nz/products/adhesives/heavy-duty-repairs/selleys-araldite-super-strength/

NOTE that the above link says

Not suitable for bonding plastics such as Polypropylene and Polyethylene

Own work

Own work

Criggie
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    Because of the "Not suitable for bonding plastics", I would recommend to keep checking the integrity of the connections. It could be that over time the connections fail with plastics. – agarza Nov 21 '21 at 01:11
  • Yup - will report back in a few months with an update. Above photo contains 12 printed items (4x joiners, 4x corners, and 4x pipe corners) – Criggie Nov 21 '21 at 05:31