Tiles for Glue Tests

It was finally time to pick a glue to use when assembling a few different projects over the Halloween weekend. There was a slight problem, though. Or a few problems. Problem 1 - I had no idea what glue to use for plastic. Problem 2 - these projects were using multiple kinds of plastic, which can be notoriously hard to fuse together.

I've used PlasticWeld in the past, but it's a pain to use, mildly toxic, and the last bottle I had dried up years ago. A trip to the craft store ensued, with dire consequences: there are a lot of different glues, and all of them make claims of bonding anything to anything. So I did what
any curious person with very little free time on their hands would do: set myself up to systematically test as many different glues as I could get my hands on.

The tests are fairly straightforward:

• Test how well each glue bonds together three different types of plastic: ABS, PLA, and PET
• Each glue and material combination will undergo two different tests: a load test and a shear test

The load test stresses how well the glue forms a solid and strong layer between two pieces of plastic. The shear test looks at how well the materials and glue stand up to being ripped apart, like tearing off a band-aid.

These tiles are labeled for PLA, ABS, PET, and TPE, as well as having a blank tile.