To glue acrylic sheets together, many use acrylic cement. But for those who can’t afford acrylic cement or don’t have access to one, there is a way to glue acrylic sheets without acrylic cement. 

Gluing acrylic works with acrylic cement or another acrylic solvent because it causes the acrylic to melt together, which is why this process is also called solvent welding. 

The solvent causes a chemical reaction in the acrylic that will cause their surfaces to weld together. 

Which Solvent Is Best To Glue Acrylic Sheet Without Acrylic Cement?

If you search the internet, you will find many adhesives or solvents recommended for gluing acrylic sheets together, but not all of them are that good. 

The following are a few recommendations that have a proven track record.

Xylene.

Xylene is generally used for thinning paints and varnishes. 

But you may not know that xylene can be used in place of toluene because of the similar chemical structure.  

Why is this helpful to know? Because toluene is known to be a good solvent for acrylic. 

Methyl ethyl ketone or MEK. 

This solvent is an off-the-shelf PVC priming fluid. 

Plumbers most commonly use MEK to clean and prime PVC before gluing. But it is no secret that builders widely use it for solvent-welding styrene and similar plastics.

Lacquer thinner.

Lacquer thinner is very similar to xylene and used for similar purposes.  

This product contains toluene and MEK as its largest component. So you get two great qualities in one. 

Acetone.

Let’s see about acetone. 

Acetone contains dichloromethane. Dichloromethane is a solvent used in several commercial products to achieve welding traits. 

What To Look For In A Good Acrylic Solvent Weld?

If you still feel unsure about what you need to look for, don’t worry. Here you can discover the most important qualities a good acrylic solvent weld needs. 

The main two features that you should be looking for are:

• Clarity 
• Strength 

Here is how you can test whether your solvent has good clarity and strength to glue acrylic sheets together without acrylic cement:

1. Build a rig to test the strength of the bond
2. Bond a few pieces together to discover the clarity of your solvent
3. Use a dispenser bottle and a syringe to apply the solvent to each of the sheets
4. Let them cure for 24 hours 
5. Test the strength of the bond – you can do this a few different ways, such as having it pulled by a hook or screw it to a chair or other surface.

This testing will show you any visual defects the solvent may cause, and this will help you decide whether it is the right choice for your project. 

You can cut acrylic with a laser – this is the easiest way. But you can also cut acrylic by hand, although doing so will be more difficult. (You can read how to cut acrylic by hand in a bit).

You will find that the solvents mentioned above may not be as good as the acrylic cement, but if you test all the mentioned ones, you will most likely find that the MEK is the best. 

So how can you test the clarity of the solvents?

Follow these steps:

1. Wait for the solvent to cure fully
2. Check how it looks visually after the solvent has cured 
   1. Is it transparent?
   2. Did it remain unaltered? Have some solvents evaporated during the curing process, leaving visible gaps where two pieces (or parts of two) should be fully welded together?
   3. Did it cause the acrylic to crack?

Again, the MEK is usually the solvent that does the best in the clarity test. 

How To Cut Acrylic By Hand Without Cracking Or Damaging The Sheets?

Acrylic is also known as Poly(methylmethacrylate. 

You can choose acrylic sheets that are clear and transparent or colorful.

Acrylic is hard to cut, especially by hand, because of its texture. It can break, crack, or crack very easily. 

Here is how you can cut acrylic by hand without scratching, breaking, or cracking it, even if you don’t have a saw, but you want to achieve a good finish: 

Preparation.

Usually, new acrylic sheets come with protective adhesive paper. This protective paper protects the acrylic sheet from scratch. 

But if you use a recycled acrylic sheet, it may not have this protective adhesive paper. So then what?

1. Use conserve masking tape to cover the areas that will get more serious and complex cuts. 
2. Use clean paper (that doesn’t have any marks or prints) to cover the rest of the acrylic sheet – you can use clean baking paper for this.

Cutting acrylic sheets with the scoring method. 

You will need a rigid straight edge (you can use a rectangular tube). You will also need: 

• 2 clamps
• A flat surface with a rigid edge to clamp on to 
• A knife (or a scoring blade)

The next step.

Now follow these steps: 

1. Measure with precision where you want to cut the acrylic sheet and mark those spots
2. Line up the rectangular tube with the mark 
3. Clamp either end to the bench
4. Run the blade across the acrylic next to the straight edge, scoring it with
   each pass
5. Make sure that the scoring is firm enough so the blade won’t deviate but also gentle (and not rough) 
6. Flip the sheet 
7. Line up the rectangular tube with the score marks and re-clamp 
8. Score this side of the acrylic sheet 
9. Snap the piece of the acrylic sheet, getting an even force across the score mark

Don’t break the acrylic sheet from the short side. From this side, the force will not be
even. 

Breaking the acrylic sheet using the larger side will give you more leverage.

After you rotate and clamp the acrylic sheet, lining up the score mark with the edge of the bench and pushing downward to cause it to snap, you will notice so-called stress fractures along the break line. 

Cutting acrylic sheets with the saw method. 

Here is what you need if you want to try the saw method to cut acrylic sheets:

• Handsaw
• Jig 
• A sacrificial piece of timber 
• 4 clamps 

Now that you know the tools you need, here are the steps you need to implement:

1. Place the timber sheet onto the bench 
2. Place the acrylic on top of the timber sheet 
3. Place the jig on top of the acrylic 
4. Measure the acrylic 
5. Check the placement of the jig
6. Align the cut just off the edge of the table 
7. Clamp the sacrificial sheet and the acrylic and the jig together 
8. Clamp the jig to the table on either side 
9. Pass the saw into the jig, very gently I cut very gently 
10. Remove the clamps 
11. You are done!

Cutting acrylic sheets with the coping saw method. 

For this method, you will need:

• Clamps 
• A small piece of timber 
• A coping saw

Follow these steps:

1. Put the acrylic sheet on the workbench, with the cut line close to
   the edge of the bench for support 
2. Place timber on top 
3. Clamp it to the bench
4. Cut with the coping saw, coming slightly in after the start of the line – keep the blade at 90 degrees to the sheet 
5. If the blade doesn’t meet up with the line, that’s okay; make sure you won’t go over it 
6. Adjust the rotation of the coping saw as you follow the line until you reach the other
   side, and the cut is done

To finish the cut, you must first sand it and then polish it. 

For sanding, you can use sandpaper with various grits. You can use a small block of timber as your sanding block. 

Use rough sandpaper to sand the edge in long strokes until you get a finer surface. Now use finer grade sandpaper until you achieve a rough matte finish. 

For curved cuts, do the following:

1. Put the cut edge as close to the edge of the bench as possible
2. Place the timber on top 
3. Clamp it to the bench
4. Start sanding with the rougher sandpaper 
5. Keep the sanding block at 90 degrees to the acrylic
6. Switch to a finer sandpaper to achieve a rough matte finish 

Now polish.  

Use a clean rag and some creme cleanser or abrasive kitchen and bathroom paste cleanser as a buffing compound. 

Add a cleanser to the rag and polish the edge with small strokes followed by longer strokes.

For curved edges, put some paste cleaner on a rag and then wrap the rag around a sanding
block.

Conclusion

No solvent is a perfect replacement for acrylic cement, but you have options. You have chosen other solvents to glue acrylic sheets together without acrylic cement. 

But before you do, always do a test run to check the facts of the results. The two main attributes you need to test for are:

• Clarity 
• Strength 

And, if you don’t have a laser machine to cut the acrylic sheets, you now know how to cut these sheets by hand, implementing multiple methods without cracking, scraping, or breaking the acrylic sheet.