How To?

[fobnicat]

Hmm... Ok here is what I got... Several cut pieces of rent-a-bond.. and an idea.. problem is, what ist he best way to hold the two pieces of rent-a-bond together.. I am bad about moving my comp around and so I dont want to it to be fragile.. the rent-a-bond is strong... if you dont konw what it is: thin piece of plexiglass with an even thinner piece of aluminum on either side.. I am unable to weld aluminum.. Just not that good with a wire welder... Its only about an 1/8 of an inch think so waht is that 0.32 cm think? 3.2mm? somethign like that.. my math sucks.. especially in my head.. I have some angle aluminum but i can only get it with usual 90 degree bendd.. guess i could undo some of that and open it up to about 130 but then it probably wont be even.. and probably not even possible.. I could cut out a bit of the aluminum on one side and bend it to make a frame on the end, but that leaves me with an ugly cut in the frame.. could cover that with bondo but not sure if i wantt o do that and that defeats teh purpose of using the aluminum in the beginning and so I lose that aluminum modern look..

So that is the idea ive thought of... but obviously not the route I am taking.. would silicone bead work to hold it together? And just do angle cuts and but the pieces of angle aluminum together? Hmm... That might work.. but I am not srue of the strength of silicone bead?

Thanks guys.. for even reading that babble at the top.. if you didnt read it.. then SHAME ON YOU! hahah Just kidding...Or am I?

[Rankenphile]

well, one method of attachment to create a strong, permanent bond would be to use a rivet gun to join your pieces, but you would have to have an angle piece to bind them to for corners.

As an added note, and not as a criticism, you may find more helpful replies if you include more information in your subject line. For instance, instead of just asking "How to?", ask "Methods for joining rent-a-bond?" It speeds up browsing topics, and may help attract people with knowledge in the subject who don't have time to read every topic.

Good luck!

[fobnicat]

Cool cool yeah I was planning to rivet the angle aluminum onto the renta-bond.. but i am not able to rivet the two pieces together I am currently working on.. Imagine looking into the end of it and it looking like an octagon I am attempting to join the sides together without having to use some sort of plate.... sorta like trying to join \_ that angle is wehre i am having the problem... But I do appreciate your help and I will deffintly keep in mind to be more creative with my topic titles.. Thanks!

[Rankenphile]

You can always create your own angle using a bending jig you make yourself with a miter saw and a little plexi. I drew a picture for another thread a while ago to illustrate how to do it... let me see if I can find it.

edit: here you go.

http://rankenphile.com/images/bending_styrene.gif

[fobnicat]

Will heat bending work with Rent-a-bond? or a aluminum angle? I woudlnt think it would, but I might not know something you do :) Thanks for the help...

[Rankenphile]

with aluminum, sort of. You've gotta heat it up pretty hot with a torch, and you would obviously need to use a steel jig. You'd be better off with a bending brake - take a look at the one TribalOverkill made for a good example on how to set something like that up yourself.

With the rent-a-bond, you might want to give it a shot, if the aluminum laminates are thin enough it might work fairly easily. Never worked with it before.

Let us know.

[jdbnsn]

I have never used silicone bead before, buy I have used JB Weld (can get it anywhere) for similar purposes and it worked pretty good. I can't picture exactly whet you are doing, but if I were connecting two pieces of aluminum like this that are too thin to weld, I would think about making "trusses" so to speak. Cut angles out of just about anything lightweight and space them out along your seam then fix them by two sides to the aluminum and run some adhesive along the inside edge of the seam as well. I don't know if this helps or not, there are many much more experienced people on this forum that can likely give you a better answer. Good luck!

[fobnicat]

Thanks for the replies guys... Has deffinetly given me more confidence in my project... doubt I will start a worklog on it becasue I dont have it planned out very well...

[Judgement]

well I think I'm a little late BUT just incase try out J-B Weld ive never use it myself but ive been told it works great and u can get it at home depot or order it online http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O1ICE/ref=nosim/102-0745088-9784901?n=228013