Emergency acrylic repair-please help!

[soglf]

Hi everyone,
I work at MIT Sea Grant, and we're working with an artists at MIT's List Center. There's an exhibition opening tomorrow that involves a glass ROV (how we're involved) that will be submerged in a 4' tall acrylic cylinder, 2' diameter, about 1/2"-3/4" thick filled with mineral oil. THE ACRYLIC HAS A CRACK!!! about 2" from the base, about 4" long (at least that we can see) and doesn't seem to be all the way through, but hard to tell.

ANY SUGGESTIONS? Anyone know someone who does emergency acrylic repair around Boston? And the best part.... the exhibit opens tomorrow!
Please call our engineer, Mike Soroka, on his cell at 401-932-9361
Thanks for any help!

 

[JohnK]

There is no pretty way to fix this, but if it is leaking it could be patched with "weld-on #16". The repair would look messy, but could be done easily enough.

I would suggest water/oil testing the cylinder to see if it's actually leaking. Sometimes acrylic materials can develop cracks or crazing from different stresses in the mfg or fabrication process. If it's not cracked all the way through, leave it be and it will likely be fine.

If you want to consult a professional fabricatior, I would suggest getting in touch with altec in boston and see if they can help you out. Altec Plastics Inc acrylic stock, scraps, glue and applicators, etc
116 B St Boston,MA 02127
617-269-1400


Online, you can also get professional advice from James (screen name "acrylics") on Reefcentral. He has an eternal acrylic advice thread in the DIY section. Here's his thread, posting a question and a pic or two should get a response fairly quickly. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17038131#post17038131