Adhering vinyl to hard silicone plastic

July 25, 2017 10:35 AM

Looking to adhere vinyl to hard silicone plastic. It has to be able to withstand maybe 5 lb of load, and be professional looking and scalable. Any suggestions for glues, epoxies, or other materials to do so? We've seen the "This to That" site.
posted by jroybal to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Silicone is a bastard of a thing to get anything except silicone to stick to. Try neutral-cure silicone sealant. You might get enough adhesion to both your surfaces to get your job done.
posted by flabdablet at 11:03 AM on July 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

For adhering something to silicone I've had mild success with using a silicone adhesive after cleaning the surface with isopropyl alcohol. Mechanical fasteners are much more reliable. Permabond suggests using a polyolefin primer in conjunction with a flexible cyanoacrylate, but I've never personally tried that approach.
posted by RichardP at 11:16 AM on July 25, 2017

Everything I'm seeing seems to indicate that A) you will need to use a silicone-specific adhesive and B) you should probably use a silicone-specific adhesive primer as well. There are lots of options out there, but unfortunately I've not personally tried any of them so I can't give a specific recommendation. Fortunately you aren't looking for a high strength bond and lots of things will stick to vinyl, so you may be fine regardless of what product you use as long as you use it correctly.

You also mention scalability, though. What kind of scale are we tslking, here? It might help if you can give more detail regarding your application and intentions.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 1:11 PM on July 25, 2017

If you have access to industrial grade products, you're looking for the 3M 1300L. Make sure you prime both surfaces.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:02 PM on July 25, 2017