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Acrylic Bong has cracks - How to repair?

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Ohpea

Greenlighter
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May 20, 2012
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Hello all,

I have one of those generic, straight, cylindrical acrylic type bongs you can find at your local headshop (was less than $20), and it has a few cracks towards the bottom and up to where the stem is. This happened quite a while ago and I had stored it away, and after cleaning recently came across it, and figured I may as well attempt a repair instead of throwing it out.

I have some Scotch Super Glue Liquid (ethyl cyanoacrylate) laying around, and after doing some searching online, not certain if this will hold up over time in terms of being water proof. So I guess it's either try this stuff out, or go for an epoxy such as like Permatex® PermaPoxy™ 5 Minute Plastic Weld...wondering if anyone else has gone through something similar, any advice, etc.? Thanks in advance.
 
You have to be careful with glue and acrylic because its a polymer after all, so everything that polymerizes like glue will also contain additives that stop the polymerization (the glue has to be liquid at the start right ?), so if you choose the wrong glue you may end up melting your bong instead of fixing it.
If it was only for 20$ I wouldn't bother repairing, just get a new one, maybe a glass piece even, acrylic bongs are the devil anyways :P
 
This happened to my white acrylic bong and I used bondo and it seemed to work pretty well... they make epoxies formulated specially for acrylic, even specific colors. Any home improvement store should suit your needs.
 
^ Good advice on the epoxy.

Remember never to clean out an acrylic bong with isopropyl alcohol, as it breaks down the acrylic plastic on a chemical level, leaving little particles of acrylic inside, which can never be properly removed.
 
For the price of a new acrylic bong, against the hassle of fixing one and hoping your not ingesting deadly glue smoke. I'd say just buy a new one pal!
 
I agree I'd just buy a new bong. Or see if the cracks even effect smoking at all.

Thanks for the advice about not cleaning a bong out with ISO EM. When I smoked out of an acrylic I forget if I cleaned it out with ISO or if I just rinsed it out with warm tap water and didn't let the dirty bong water sit in it too long? :\ If I were going to use a bong again I'd use a small glass one I have instead of the acrylic that I would put in the freezer so the water in it would become ice. I do not smoke herb anymore but since I have a vape I could connect it to a bong as I've seen pictures of people doing this.
 
Acrylic bongs are a consumable, like rolling papers.

You can't clean them, and they crack over time. I think they crack during normal use, not just from improper cleaning.

They're also kinda low class, they don't reflect well on you when you offer them to guests. If you can't offer your guests a bag vape, or a glass bong, or a glass pipe, or even a joint (in the appropriate setting - when chosen when you have nothing else, you look like a failure of a stoner, but sometimes it just feels right to smoke a joint - it's great for occasional smokers, everyone knows how to use a joint), what kind of stoner host are you? When you break out an acrylic bong (or worse yet, a well used metal pipe), your guests will assume you have rats or worse infesting your filthy hovel and that you are a loser going nowhere in life, if the debris on your front lawn didn't give it away already. It's actually worse than having nothing but papers, because it displays that you smoke regularly enough to have a bong, but don't care enough to get a decent device to smoke from. Naturally if you have other better smoking equipment on hand in sight of your guests, that alleviates that concern, but in that case, it's a snub to your guests, that you don't trust them to smoke out of a nicer device, so you pass them the toy bong. Your finer parties nowadays typically offer a bag vape, or simple glass bong at a minimum (a fancy glass pipe is of course appropriate for parties with many non-smokers, where a bong might make them feel unwelcome). Anyway, maybe your friends are less judgemental than I am....

On a more practical note, I would repair it with superglue if I had to, specifically cyanoacrylate based superglue (typically sold as "super glue" or "crazy glue" - it will usually say somewhere on it. It's the stuff that bonds _instantly_ to skin), preferably the free-flowing variety, since it will enter the cracks via capilary action and bind them back together. This superglue hardens by polymerizing into a polycyanoacrylate - which is very similar to the acrylic bongs are made out of. It is also generally not harmful after it hardens (another reason to pick free flowing - no plasticizers) - it is used medically (and just how you would expect it to be - to glue people together. It's been used as a substitute for stitches) and in situations that will contact food routinely.

But my general advice is to throw it away, buy a new bong, preferably a glass one. Or a vape, you can get volcano-alikes in the $150-170 range now!
 
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^ Don't buy Volcano clones, a lot of those are Chinese made and pieces of shit. If you can't afford a Volcano, there are plenty of cheaper, well-known vaporizers that a lot of people love.

But I agree, acrylic's for middle schoolers. I wouldn't bother cleaning it out or repairing it, and use this an excuse to buy yourself a nice, thick, none-branded, 1 foot Glass-on-Glass bong. They usually go for [I know it's vague, but we don't like to open the floor for price discussion - chainer] for a really nice one, just make sure it is thick (3mm at least, but 5mm is a lot better) and that the frosted GoG connections don't have any, or at least too much, "play" when you wiggle them.

You spend so much money on weed, why not smoke it properly? This isn't to impress people, but rather to have an enjoyable smoking experience, getting high while watching your bong fill up with thick milky rips. :D
 
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Just get a new one man. With the cost of the supplies and the time and effort it will take it would just be easier to replace it.
 
Superglue is not water-proof.
When you break out an acrylic bong (or worse yet, a well used metal pipe), your guests will assume you have rats or worse infesting your filthy hovel and that you are a loser going nowhere in life
Click to expand...
Because all the movers and shakers in this world have glass bongs. It's the hallmark of a successful individual.
 
Vader said:
Superglue is not water-proof.

Because all the movers and shakers in this world have glass bongs. It's the hallmark of a successful individual.
Click to expand...

If you have experienced non-water-proof superglue, it's not-superglue being sold as superglue. Cyanoacrylate is fully waterproof.

Out of the movers and shakers who smoke pot, I'd say yes it is, without sarcasm.
 
OP clearly lacks education in the field of redneck engineering. This problem, like innumerable others, can be solved by the liberal application of duct tape.
 
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