Anyone have any idea how to fuse rubber?

[crpntr133]

Ohh. Ok that explains everything... i was beginning to wonder if rubber had that "cast iron" principle, as in once it's been cast, if you want to manipulate it again, you pretty much cant - only re cast it. Yeah, that would explain the rubber burning/dissolving whilte trying to remelt it.
Strange thing is i remember reading on the one website i did manage to find while back about roofers using a torch to weld rubber, they must not have meant it like i thought they did, though.
Thanks

I've done several rubber roofs and never used any type of heat. Now they use to use, and maybe still do, and heat activated "glue". If you want to glue it, go to the local hardware in the rubber roofing area. The glue they sell in the kits doesn't come apart.

 

[DepthCharge]

Hey you guys, just trying to figure this out... great thing to know for making your own dive equip... unfortunely it doesn't work?
Sure thought it would be easy after i heard rubber has a melting point of 250 deg F, man was i ever wrong... i must be overlooking something, here's what keeps happening:
As a test i take two rectangular pieces of EPDM that are about 1/8" thick and clamp them down to where the pieces are right up against eachother, forming an unwelded "seam", i tried heating up the seam @ 250 deg f with a heat gun, and after about 15 minutes... it did nothing, just smoked a bit.... ok so then i took the gun, put it on 1200 deg f, did the same thing, it smoked and turned white.
Then i took a butane torch to it.... it smoked, turned white, then caught on fire... it didn't really matter wheither i held the heat gun/torch close, or far away it would do the same thing just take shorter/longer.... i just don't get it... i see rubber products with, what obviously appears to be welded seams all the time, so.....?
Whats even odder is there is *no* info on the net i could find about this at all...
/shrug
Anyway has anyone here ever successfully welded rubber? What am i overlooking?
(on a side note, the pvc pipes i tried to weld earlier behaved very simularly, but thats a different story)

Try super-glues.......... it's what comes in DIY O-ring kits. Example

 

[shawnstam]

The rubber has to be vulcanized "did I spell that right" then all you have to do is stick the two togather and they will stick. It is the same as PVC glue. It is not glue rather a chemical that melts the PVC plastic. If it were me I would experiment with diffennt types of glues for plastic pipes and see if any of them melt the rubber. Also try the cement for patching bike tires I belive it vulcanizes rubber.

hope that helps shawn

 

[cool_hardware52]

The rubber has to be vulcanized "did I spell that right" then all you have to do is stick the two togather and they will stick. It is the same as PVC glue. It is not glue rather a chemical that melts the PVC plastic. If it were me I would experiment with diffennt types of glues for plastic pipes and see if any of them melt the rubber. Also try the cement for patching bike tires I belive it vulcanizes rubber.

hope that helps shawn

PVC is a thermoplastic that can be "solvent welded" solvent welding involves applying a solvent that dissolves the PVC.

Vulcanizing is "curing" process for thermoset rubbers. It involves the non reversible cross linking of the polymer. This usually, but not always requires the application of heat.

Tobin

 

[beanojones]

McMaster-Carr sells vulcanizing kits for making your own O-rings from rubber cord.

O-Rings, Cordstock, and Accessories