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The best glue for 3D printed parts, by material

Workshop · Assemble

Cyanoacrylate handles most printed joints, epoxy is the choice where the joint carries load or the faces do not meet cleanly, and solvent welding genuinely fuses ABS and ASA rather than gluing them. The plastic decides which of the three you reach for, and the surface preparation decides whether it holds.

Match the adhesive to the plastic

Cyanoacrylate, plain superglue, bonds PLA, ABS, ASA and the composite variants of each without ceremony. It is fast, it is strong in shear, and it is brittle under impact. For most brackets, figures and repairs it is the right answer.

PETG is a poorer host. It has a smoother, lower-energy surface than PLA and cyanoacrylate can sit on it rather than grip. Keying the faces with sandpaper first makes more difference on PETG than on anything else, and epoxy is the more reliable choice when the joint matters.

TPU and the flexibles need an adhesive that stays flexible. A rigid bond on a part designed to bend simply moves the failure to the edge of the glue line, and it will fail there on the first flex.

Epoxy where the joint has a job to do

Two-part epoxy is slower and messier and it is what you want when the joint is structural, when the faces do not meet perfectly, or when you need working time to align parts. It fills gaps that cyanoacrylate cannot bridge, and it stays tougher under impact.

Printed faces are rarely as flat as they look, particularly on a face that was against supports. Epoxy is forgiving of that in a way a thin adhesive is not.

Solvent welding is a different thing entirely

Acetone dissolves ABS and ASA. Applied to two mating faces it softens both, and as it evaporates the plastic re-forms as one piece. That is a weld, not a bond, and it is stronger than any adhesive joint you will make in those materials.

It only works on plastics the solvent attacks. PLA, PETG and the nylons do not solvent weld with acetone, and attempting it produces a wet part and nothing else. Do not extrapolate the technique across materials.

Acetone is flammable and its vapour needs ventilation. This is a job for open air or an extracted space, not a closed room.

Prepare the faces, and design the joint

Key both faces with sandpaper and clean off the dust. A printed surface looks rough but its ridges run in one direction, and adhesive keys far better into a randomly scratched face than into parallel layer lines.

Where you control the model, give the joint some help: a lip, a peg, a recess, anything that locates the parts and adds bonded area. Adhesive is much better in shear than in peel, and a flat butt joint between two printed faces is the weakest arrangement available.

What this needs

Each item is listed with the specification that decides whether a given product will actually do the job, because that is the part product titles tend to leave out.

Cyanoacrylate adhesive

Thin or medium viscosity, with an accelerator

The default for printed joints. An accelerator matters on PETG and on large faces, where the glue would otherwise skin before it grips.

CA glue and accelerator comboBob Smith Industries · CA glue and accelerator comboGlue and accelerator together, which is what PETG and large bonded faces actually need

Two-part epoxy

Five-minute or slower, gap filling

For joints that carry load or faces that do not meet cleanly. The slower cure buys alignment time that superglue does not give you.

Clear 5-minute epoxy syringe, 25 mlJ-B Weld · Clear 5-minute epoxy syringe, 25 mlTwin syringe meters both parts evenly, and five minutes is enough to align a joint

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Common questions

What is the best glue for 3D printed parts?
Cyanoacrylate for most joints in PLA, ABS and ASA. Two-part epoxy where the joint carries load or the faces do not meet cleanly. For ABS and ASA specifically, acetone solvent welding is stronger than either.
How do you glue PLA?
Cyanoacrylate bonds PLA well. Key both faces with sandpaper, clean off the dust, and use epoxy instead if the joint is structural. PLA does not solvent weld with acetone.
Can you glue PETG?
Yes, but it is harder than PLA because the surface is smoother and lower energy. Sand both faces first, use an accelerator with cyanoacrylate, or choose epoxy where the joint matters.
Does acetone weld 3D printed parts?
On ABS and ASA, yes. It dissolves the surface of both faces so they re-form as one piece, which is stronger than an adhesive joint. It does nothing useful on PLA, PETG or nylon.

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