acrylic solvent

[SavannahLion]

I tried to articulate this to the Taps girl but I don't think my question came across well on the phone.

I know the usual means of welding acrylics is water thin solvents. Slightly thicker solvents to fill in gaps. However..... is it feasable to "build up" the acrylic joint with much thicker solvents? Literally like bondo or JB Weld type of thing?

My goal is to "fix" LEDs in acrylic by encapsulating it in a small lump of acrylic. The placement would just happen to be along an acrylic join. I don't want to melt the LED or turn the acrylic sheet into a blob. Just encapsulate the LED.

Would feeding chips of acrylic into the water thin solvent thicken it enough into a JB Weld-like constency? Can I precisely place the thickened mixture with a syringe?

[RandyT]

The answer to this is "maybe", but I doubt the end result would be very appealing. 

I would make the joint as any other, and then set up a jig to drill the holes for the LEDs where you want them to be.  A good acrylic joint is pretty much as strong as the material, so this should be a viable approach.

[SavannahLion]

Yeah I saw the same technique on a couple of case modders forums to great affect. I'm not quite sure how successful that would be.  The LED I have is the awfully small SMT type. All the mods I saw used PTH LED.

After reading my post again I realized I made a typo. The LEDs are going to run alongside the joint, not along, as in not inside the actual joint.

I'll see if I can get a chance to fire up sketchup for a illustration.