Category Archives: Plastic

Mold Release, PVA and Hairspray

By Tom Pawlak — GBI Technical Advisor

PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) is a water-based liquid plastic that can be applied to waxed molds to prevent molded parts from sticking. PVA is not always required. Often laminators rely solely on mold release wax to create a surface contaminant on the mold that allows parts to be removed. However, on complicated molds and on new molds, when the risk of sticking a part in a mold is greatest, PVA can be applied over a waxed mold to minimize the chance of sticking a part. Continue reading →

Bonding PVC Plastic with Epoxy

Editor’s note: This article was originally written in 1994, long before we developed G/flex epoxies which offer vastly superior performance in bonding to plastics including PVC. A much more current article on this subject is Gluing Plastic with G/flex Epoxy by Tom Pawlak and Jeff Wright. If you’re interested in gluing PVC with epoxy, we suggest you start there. The following article is published at Epoxyworks.com for historical purposes only.

Continue reading →