Broken gel apparatus--easy fix? - (Nov/09/2005 )

Does anyone know what chemical can be used to repair cracks in plastic gel trays and gel running apparatus? Not aquarium glue, something like ethyl chloride or ethyl acetate or was it just chloroform??? Anyway, anyone know this trick or another one with a common lab chemical????

Thanks for your help....

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The cheapest way is to use autoclave tape to repair the cracks, as it can cope with high temperature of the boiling agarose gel. If you use glue, you may have an uneven surface for your plastic gel trays.

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Thank you minnie mouse, that is a cool way, but I wanted to know the chemical... you put it on both sides and it kind of melts the plastic together then evaporates and leaves the two pieces repaired...

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i seem to remember that it's chloroform, but it's been a loonnngg time since i've done that....

spot a little tiny bit of chloroform somewhere on the edge and see what happens? when you do a repair that way, you get that narrow white track along the crack that sort of looks like a welding bead on the plastic...from the way it looks when you drop a bit of chloroform on the plastic, you should be able to tell??

just in case, do it in the hood

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Methyl chloride is the solvent of choice if you have some. I haven't tried chloroform, but it probably works as well.

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acetone maybe?

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Will acetone melt the gel apparatus?
I heard someone used acetone to clean the coomassive blue stained telephone and the phone disappeared tomorrow!!!!

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I already used 100% chloroform and it worked very well. Just apply a little using 200ul pipette, so that there won't be extra flowing while applying. Chloroform is corrosive to the acrylic material and their shouldnot be anyextra (Overflowing liquid will make permanent mark, careful). Keep the piece to be joined immediately and without disturbing let it sit for 10 min. It is ready.

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Thanks very much to all of you for your replies I couldn't find any Methyl Chloride, but the chloroform seems to have worked.... Thank you again!!!!

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Just be careful with the chloroform, as the plastic will be somewhat brittle. Leave the thing for some time alone, until the cholorform evaporates completely, otherwise the melted plastic won't glue as well and will part again.
I have been using for some years now, in plexiglass radioactive barriers and gel aparatus with success.

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