I am at a loss. I have given up trying to find a glue that will actully work on what I call engineering plastic. Delrin maybe? The stuff that the plastic handrails on the "new" locomotives are made out of along with so many other parts. No glue that we have available to us seems to work. Epoxy, liquid weld glue like Flex I file, Testers liquid glue, E6000, CA. Walthers Goo would probably sitck but it is messy to work with.
So what do you folks use for this engineering plastic?
I think what you're gluing together has a lot to do with it. If the parts are large enough to etch the surfaces to give it some bite, a quick setting epoxy would work. Small parts might be an issue. For handrails, there is usually a hole for the handrail to fit into. If you have access to the backside, a drop of CA works for me.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
If you are working with PP5 plastic you need use a PP5 glue such as Loctite Plastic Bonding System.
https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Plastics-Bonding-Activator-681925/dp/B000Y3LHXWIt’s available at any big box store.
EDIT:
The glue is regular CA, what makes it work is the Activator. I never toss the tube of Activator, it out lasts for four or five tubes of the CA and will work with any CA.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I've had a little bit of success using Gorilla Glue if the part has a pin that fits into a hole. I tried to roughen up the pins a bit with fine sandpaper. Then, the glue expands a bit as it dries, helping to keep the part in place. It's not a great bond, but seemed to work on parts that aren't under any stress or super fragile.
Jim
ctyclsscsI've had a little bit of success using Gorilla Glue
Use only the tinyest amount of Gorilla Glue.
This works, and the product Mel describes does as well.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
A little nerd science. Delrin acetal and some other engineering plastics are inherently slippery like LDPE because they have low surface activity. Techniques have to be used to overcome this to get anything to bond TO the plastic (as opposed to swelling into or hardening inside the mechanical equivalent of barbs to hold the plastic in place without actually sticking to it.
"Activators" do this by modifying the material surface to hold or express binding sites (hydroxyl radicals were common). Another technique is to expose the surface to plasma, which modifies the polymer at the surface and also provides a micro-etched surface.
I suspect that for handrails the likeliest 'solution' is to embed the base of the rail in a 'blob' that will harden around it like a socket, and bond to the surface outside the hole rather than just the area inside it.
For fun, you might get a club to spring for one of these:
https://www.intertronics.co.uk/2017/01/challenging-surface-activation-applications-met-by-the-piezobrush-pz2/
which would likely address any difficult bonding concerns even on small areas or cross-sections.
RR_Mel If you are working with PP5 plastic you need use a PP5 glue such as Loctite Plastic Bonding System. https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Plastics-Bonding-Activator-681925/dp/B000Y3LHXWIt’s available at any big box store. EDIT: The glue is regular CA, what makes it work is the Activater. I never toss the tube of Activater, it out lasts for four or five tubes of the CA and will work with any CA.
The glue is regular CA, what makes it work is the Activater. I never toss the tube of Activater, it out lasts for four or five tubes of the CA and will work with any CA.
Another possibility is Loctite Go2 glue. I haven't tried it, but here is what is said about the product.
"Go2 glue from Loctite works great for bonding derin together. Use a drop on the surface. Then press the two pieces together and clamp. Wipe off the excess glue. Wait a few hours and your are done".
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-glue-Delrin/
Rich
Alton Junction
Ditto on Mel's recommendation. I've used it to adhere mini-connector headers to styrene blocks for supporting backup light connections on a few steam engine tenders:
The key is to apply the activator to both surfaces and let it dry. You then apply the adhesive and press the two parts together. It's a fast-acting adhesive but does give you a few seconds to position/reposition the bonding pieces, if needed.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I had a cracked universal joint on a Bachman Climax I had to fix that was made from engineered plastic. I had tried ABS/Stryene glue with no success on other parts. same with CA.
I figured it was worth a shot to try IPS Weld-On 3 Acrlic Plastic cement which I use for chemically welding acyrlic sheet (laser cut parts) together.
It seemed to weld the broken universal parts back together similar to how stryene gets bonded together. I did install a brass ring around it as a backup so it doesn't crack again but you may wnat to try it. I got mine of amazon and it usually comes with an applicator bottle as well. You don't need much.
Colorado Front Range Railroad: http://www.coloradofrontrangerr.com/
Bowser Manufacturing, at the bottom of their home page, recommends Lazer Bond, which I now have, and it does work, but dries clear and shiny so you want to be neat with it--good news is until you set it with the mini lazer, you can clean up any excess.
They also recommend Roket Tricky Stick as a plastic pre-treatment to glue Delrin and Celcon plastic. Once applied to the parts, ordinary CA glue can then be used to glue them together.
When they get damaged engines in, they repair them but must legally sell them as "used" in their retail store. I've picked up a couple very neatly repaired units, so the glues they are using definitely work.
John