I am tired of paying $3.00/oz for plastic solvents. I have heard that you can use either lacquer thinner or MEK. Which is the better solvent for plastic? I appreciate your input and have a great day.
This topic is being covered on another thread. Go back to the General Discussion page and scroll down. It's a thread about Tenax.
I use MEK. It does evaporate quickly.
Mike.
My You Tube
Here is a link to the other thread:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/260881.aspx
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I use MEK which I get in quart cans at the paint dept of Walmarts. It handles styrene plastic just fine. Dries rapidly and give a good strong joint. Other's use lacquer thinner. I think any solvent strong enough to dissolve the styrene will do a good job.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
At the risk of hijacking the OP's thread, what do you folks use to bond, in a solvent way, styrene with ABS plastic (so called engineering plastic)? In my case, that would generally be Plastruct's "gray stuff" with styrene? I have tried various bonding solvents, including those from Plastruct itself, with decidedly mixed results.
Dave Nelson
Dave,
In the two pic's in My post the whole structure was built using Plastruct Grey plastic shapes, H-colums, I -beams, trusses etc. and all I used was their Plastruct Plastic Weld, Orange bottle and it is strong as granite. Don't have any idea why You couldn't get it to work, if that is what You were using. It says on the bottle ABS, Styrene, Buyrate and Acrylic.
Take Care!
Frank
dknelson At the risk of hijacking the OP's thread, what do you folks use to bond, in a solvent way, styrene with ABS plastic (so called engineering plastic)? In my case, that would generally be Plastruct's "gray stuff" with styrene? I have tried various bonding solvents, including those from Plastruct itself, with decidedly mixed results. Dave Nelson
Dave, please note that ABS is not what is usually refered to as "engineering pllastic". ABS is just a different formulation for plastic that is similar to the styrene used in models. In my experience it is harder to dissolve ABS to get a good bod with styrene, but it can be done. The term "engineering plastic" refers to a family of products such as Acetel or Delrin that are often used for trucks or couplers or some detail parts. Those plastics are almost impossible to solvent bond (at least with something you might want in your home). Sometimes ACC will bond to them, other times you need something like epoxy.
zstripe Dave, In the two pic's in My post the whole structure was built using Plastruct Grey plastic shapes, H-colums, I -beams, trusses etc. and all I used was their Plastruct Plastic Weld, Orange bottle and it is strong as granite. Don't have any idea why You couldn't get it to work, if that is what You were using. It says on the bottle ABS, Styrene, Buyrate and Acrylic. Take Care! Frank
Thanks Frank - I have no problems getting Plastruct ABS to bond with itself, as you have done. I cannot seem to get a solid bond between it and styrene. It appears those plastics are dissimilar enough to cause my issue.
Sorry y'all; meant to respond sooner but wife fell down and broke her nose in two places so I've been spending time at the local hospital; bottom line is she's OK. I appreciate y'all's responses and it sounds like MEK is the preferred solvent over lacquer thiner and I apologize, I did not know there was another thread in progress.
dknelson zstripe Dave, In the two pic's in My post the whole structure was built using Plastruct Grey plastic shapes, H-colums, I -beams, trusses etc. and all I used was their Plastruct Plastic Weld, Orange bottle and it is strong as granite. Don't have any idea why You couldn't get it to work, if that is what You were using. It says on the bottle ABS, Styrene, Buyrate and Acrylic. Take Care! Frank Thanks Frank - I have no problems getting Plastruct ABS to bond with itself, as you have done. I cannot seem to get a solid bond between it and styrene. It appears those plastics are dissimilar enough to cause my issue. Dave Nelson
It is supposed to...says so right on the bottle.
I have done it.....the roof on the structure is Evergreen corrugated white styrene, the rest is Plastruct and they all bonded well together with the Plastic weld. Try lightly sanding both parts that need to be bonded, with about a 180 grit paper, I do that a lot when I want a real strong bond, which is usually all the time..LOL I also do that before cementing any walls together....I always lightly sand the two joining parts and the capillary action of the solvent, will just about immediately flow to the sanded area's in My experience. There is a mold release agent on some of those parts and really should be washed anyway.....sanding takes care of that.
BobL609,
Sorry to hear about Your Wifes misfortune.....that's a bummer, that happened to Me once. My nose is a little crooked now too!
I use MEK for most big styrene bonding projects, but have also used Acetone for the newer softer styrene that some kits come in, it evaporates even faster than MEK, in fact instantly, so I use it for styrene that is in final position using capillary action.
There is a problem if you live in California as they've banned MEK, but I bought a couple quarts before it disappeared from the shelves.
Alex
There is a reason why it is banned... It is very harmful to human life.
.
Those warnings about well ventilated areas are not to be taken lightly. Please be safe and careful. Just because it is not as sharp as a #11 blade does not mean it is not dangerous.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I ONLY have one problem MEK with melting styrene: After a couple years the joints become brittle and easily separate. If it's an object that you need to pick up and move a lot, Cynoacryllate (Super Glue) on a lightly sanded edge works very well. Just keep it away from clear parts (But the same is true with MEK)
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
I used to use lacquer thinner for all styrene-to-styrene joints, but the formula appears to have been altered (its composition varied depending on which company produced it, anyway) but I can no longer find any that will work with styrene. That's probably due to some environmental issues nowadays.For styrene-to-styrene or styrene-to-ABS, I use MEK...its fast rate of evapouration generally makes it harder to use than the old-style lacquer thinner, but it seems to make a good bond.For glue joints in engineering plastic, there's a product known as CyanoEpoxy, made by CoolChem. I recall reading of its discover some years ago in one of the model railroading magazines...at that time, it was rather expensive.
Wayne