I mentioned on another thread that I was able to successfully bond styrene plastic to wood (in this case, birch plywood). To do this, I used a product called Weldbond. Weldbond is available at stores like Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowes, and Michaels.
I just wanted to bring this to the attention of members of this forum who might be interested in how to bond these materials together.
Rich
Great thing about Weldbond is that, unlike regular white glue, you can heat it up with a heat gun and easily remove the parts. We use Weldbond exclusively with our laser kits.
Mark.
Sounds good. How well does it store?
Thanks
Paul
Other good features are that it is odor free and water clean up.
My wife has serious allergies and as a result I have to use odor fee products in the house and if they aren’t odor free I work outside.
It’s a great glue and dries clear.
Bob
I too like Weldbond for cementing styrene to wood.
I’ve had a tube in the workbench drawer for several years, used some the other day and it worked just fine.
regards, Peter
Thanks for the tip! I have a few sheet styrene roads that have lifted off of the plywood deck of my layout due to heat expansion. I’ll have to get some Weldbond and give it try gluing these roads back down.
You sure you have the same stuff ? Weldbond doesn’t come in a tube. (?)
Mark.
How is Weldbond on metal to wood?
Mark,
Yes it does, or maybe more accurately, it did. I’m assuming it’s the same formulation.
Regards, Peter
Hornblower,
Don’t know how much difference it makes, but I lightly scruff up the surface of the styrene that will be bonded to the wood before gluing. Have glued several simulated concrete pads made of styrene to my plywood layout surface over the past year with Weldbond and they are all holding fine. Layout location does see temps in the mid to high 80s on occasion.
good luck and regards, Peter
Peter,
It will make a big difference in many applications with adhesives and glues involving styrene, which is non-porous.
Good point to bring up. [Y]
Take Care!
Frank
That’s what I did too. I used a piece of sand paper to rough up the smooth surface of the styrene plastic strip.
Rich
Look at that ! Never seen it offered like that around here !
Mark.
Excellent! (It does.) Thanks, Frank!
Paul
Peter,
I did scuff the underside of the styrene before gluing it down using Latex caulking. Since my layout is located in my California basement (garage), the layout sees temperature changes from lows around 40 to highs over 100 degrees. Hence, the wood tends to expand and contract a lot! So much so that I have had to re-cut several rail gaps in my hand laid turnouts. In the high heat (like now), the styrene roadways tend to lift off of the plywood base in places. I have used a few drops of CA to glue these spots back down in the past only to see the roads pop up in other spots.
Hello Hornblower,
I know first hand how harsh an environment the “Calif. basement” can be, especially when the layout has to share the garage with the family car. There’s much DIY that can be done to minimize the temp. extremes, benchwork/roadbed moisture transfer and dust. If I were still suffering expansion/contraction problems I most likely would have used contact cement to permanently bond my styrene sheets to the plywood roadbed. Forum member Doctorwayne has some great tips on using contact cement with styrene.
Good luck, regards, Peter
I have begun “wrapping” .010 Plastruct styrene around balsa shapes to obtain a quickly paintable object. I am using Loctite Super Glue “Ultra Gel Control” CA as a bond between the styrene and wood surfaces with excellent results.
Please note, however, I am working with small HO scaled sizes of each material, and therefore, there may be very little “stress” of the bond physically, as opposed to uses of this same product on larger-sized materials.
Cedarwoodron
Thanks for the link. I may have missed it, but I didn’t see anything about use on styrofoam. Does anyone know if bonding plastic to styrofoam would be a problem?
I don’t see any reason why it could not be used for styrofoam. It’s water based:
http://www.weldbond.com/application_uses
Take Care!
Frank