TENAX 7R

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

For those of you who liked using Tenax as a bonding agent for styrene and have noticed it is not readily found at the LHS, I received the following email the other day from JMD Plastics of Green Bay WI

Dave Nelson:

As many of you may know, it has been impossible to get the highly popular TENAX 7R plastic welder for use in gluing together styrene models, sheets, etc…Ironically, this product was distributed by Hebco, just down the road from us near LaCrosse, Wisconsin. At one point, they even asked us for 10,000 pieces of styrene so they could demonstrate their product at shows they attended. Well, their e-mail, phone, etc…is no longer in service. And good luck finding a back stock of TENAX at any hobby shop or even on E-Bay! (I know–we tried—and bought up as many bottles as we could find!)

That being said, we have been working with the same folks who helped us to bring our Instant Track-Tack-It and Grass-Tack-It products to you to design a replacement product. In mid December, we finalized the product after much testing and then made our initial marketing test at a recent train show in Kansas City with RESOUNDING SUCCESS, with hundreds of individual jars and cases sold!

The new product, STYRENE TACK-IT, works exactly the same as Tenax, in the fact that it dries quickly (5-10 seconds), will evaporate if you forget and leave the cap off for a few days, and in truth, acts as a bonder should—“activating” or “melting” the styrene to achieve a solid bond instead of “gluing.”

If you mess up a joint, simply apply an additional bead of the STYRENE TACK-IT, pull the bond apart, sand it lightly, and rebond the joint properly!

The retail price on individual jars (1 ounce—same as Tenax jars) is $4.75—less cost than Tenax.

2

While Tenax was great and I’m sure the new stuff will be just as good, I’ve been using Ambroid’s ProWeld (or Micro Mart’s Same Stuff) for the past few years with the same results. ProWeld also evaporates in 5-10 seconds and in addition to styrene, ProWeld also works on Butyrate, ABS, & Acrylics like Plexiglass & Lucite and you get almost twice as much for a dollar less!

3

Will the new product (STYRENE TACK-IT) work on acrylic, as well as styrene?

4

Interesting, I just checked my bottle, half full. Like other posters, I have used other brands with the same results. For no special reason I chose Tenax the last time I was in the LHS.

Thanks for the news Dave.

5

Methyl Ethyl Ketone will work equally as well and can be had at most hardware stores for around $7 - $8 for a quart. A local plastics company turned me on to the stuff as they use it exclusively for their plastic assemblies.

Mark.

6

Testor’s Liquid Cement is still available.

I talked about the fact that the little Testor’s Bottle of Liquid Cement was becoming hard to find. Testor’s is pushing a bottle of this stuff with a long needle applicator at a cost of $6.50 a bottle! Someone suggested the use of Lacquer Thinner, which is a pretty non-descript name for anything that will thin lacquer. So, I bought some. What this stuff was, is a mystery and while it does bond styrene, the bond is not a weld like the Testor’s Liquid Cement.

Is MEK the proper stuff? I now have a can of Lacquer Thinner I will likely never use and will still need to buy the right stuff! I’m more inclined to wait until I can get to a hobby shop so I can buy Testor’s Liquid Cement in a bottle, again!

7

Just down the road, separated by 170 miles as the crow flies! This will be interesting for those city folks to interpret!

8

I started using MEK a few weeks ago, when my bottle of Tamyia liquid solvent cement finally got used up. The MEK is great but I did notice it has a tendancy to marr the surface a little more than the Tamyia and other liquid solvents I have used. I just have to be a little more careful with the application. I got a hypo needle bottle from A-West and plan on trying it on my next model. The MEK is VERY GOOD at welding the styrene surfaces. I would higly recommend trying it and at $8-$9 a quart it is a bargain.

-Bob

9

Never have used MEK, although it is used by my fellow modelers locally. They swear by it. I’m also told by the “older” guys, that the bond will last forever, as opposed to some plastic cements that, over time, will dry up and come apart.

I’ve used up my bottle of TENAX, I’ve got about a 3/4 of a bottle of Testor’s plastic cement. When that’s gone, I’ll be using MEK, can’t go wrong there.

10

MEK is pretty aggressive, so don’t apply too much. In many respects that makes it very good, it thoroughly welds.

Still looking for a good handrail adhesive.

Richard

11

I’m pretty much stuck to Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. I only use Testor’s liquid to clean my paint brushes.

12

Micro Mark has a product called “Same Stuff” which is advertised to be exactly the same as Tenax 7R. I haven’t tried it but for those of us that liked Tenax it might be something to try.

Joe

13

Will M E K work on the newer Athearn crap that they call plastic?

14

I have used Micro Mark ‘Same Stuff’ and it appears to be basically the same as Tenex 7R. I have found that different plastic ‘weld’ type cements are sometimes required for different projects. I like to use the Tenex 7R/Same Stuff on small stuff, or seams in assemblies. Large ‘welds’ like Walthers Cornerstone building require a plastic cement that does not evaporate so fast(lots of seams to ‘paint’ the cement on). The Testors liquid cement works great for this applications.

I have tried pure MEK - it works, but as others have mentioned, it is very ‘aggressive’ to the plastic.

Jim

15

You may want to keep the laquer thinner for other uses. It is an incredibly strong solvent. I use it to remove paint from the top of track rails after weathering the sides and similar paint removal applications. (I try to avoid using a bright boy because that removes metal also.) Of course, laquer thinner can only be used on materials that it doesn’t attack. I don’t use it very often, but my quart, that I’ve had for 10 or so years is almost gone. That said, use it in a well-ventilated space; its fumes are dangerous and it smells terrible.