I think I saw this before, but what would be a good formula to make liquid cement for styrene?
Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK for short). Sold by the quart at hardware stores. Use it right out of the can.
Plain old lacquer thinner works well, too. I buy it by the gallon, as it’s also good for thinning paints such as Floquil, Scalecoat, SMP Accupaint, Testors (including DullCote and GlossCote), Pactra, and Humbrol. You can also use it for stripping paint from brass locos and other metal parts. It’s effective too for cleaning paint brushes and airbrushes, and is cheap. For use as styrene cement, decant it into a smaller bottle and use a suitably-sized brush to apply it, similar to how you’d use Tenax.
Wayne
One would have to know the ol "use only in well ventilated area " for all of these ,yes. …oh and keep the mek off the skin ,can be absorbed and do some nasty stuff to the nervous system .hope I dont sound like someones mom but just in case ya didnt know
You’re right: that’s a “given” with most chemicals which we use, although we often neglect to mention those precautions. Tenax, along with many other “modelling” products can be equally as dangerous as household or industrial chemicals. Read the label - better safe than sorry.
Wayne
If you prefer a traditional glue-sized bottle with applicator brush, Micro-Mark’s “Same Stuff” is the same as Tenax at about half the price.
I think Joe Fugate uses MEK ,and states thats the key to tenax and others ,I just killed a bottle a tenax (most of it evaperated ,after leaving lid off ) and it has that Mek smell to it and its very fast . works good though,just got to remember to put that lid on.
For me the best is Dechloromethane. It provides the strongest bond, and is very easy to apply and clean. Once you try it, you`ll never buy liquid cement ever.
well you got my curiosity up, if you could give a bit more info on your glue of choice . where can you find it ,what size container it comes in ,price ,pros and cons ? REDLEADER your post leads me to think its not a liquid ,so what is it? I for one am always interested in a glue with better bond … let us know some more info thanks J.W.
Jerr,
Dichloromethane or methylene dichloride is a common liquid chemical solvent. As I recall, it is one of the ingredients in Tenax. It should work very well to melt and weld plastics.
Joe
thanks Joe; so it is a liquid ,Il keep an eye out . so far Iv tried plastruc & tenax ,like the tenax but its fast, may be faster then me cause I still find parts not fully stuck together (but that might be the nature of the beast combined with my lack of experiance) .I might have too high of expectations …ps and yes I do make sure I clean any paint out of glue joints and prep and dryfit …thanks J.W.
The key with Tenax is to work from the back as much as possible, holding the parts and allowing the Tenax to seep into the joint via capillary action. It dries much too fast to apply it to one side of a joint and then stick the other piece on. I’ve also used Testor’s liquid cement which dries a bit slower than Tenax so it gives you slightly more time to position things. Either one will easily suck up under your figner and mar the surface of the part you are holding, so don’t get it anywhere near the ‘clamping’ finger.
I’d get the Micro-Mark stuff, if you can easily clip off the brush without destroyign the air-tight seal of the lid. The brush in that jar is far too big, I use those little micro-brushes, the yellow for most things and the white for small items like grabs.
–Randy
Big Jerr dichloromethane is a liquid, actually is a basic ingridient in most comercial liquid cements. It is a solvent, and often used in industrial processes such a decafing coffee and in plastic industry. Actually is very liquid and colorless (looks like paint thinner). The trick is to dry fit the parts and apply the “declo” from the back with a brush and let the capillary effect do the work. It dries very quick. Since it is very liquid, you can easily brush it avoiding the risk of over applying or drip. I’m sorry if you missunderstood my post, what I meant was that once you try “declo” you’ll never go back to “comercial” liquid cement. It is important to know that dechloromethane, MEK and similar chemicals are flamable and may cause skin irritation. Use always in a ventilated area. I think this apply to almost any other cements. Another note is that these kind cements are not glues, they are solvent based plastic welders. What they do is that they melt a thin layer of plastic that then dries out welding the pieces togather. This kind of bonding is not effective when using resin or PVC. Dicholormethane is not vey aggresive making it perfect for small pieces without the risk of deforming them, some cements are to strong and just a small drip will create a crater on the styrene surface.
I think Acetone is an ingredient in some plastic welder types of solvent cements. My local Wal-mart and Ace Hardware sell acetone by the quart can in the paint department. I don’t remember what I paid for a quart of acetone but believe it was less than a 1 fl. oz. bottle of Tenax-7R.
great info guys,really helful ,thanks to all.J.W.
another vote for the Micro Mark “Same Stuff”