I need some advice when it comes to glue. What glue do you use for styrene such as plastruct and evergreen? I’m pretty sure there is a glue that is better then all other and that you guys use all the time with great results. I also wonder how I can glue very small pieces together without making a big mess? I’m talking about pieces with the size of 2 mm or less. I have a picture in my head where I see the whole piece drowning in glue. Do you guys understand what I mean? I need to know how to add a VERY small amount of glue.
Faller “Expert”
Depends on if you want instant hold or some working time. For instant hold I use Tenax 7R. The really tiny microbrushes work well for distributing just a small amount without getting it all over. FOr even smaller applications, there’s the touch and flow applicator like Micro-Mark sells.
–Randy
For styrene I always use Testors liquid plastic cement (in the bottle not the black box like container) and apply it with a small paint brush. This will give you the control you need. Put the two pieces together and just touch the joint with the brush, it works very well. I also use Microweld and Ambroid ProWeld using the same technique.
There are all sorts of adhesives out there that will work, but you have to know what you’re dealing with. Everything that Evergreen sells IS styrene, but most of what Plastruct sells is NOT; it’s PVC or ABS, and most glues don’t work well on those types of “plastics”.
For styrene to styrene bonds, I generally use one of three adhesives:
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Ambroid Proweld liquid plastic cement: good bond, good working time.
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Tenax 7R: weak bond, dries quickly (I use this when I’m gluing to a finished surface)
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Testors liquid plastic cement: aggressive bond (melts a LOT, quickly), good working time (I use this when I want to glue sheets together, or interior bracing)
I’ve also begun to experiment with using straight MEX (methyl-ethyl ketone), which is what most liquid plastic cements are based on. It’s dirt cheap by the pint (in the painting aisle), but it dries FAST, like Tenax.
For styrene, I use lacquer thinner, the same stuff that I use to thin paints like Floquil, Scalecoat, and Accupaint. I buy it by the gallon, then decant it into smaller containers, depending on its intended use. For normal glueing, I keep some in an old Testors styrene cement bottle, the one with the integral brush in the lid. For very small items, I use the lacquer thinner from this same Testors bottle, but substitute a smaller brush, 00, 000, 0000, whatever is most appropriate. This stuff, however, does not work well on Plastruct ABS, the grey stuff used for some products.
Wayne
I used an acetone based product for gluing and noticed the horrendous fumes, upon checking on the internet I find that some of thesesmethyl-ethyl ketones and acetones are some of the most dangerous chemicals that are used, they should not be inhaled, and are also absorbed into the skin. Be very, very careful around these chemicals, I’m now using"plastic weld" which is not AS noxious-but the label warns the product contains a chemical that causes cancer. As with a lot of products small usage and fresh air and no problem. Also there is a small squeeze bottle with a hair-like nozzle used for very tiny amounts of solvent, it’s fun trying to put the even smaller stopper back in the nozzle, but it really works fine.
Ditto
electro:
Interesting you should bring this up because I am in the middle of filming the bridges chapter on my upcoming scenery and bridges DVD.
The bridge I’m building on the video is a curved trestle, built completely out of stryrene. I’ve been building bridges out of stryrene for years and have developed a lot of techniques for making it fast and easy.
One of the things I recommend is you get an A-West Needle point glue applicator. Here’s a link:
http://www.ablehobby.com/awest_products.htm
I use regular MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone) from the hardware store. You can get a 10 year supply (1 quart) for less than $10. See: http://www.go2marine.com/product.do?no=32738F
You can also get it from Testors in the black bottle with a needle applicator, but they’ll charge you $7 for a tiny supply. It’s essentially MEK, with a few other additives that make it slower. Personally, I prefer straight MEK – it sets up faster and you can find it pretty cheap in hardware stores.
Only fill the A-West bottle about 1/4 full, since the more MEK you put in the faster it comes out. With just 1/4 of the bottle full, you can go from joint to joint precisely placing a drop of MEK just about as fast as you can move, and it sets up in about 30 seconds or so.
On my video, I build a styrene trestle. I use a jig for building the trestle bents, and I use a Northwest Shortline Chopper II to cut the styrene pieces.
Using these tools, I can scratchbuild a styrene trestle quickly, it comes out looking very nice, and it’s strong – far stronger than a basswood trestle.
I also use similar techniques to kitbash steel truss bridges. The Central Valley bridge kit and the MicroEngineering tall steel trestle kits provide great truss pieces you can kitbash into realistic looking styrene truss bridges.
Kitbashed steel truss bridges take a lot longer to build because there
That’s what I do as well, at least you can’t glue your fingers together with it! [:P]
Testor’s liquid or Faller Expert, depending on what I am doing. MEK sets up fast, but I am just as happy with the results I get with Testor’s.
I don’t use ACC because of its poor shear strength.
Thanks guys, I appreciate your help. Many good suggestions here.
Joe: I saw that there are many needles for the A-West Needle point glue applicator. They have different flows. What flow/size do you recommend? The size of the needles are very small. Are there any problems with dry glue inside the needle? MEK will melt the plastic together, right? Are there any situations when that is not good, or is this maybe not a problem at all?
All the “adhesives” the poster’s have mentioned here are solvents. You don’t actually “glue” styrene, you “weld” it. The solvents melt a small layer of the plastic, as the solvent evaporates, the plastic resolidifies and you have a bond.
The applicator tube shouldn’t clog, the solvents just evaporate. If it should somehow get clogged anyway, just use a piece of wire to clear it.
I use Ambroid’s ProWeld because it works well with several different types of plastics including styrene and Plastruct’s ABS (Kato and the older Atlas/Kato bodies are also ABS). It works the same as Tenax, but you get twice as much for the same price.
I highly recommend Tenax-7R plastic welder with a small application brush. I use it on all my structures, even make my own windows. http://www.geocities.com/oldlahistory/shellerfeed-w.jpg
Does that mean that they all are just plain MEK in different packages? For example, what’s the difference between Tenax-7R and plain MEK?
electro:
Get the smallest A-West needle you can get. MEK is a solvent that flows easily and evaporates quickly. The A-West bottles all come with a small wire to unclog the needle if it’s ever needed.
Tenax7R and Tester’s Styrene cement in the bottle (not the tube stuff) are all alcohol like solvents that flow easily and evaporate quickly. They all melt the styrene slightly to weld the joints together.
Tenax7R is less smelly than straight MEK and includes solvents that work with ABS plastic as well as styrene. Tenax7R is a little slower working than MEK, and it evaporates more quickly. If you accidentally leave the lid off the Tenax bottle (like I’ve done now and then), the stuff will be all but gone the next day – so be careful!
I only use Tenax7R if I need to work with Plastistruct’s ABS plastic – and I only resort to this when I have to. Otherwise I prefer to work with styrene and cheap MEK from the hardware store.
The biggest difference between hardware store MEK and the other styrene solvents is the price. The small hobby styrene solvent bottles are expensive – if you are working with stryene a lot (like me) you will spend way less if you go with the MEK from the hardware store and an A-West needle applicator.
Does that help?
Joe, Yes that helps a lot, thanks. Time to order things again 
For the easy jobs, I just use Testor’s styrene cement. If I’m working on a thin edge-to-edge connection, or I need a quick bond because I can’t hold the pieces together for a long time, then I use CA. CA also works well for joining dis-similar materials. My CA comes in a bottle with a very thin pointed tip, so I can easily get very small amounts. I also use CA “fixer” to instantly harden the glue.
I’m not sure what A-West charges for their dispensing needles and tips, but at work, we order syringes and tips from McMaster Carr. Go to www.mcmaster.com and type “dispensing needles” in the seach form.
I’ll also concur with the idea of using acetone or MEK from the hardware store. It is essentially the same thing as the model solvents. Also, a cheap way to make a plastic cement from the exact material your working with is to take scrap material, such as the kit’s sprue, cut it into small pieces and dissolve in acetone or MEK.