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Another glue (solvent cement) question

3172 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  joe rusz
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Ya can never have enough chemicals, I say. But enough is enough, so I am posing this question, which I copied and pasted from my "Not a door" post, which not many may see.

Anyway, I have been experimenting with various solvent cements. That wasn't my intention (I have work to do), but when I tried a new (to me) one compared with what I had been using, I thought, "Dang, I like that stuff!" Then I tried my trusty old MEK and found that for certain things--like attaching my mullions to the window frames--it worked real good too. Then I saw a MLS post where somebody swore by Testors (the kind in the little squeezy bottle that looks like a miniature oil can). And there's the liquid stuff in a little can I got from Russ at TAP. Suffice to say, my mind is boggled. Or is it the methylethylketone or the trichloromethane talking? /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif

BTW, we're talking about styrene, acrylic, and other plastics. Not wood, so don't tell me about Eileen's Tacky Glue or Elmer's Yellow or whatever. We live in termite country, so no wood. Besides, if I gotta destroy the environment, I'd rather save a tree, even if I'm contributing to pollution by using petroleum-based products and related chemicals, which may also be destroying the ozone layer. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/tongue.gif

BTW Part II: Do ya know what Trichloromethane is? Ether! No wonder I was feeling so mellow as I worked on my store project. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/hehe.gif
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My personal favorites are MEK for anything styrene, and acetone for acrylics. I've built some interesting doo-dads out of plexiglass using acetone (applied with a brush) to bond it. It also works at least moderately well for styrene, so that's what I use when I need to bond the two together.
I've had decent results with commercial products sold in hobby shops, but it's hard to justify the cost. Since styrene and acetate are about 99% or what I work with, MEK and acetone do the trick nicely.
BTW, my method for testing a solvent is to touch a drop to some scrap or the backside of a part, then stick my finger in it. If I can leave a fingerprint, the solvent will work. If not, that's what super glue and epoxy are for!
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