Glue for polystyrene?

Discussion in 'Research and Development' started by Powder Monkey, Jan 26, 2009.

  1. Powder Monkey

    Powder Monkey Active Member

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    What is a good glue to use on the polystyrene ?
     
  2. JohnmCA72

    JohnmCA72 Member

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    I'd google "polystyrene" & "adhesive". Did that not turn up anything useful?
    JM
     
  3. Powder Monkey

    Powder Monkey Active Member

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    not realy was looking to find something tried and tested in our application
     
  4. phill

    phill Active Member

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    For sheet styrene, I use CA. The sheet material is used for decks and railings so is usually above BB range. Brittle doesn't matter, the bb' s take chunks out of the material anyway. With a bit of kicker, the build is fast! (also fast to rebuild after wayward bb's)
     
  5. JohnmCA72

    JohnmCA72 Member

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    I use styrene shapes (rod, tube, L-brackets, etc.) & sheet styrene. I make my own "slurry" paste by dissolving scraps in acetone. The result is a joint that's equivalent to a weld, & if it's done right it's as strong as either piece.
    Is this an appropriate topic for R&D? It's not like we're actually doing chemistry & developing custom adhesives, here. Seems to me that it would be better as a "Construction" topic. More people who actually "do" construction, but don't bother with the R&D forum, might see it & pipe in.
    JM
     
  6. slow_and_ugly

    slow_and_ugly Active Member

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    Ordinary model glue -- the kind you glue model planes with works fine.
     
  7. Kun2112

    Kun2112 Active Member

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    Yep Model Glue. The liquid kind works best. I prefer Tamiya extra thin, Gunze Mr. Cement, Ambroid Proweld, or Tenax-7R (the best). Hold the pieces together and brush on at the joint. Capilary action pulls the glue into the joint and fuzes the pieces together. Fuzed pieces are more resiliant than pieces glues with CA, as CA joints do not have much torsional strength (hard to pull apart, but easy to twist/bend apart). Because of this, joints made with liquid cement are mor flexable than any other joint I have found, but are strong enough that on polystyrene thinner than .025", you are more likely to tear one of the pieces than pull them apart. Liquid cement leaves cleaner joints than the Gel that comes in the old Orange tubes we used as kids, and creates a better bond.
    Hope this helps.
    EDIT: oh, and most of these work on ABS too. Very helpful in joing ABS to PS.