Straight Acetone should work , MEK and PVC cement may be the same. The problem with acetone is it evaporates quickly and parts have to be moved relative to one another to get good mixing to make a satisfactory weld .So, who else here thinks a tiny bottle of plastic glue cost too much? Anyone using PVC pipe cement? Or how about M-E-K?
I have used straight acetone, but with less than satisfactory results.
Too much as opposed to...what? The cost of a kit? A big part of the profit in the hobby business has always been buying a 55 gallon drum of something, then putting it in lots of small bottles and reselling it at a good margin. Capitalism 101. If you look at its cost as a percentage of the total project cost, you'll probably get a pretty small number. I have used MEK on styrene and had good results. I'd test it on other types of plastics before using. PVC cement? Let me know how it works for you, and I'll evaluate your Boris Karloff experiments on your work first! I have replaced hobby paint thinners with commercial solvents when spraying enamels or lacquers. Lacquer thinner and Xylene are pretty cheap when purchased by the gallon and I've saved a ton, but I run through much more of that stuff than cements. My $.02So, who else here thinks a tiny bottle of plastic glue cost too much? Anyone using PVC pipe cement? Or how about M-E-K?
I have used straight acetone, but with less than satisfactory results.
My "glue" of choice for styrene is not glue at all. It's a solvent, called MEK (which stands for Methyl Ethyl Ketone), and is sold in hardware stores in pints, quarts, and even gallons. In 20 years, I've used less than 2 quarts, with a fair portion of that being lost to evaporation. Many excellent modelers also recommend lacquer thinner. I have found MEK to be a little more aggressive at dissolving styrene than lacquer thinner, and also to evaporate faster. Usually, those are both useful properties, but there are a few cases where I prefer lacquer thinner for the gentler action or greater working time. Acetone will dissolve styrene and acrylic (like Plexiglas), making it useful for some situations as well.
Another advantage of solvent welding is that, with care, it is possible to use it on painted models without damaging the paint. I remember one particularly challenging build, a Proto 2000 Mather stock car, where I was able to glue the styrene grab irons to the painted body of the car, without any sign of the glue around the joint. In that case, the MEK dissolved the paint and styrene, forming a mix which was strong enough to hold the grab irons securely.
Wow! It lasted a long time didn’t it?Re: " Too much as opposed to...what?"
I guess I'm getting old. The last time I bought a jar of Testors plastic cement it was about 25 cents.
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Too much as opposed to...what? The cost of a kit? A big part of the profit in the hobby business has always been buying a 55 gallon drum of something, then putting it in lots of small bottles and reselling it at a good margin. Capitalism 101. If you look at its cost as a percentage of the total project cost, you'll probably get a pretty small number. I have used MEK on styrene and had good results. I'd test it on other types of plastics before using. PVC cement? Let me know how it works for you, and I'll evaluate your Boris Karloff experiments on your work first! I have replaced hobby paint thinners with commercial solvents when spraying enamels or lacquers. Lacquer thinner and Xylene are pretty cheap when purchased by the gallon and I've saved a ton, but I run through much more of that stuff than cements. My $.02
So who is going to make cement? Or paint? Or thinners? How many people do you know that have a chemical plant in their basement? We're talking about commercial solvents here. If I were to add up all of the money I spent on glues of various types I have in the shop at the moment I'd probably end up with a total investment of somewhere around $50-75.00 which would include all three thicknesses of ACC, three different liquid cements, Goo, Barge cement, Faller Super Expert plastic cement (gel) and some two part epoxy not to mention good old Elmer's white and carperter's glues. That doesn't even break 1% of my hobby expenses over a given year (and all of that stuff lasts multiple years). I think you're, as the old saying goes, "pickin' fly shit out of pepper" here. If you have the time (and just about everybody leaves out the cost of man hours in these discussions), enjoy your search, but I think if you want to save money, there are probably better places to look. I have limited hobby time. I'd just as soon build models. I think the best way to save money on cements is to remember to put the cap back on and try not to spill it! ☺ For me, there just isn't enough potential savings to spend the time looking, or to justify the risk if an experiment fails.Capitalism 101 , you buy the 55 gallon drum , repackage it and sell it to the customer for less than what he can make it for himself , thus saving him time and money.
Commoditism 101 , buying something and then reselling it for whatever the market will bear. Prices continue to rise ,its called a "market bubble", when the customer finds an alternative or cannot or is unwilling to pay the profit margins ,the bubble bursts and prices collapse.
People are looking for alternatives , not necessarily to the product but to the high margins.
Profit margin <= product cost , your a Model Railroader.
Profit margin >> product cost , your a Philanthropist. your giving money away .
So who is going to make cement? Or paint? Or thinners? How many people do you know that have a chemical plant in their basement? We're talking about commercial solvents here. If I were to add up all of the money I spent on glues of various types I have in the shop at the moment I'd probably end up with a total investment of somewhere around $50-75.00 which would include all three thicknesses of ACC, three different liquid cements, Goo, Barge cement, Faller Super Expert plastic cement (gel) and some two part epoxy not to mention good old Elmer's white and carperter's glues. That doesn't even break 1% of my hobby expenses over a given year (and all of that stuff lasts multiple years). I think you're, as the old saying goes, "pickin' fly shit out of pepper" here. If you have the time (and just about everybody leaves out the cost of man hours in these discussions), enjoy your search, but I think if you want to save money, there are probably better places to look. I have limited hobby time. I'd just as soon build models. I think the best way to save money on cements is to remember to put the cap back on and try not to spill it! ☺ For me, there just isn't enough potential savings to spend the time looking, or to justify the risk if an experiment fails.
I've also noticed an interesting pattern in discussions on saving money. It's less a question of saving money that it is of redirecting funds elsewhere. People say model railroaders are cheap. That's not true at all. We'll spend obscene amounts on something we really want. I used to sell airbrushes at hobby shows. Like everything else, there are cost levels with those, and as a rule the more you spend the more capable the tool. I can't tell you how many times a guy would tell me that he really wanted the $XX.00 model but just couldn't afford it and bought the cheapest thing he could find. Meanwhile I'd look at his tote bag and see $1,000.00 worth of sound equipped locomotives. It's usually more a question of allocation of funds than reducing total expenditures.
And how you determine that the margins are too high when you don't know what they are? Yeah a bottle of Testors liquid cement used to be 25 cents, and a tube of airplane glue used to be 15 cents back when I started building models. Freight car kits were $3.95. A weeks pay was $50-75 bucks, a new car cost $2,000 and you could buy a house for 12 grand. It's not 1961 anymore.No one is talking about manufacturing solvents or other VOCs,
Its not about man hours , Its not about redirecting funds , and its not about picking fly shit out of pepper either, Its about not throwing money away on some elses insane profit margins or ridiculously high costs.