Model Boat Mayhem
Technical, Techniques, Hints, and Tips => Glue etc. => Topic started by: Mark T on February 01, 2014, 05:23:06 pm
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Hi All
I need to glue some styrene to wood and I require a good strong bond. I was thinking about using zpoxy 15 minute resin after degreasing and roughing up the surface of the styrene and also applying lots of clamps?
I've never really worked with styrene before so any advice would be welcome :-))
Thanks Mark
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There is some stuff called UHU plus acrylit that seems to stick 'most anything to anything else - it says "Model-building plastics, stone,ceramics, Wood, Metal and Glass" (auf Deutsch) and lots of other stuff which might mean you can sand it, its workable for 7 to 10 minutes and set after 15. It is also spaltuberbrucked (that may mean gap-filling) and the pack I bought at my LMS had very basic instructioins in english inside. Its a 2-part (powder and gel) epoxy. Good stuff.
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The epoxy you have will work very well. Just make sure you a key the plastic well so the adhesive has something to hook onto.
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Thanks very much for the replies - I think I'll try the epoxy and see how I get on. Its nice to know that at least I'm heading in the right direction :-))
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Hi Stablit Express is excellent for glueing wood to plastic and is gap filling. It is a 2 part resin and powder adhesive.
The tube of resin once opened does not last very long, perhaps a month or two so buy just what you need.
good luck,
Roy
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UHU plus Acrylit is exactly the same stuff as Stabilit Express but about half the cost either will do the job nicely. If you keep the tube of gel in the fridge it will last for a very long time
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Hi RMH thanks for the information I shall make another space next to my instant glue. My wife does give me funny looks though!
By the way I buy UHU tube glue for just 1£ in my local pound shop. Is it the same as UHU bought elsewhere?
regards Roy
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spaltüberbrückend = gap filling as previously suggested (note the umlauts)
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I am now using a product called Sticks All made by Everbuild Building Products Leeds. It sticks plastic to wood with no problems and a lot cheaper than some of the glues we tend to use. Glues used in the building industry can be used by the modelling world with great results. My thoughts only.
Stan
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I will post picture of Sticks All later. Available in small tube or large mastic gun size.
Stan
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Starloc adhesives sell a whole range of modified acrylic adhesives which match all the major brands at a lot lower cost.
I have used acrylic adhesives, and I think they're good, however epoxy is I think just as good for this application, and is the most inexpensive option bearing in mind Mark already has it.
If you really want to enhance the strength you could wrap some cotton, carbon or kevlar tow around the joint before applying epoxy. This forms a composite enhancing tensile strength, but is probably overkill.
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Each to there own but I find epoxy to be a little dated now. Stabalit is great but very expensive UHU Ackralit has double in price in the last few years. My thoughts only.
Stan
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Acrylic glues aren't new, they've been around for decades. Epoxy will give a bond as strong if not stronger than the material it's being glued to in the vast majority of cases, so in my book, that's good enough.
Acrylic glues can also attack some plastics through crazing, epoxies in my experience are completely inert in this respect.
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Hi Subculture Has I stated earlier each to there own. The glue I use is not acrylic based. I do not wish to change peoples way of working. These are my thoughts only and I have no wish to change or influence any one.
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Acrylic glues aren't new, they've been around for decades. Epoxy will give a bond as strong if not stronger than the material it's being glued to in the vast majority of cases, so in my book, that's good enough.
Acrylic glues can also attack some plastics through crazing, epoxies in my experience are completely inert in this respect.
While acrylic adhesives aren`t new, the technology has advanced rapidly over the past few years, we have been manufacturing acrylates and methacrylates since about 1993 and the bonds available today are far superior to other adhesives.
Methacrylates such as our superacrylate out perform almost any epoxy adhesive, the formulation possibilities are far greater with acrylic chemistry.
In general:
Acrylates or methacrylates cure at temperatures far lower than an epoxy, a lot of epoxys dont set below 10 deg C , ours does, but only down to about -10C without slowing cure a lot, our methacrylates still set at -80C with little change in cure speed
Once set methacryates have a far greater working range without either going brittle at cold temperatures or melting at higher temperatures
Most do not discolour with age
The overall strength including impact resistance is far greater especially if there is a big gap ( epoxies generally loose strength on a large gap )
The most important part for a small volume user of adhesives is that methacrylates can be formulated to be insensitive to mix ratio ( unlike epoxies that need to be exact ), our superacrylate is formulated to be an easy to mix ratio that can be out by along way and still set.
In general epoxys dont bond well to plastics, they can be formulated to bond better to plastics but acrylates and methacrylates give a better bond to plastics and metals than epoxies
The original type diy store formulation of methacrylates ( one pink one green usually ) is very out of date now , most are virtually colourless white/beige , they are not as clear as epoxys if they are toughened as the rubber tougheneing additives work by seperating out to tiny particles when they set, this makes them almost clear in a thin layer and cloudy in a lump.
We make epoxys and we make acrylics, both would do the job, but I would go for methacrylate as it is far tougher, longer life, and gives strength over a wide temperature range even on a gap[size=78%] [/size]
But if you have the epoxy, use the epoxy it will work!