[47lincsled]

A lot of my project require styrene in thicknesses that I can't find, in the past I have used plastic weld dispensed from a hypodermic needle, and no matter how fast you put the stuff down it drys so quickly that I always get voids, which sometime open later,I have tried a little paint brush but it still drys to fast. I really like plastic weld because I hate to wait for glue to dry when I get into a project!
Any other ways to glue together layers of styrene? Tonight I had to glue 6 pieces to get enough thickness! Thanks.

 

[47lincsled]

This morning I went back out and looked through my glue collection to see if I had any of that old style model glue, I couldn't find any but I did find a can of PVC cement, I bought a can this summer when I had to repair my air supply line to my man cave, I took some scraps and laid a thick coat of glue on one piece and laid the other on top and slid them around on each other, then I put a couple lead blocks on top of them and let them dry for a couple hours, I went back just barely and tried to pull them apart, not going tp happen,I even took a chisel and tried to drive it between them, nothing, they are now one solid block!
I needed 3 more 1/2 thick blocks 2 inches wide and 4 inches long,I have plenty of sheets of old signs made from styrene which I have been using for years to build stuff, but in the past I used an xacto knife and scribed a deep line in it then break it on the edge of the desk, works good but with this many cuts it would have taken all day, but yesterday when I was in the store room digging out my pile of styrene I ran across one of those huge old paper cutters they used in schools, my wife's school was throwing it away because it didn't work any more, it took me a 1/2 hour to tighten all the loose bolt and put an edge on the blade and thing cuts .030 styrene great! So much faster then my old way!.

 

[Mr Dave]

Lacquer retarder may be your answer. Just mix a bit of it into some of your glue and test it to see how long it takes to dry. If you need more time, just add a bit more of the retarder.

 

[47lincsled]

The PVC cement is really nice because it's also a lot cheaper then the Plastruc glue! The only problem I found was that it's really slippery, so when stacking layers of styrene together you have to watch your edges, but you have much longer set times so you have time to double check things.