Home brewing glue.

Jon Kunatz · Post by **Jon Kunatz** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:37 am

Ok I dont want to alarm anyone by you assuming Im trying to become a frankenstein, wacko chemist...

But humor me, I would like to learn if there are commercially available solvents you could get in a hardware store to serve as plastic cement.

Admit it,...paying 7 bucks a bottle for a few mils of solvent that will eventually evaporate or spill and then youre stuck high and dry...
Well, you get my point. I want something more cost effective.

Ive used M.E.K. before, *yes Ive heard not to use the stuff because of its toxic nature....but i probably have enough chemicals in me that im doomed already.

So how about it, any ideas would be appreciated.

Ziz · Post by **Ziz** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:32 am

www.acmoore.com and www.michaels.com post coupons to their sites every Sunday morning. The Michaels near me carries all your standard Testors brand hobby products, including the bottles of liquid cement. It's about $3 normally and the coupons on the site are usually 40% or 50% off, so now you're looking at getting it for $1.50-$1.70 or so.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:46 pm

Yes there are a number of chems @ the hardware store that'll serve as styrene glue, and yes a number of them massively increase your chance of brain damage, cancer and nervous system damage. There are also some that while they will work they don't work fast or aren't very strong (citrus based solvents)

There's a reason glues like Tenax & Ambroid come in bottle with small narrow tops. I pay, what? $6 for a bottle of Tennax and it lasts for a month or more (depending on how much CA I get into).

& then there's rubber impregnated CA. As long as you don't directly breath in the fumes as it kicks you're fine. Unlike glue like MEK whose effects are cumulative, the small amount of bad in CA fumes gets flushed from the system fairly easily. Just don't breath the fumes as enough of it in a short span will cause your kidney's to fail.

If you read enough on hazardous materials as I have you start to get a little paranoid about muscle twitches and failed thought patterns. You start to worry if that's the glue talking or just old age.

photoguy · Post by **photoguy** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:05 pm

Leave the chemistry to the chemists. Buy the correct cements, paints and thinners that are intended for your purpose. Stay away from any kitchen chemistry lab formula you might find on the internet or hear about from a friend. There are reasons these chemicals cost what they do, and are labeled with the cautions that they are.
This is supposed to be a FUN hobby, but the fun disappears real quick when you find yourself waking up in a haze, surrounded by medical personnel.

Redgriffin · Post by **Redgriffin** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 3:09 pm

I agree there are too many variables to take into account in making your home brew glue. If you don't know what your doing you may have to start looking for a new place to live , after you are released from the hospital.

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:05 pm

I use TAP acrylic cement- about 13.00/pint. The same sort of thing is available from any plastics distributor.
http://www.tapplastics.com/product/repa ... cement/130

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:48 am

I know about the warnings and that good stuff. Assuming you have common sense and are not going to drink the stuff or mix it in the vessel that has the largest surface area possible for the greatest amount of fuming, I recommend MEK or methylene chloride. I bought some MEK a long time ago in a drum and it will probably last until I die. Given the percentages on MSDS sheets for the cements it is in saying it's 80-plus percent per mole, I cannot see how my 100-percent is much if any worse for me.

(boooos from the peanut gallery)

I take the approach that - when done responsibly - knowing all the chemical properties of paints, thinners, mediums, cements, resins, and the blessed Aves is a good thing. Best way to learn is experimenting. Granted, out-of-the bottle is best most of the time. But, if you've got those weird circumstances where you need a custom color in craft paint or you want some realy hot glue to work with that scrap styrene you got from the sign store, it's good to know how to make it. This knowledge will also help you understand why your turpatine isn't working as well as turpentine or why certain acrylics thin with 90-percent isopropyl when others will clabber.

I hope this helps.

Kenny