Thread: ABS epoxy?
View Single Post
  #7  
Old 03-27-2016, 01:44 AM
blackshire's Avatar
blackshire blackshire is offline
Master Modeler
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
Default

I thank you all very much for your replies. It was the Little Joe II thread here on YORF (which includes a discussion of the best glues to use for its dissimilar plastics) that also helped to prompt my query here about the Falcon 9 kit. (The old Testors MEK-based liquid plastic cement worked very well for bonding styrene and ABS to themselves and to each other, but the new stuff isn't even as good for "welding" styrene parts together as was the old formula.) Also:

I haven't come across any online mentions of the 5-minute epoxy -not- working well in the SpaceX Falcon 9 kit (nor did I expect to find any, because it isn't subjected to very high stresses, given the motors [D12-5 and E9-6] that it uses). But I always prefer to use the best--within reason (of strength, cost, and the minimum available container size)--bonding agents. For the Falcon 9 kit's ABS/ABS, ABS/paper, and ABS/polycarbonate glue joints, the LOCTITE (made by Henkel) 20-minute Epoxy Plastic Bonder http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/13...stic-Bonder.htm should be more than strong enough (and then some--plus, I always "rough-up" glue joint locations to give any glue, even white glue, more to "grab onto"). In addition:

One dual-syringe container of it should be ample for all three of my Falcon 9 and Fairing kits. Plus, for field repairs of "1/8A" through "E" or "F" powered rockets, it would be superior to 5-minute epoxies, which (as well as CA glues) are often used for field repairs. For building more powerful rockets than those, where glue joint strength is critical, I'd use one of the more specialized, even longer-curing hobby, marine, or industrial epoxies, such as those that you all listed. (I can't use CA glue because of my body's strong and very unpleasant reactions to its fumes [tightness in the chest, sinuses feeling like they're on fire, etc.], but epoxy doesn't bother me.)
__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR
Reply With Quote