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Solvent for chairs

johnarcher

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johnarcher

johnarcher

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A little advice please on solvent for attaching plastic chairs to ply sleepers.

C&L I believe sell Butanone, but it is a problem for posting and I don't seem to be able to get it here in France.

I think MEK and Butanaone are much the same, so would Slater's MEK-PAK do the job? (I can get that here).

 

Would any liquid solvent as sold for plastic kits do it too?

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dhjgreen

dhjgreen

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A little advice please on solvent for attaching plastic chairs to ply sleepers.

C&L I believe sell Butanone, but it is a problem for posting and I don't seem to be able to get it here in France.

I think MEK and Butanaone are much the same, so would Slater's MEK-PAK do the job? (I can get that here).

 

Would any liquid solvent as sold for plastic kits do it too?

MEK is the same as Butanone but "MEK-PAK" is neither, it is nothing like as powerful a solvent .  I do not know if MEK-PAK will work with ply sleepers, but there are plastics it will definitely not glue

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66C

66C

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A little advice please on solvent for attaching plastic chairs to ply sleepers.

C&L I believe sell Butanone, but it is a problem for posting and I don't seem to be able to get it here in France.

I think MEK and Butanaone are much the same, so would Slater's MEK-PAK do the job? (I can get that here).

 

Would any liquid solvent as sold for plastic kits do it too?

 

Hi John

 

You don't say which chairs you are using.

 

C+L and Exactoscale chairs are ABS plastic so if you can source a solvent for that it will bond the chairs to ply in the same way as Butanone.  If you can obtain it, Plastic Weld is also suitable.  Some of the solvents used by plumbers for plastic pipework are also suitable.

 

I am not sure if Peco use the same plastic for all their chairs - it may vary depending on the scale.  I have used their 16mm scale chairs and these will bond with MEK-Pak.

 

Regards.

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Ron Heggs

Ron Heggs

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Here in Spain, MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone)(Butanone) is available at all plumbers, ironmongers and DIY stores. It is used as a cleaner/primer for uPVC piping, prior to the use of adhesive. Supplied in 500cc tins

 

Ron

 

PS. I think the French is méthyléthylcétone

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peter220950

peter220950

Posted
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A little advice please on solvent for attaching plastic chairs to ply sleepers.

C&L I believe sell Butanone, but it is a problem for posting and I don't seem to be able to get it here in France.

I think MEK and Butanaone are much the same, so would Slater's MEK-PAK do the job? (I can get that here).

 

Would any liquid solvent as sold for plastic kits do it too?

John,

 

I use Butanone for Exactoscale and C&L chairs and don't have any great problems with adhesion on timber sleepers. I use hardwood, which is probably less porus and harder to stick to , and buy in bulk as it's far cheaper.

 

Not sure of the postage costs, as I can't do a search on Ebay from France, but I found several sellers who would ship worldwide, but there might be a premium on the costs.

 

As an example:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500ml-Methyl-Ethyl-Ketone-99-7-ACS-/160893819562?hash=item257604daaa:g:wjoAAOSwm8VUxh4D#shpCntId

 

I'm sure you would find it's available, my search for 'Butanone France' yielded 29 hits.

 

Peter

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johnarcher

johnarcher

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John,

 

I use Butanone for Exactoscale and C&L chairs and don't have any great problems with adhesion on timber sleepers. I use hardwood, which is probably less porus and harder to stick to , and buy in bulk as it's far cheaper.

 

Not sure of the postage costs, as I can't do a search on Ebay from France, but I found several sellers who would ship worldwide, but there might be a premium on the costs.

 

As an example:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500ml-Methyl-Ethyl-Ketone-99-7-ACS-/160893819562?hash=item257604daaa:g:wjoAAOSwm8VUxh4D#shpCntId

 

I'm sure you would find it's available, my search for 'Butanone France' yielded 29 hits.

 

Peter

Thanks for your answer, I have seen the UK eBay one you link to, I've tried to message them to ask postage cost to France but eBay says they are accepting no messages at the moment.

The only hit for Butanone or MEK I've found on French eBay is from the same UK company.

 

For the sleepers I've thought of buying lime strip from model ship dealers (a wood I liked when I used to make such models), I must compare the cost.

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johnarcher

johnarcher

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Thank you, I feel silly now - I searched eBay France for MEK, Butanone and for Méthyléthylcétone, but didn't think of that.

Thanks again, what a helpful place this is.

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Stephen Freeman

Stephen Freeman

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Thank you, I feel silly now - I searched eBay France for MEK, Butanone and for Méthyléthylcétone, but didn't think of that.

Thanks again, what a helpful place this is.

Hi,

I think you'll find your local Castorama (or any other brico) will sell something, that may be suitable. On Castorama's website they list something by GEB called decapant pvc, which appears to be a mix of acetone and butanone (used for cleaning PVC piping prior to gluing) . It is however more expensive than the Ebay listing.

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johnarcher

johnarcher

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Hi,

I think you'll find your local Castorama (or any other brico) will sell something, that may be suitable. On Castorama's website they list something by GEB called decapant pvc, which appears to be a mix of acetone and butanone (used for cleaning PVC piping prior to gluing) . It is however more expensive than the Ebay listing.

Thanks, yes I did see that, but, being of limited chemical knowl;edge, I wasn't sure if the presence of acetone (and I think something else) would cause a problem.

I have ordered some of the eBay stuff, which seems good value (especially with free postage), I'll see if it works.

 

Thanks again everyone

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Izzy

Izzy

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A little advice please on solvent for attaching plastic chairs to ply sleepers.

C&L I believe sell Butanone, but it is a problem for posting and I don't seem to be able to get it here in France.

I think MEK and Butanaone are much the same, so would Slater's MEK-PAK do the job? (I can get that here).

 

Would any liquid solvent as sold for plastic kits do it too?

 

I have used Slaters MEK-PAK to bond C&L chairs to ply sleepers since the chairs first became available, about late 1983 IIRC. I have never had a problem using it on the layouts I have built with this type of track construction. I have just recently built another using the same basic parts without issue.

 

Izzy

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  • 11 months later...
seanfr

seanfr

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This may be old news but apparently MEK is also known as Méthyléthylcétone in France and is available in 1L containers at about 20€ including delivery by Chronospost.

See http://www.inrs.fr/dms/ficheTox/FicheFicheTox/FICHETOX_14-2/FicheTox_14.pdf for Butanone = Méthyléthylcétone

 

Sold by https://www.mon-droguiste.com/m/methylethylcetone-mek,fr,4,MEETCE13007DSN.cfm

 

Did you find somewhere else to get it France?

 

/Sph

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hayfield

hayfield

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I have used Slaters MEK-PAK to bond C&L chairs to ply sleepers since the chairs first became available, about late 1983 IIRC. I have never had a problem using it on the layouts I have built with this type of track construction. I have just recently built another using the same basic parts without issue.

 

Izzy

 

 

Izzy

 

I don't know why buy many have had issues using MEK-PAK when trying to stick plastic chairs to ply timbers. It may be the amount of solvent required to make a good strong joint. Even using Butanone I flood the joint with solvent and allow to dry thoroughly. Seems you have had good advice and found an alternative

 

As a foot note use in a well ventilated room, keep the lid off only when using the solvent. Decant small amounts into a little bottle in case of spillage

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Izzy

Izzy

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Izzy

 

I don't know why buy many have had issues using MEK-PAK when trying to stick plastic chairs to ply timbers. It may be the amount of solvent required to make a good strong joint. Even using Butanone I flood the joint with solvent and allow to dry thoroughly. Seems you have had good advice and found an alternative

 

As a foot note use in a well ventilated room, keep the lid off only when using the solvent. Decant small amounts into a little bottle in case of spillage

 

Mek-Pak was really the only decent liquid glue around when the chairs first arrived in the early 80's and I got early samples for magazine review. I used it because it was what I had to hand and used for plastic construction, having until then used S4 society whitemetal chairs glued to the ply sleepers with Evo-stick. My review used the standard ply sleepers from the S4 society as well as the supplied thick plastic ones.

 

I do think a problem might be that from what I understand the Mek-Pak formulation has been changed a couple of times over the years and this might have affected how well it works. I suppose it is also possible the plastic chair composition has also altered in much the same way. I don't know if there is a usable alternative. I have tried Plastic Weld, but this does seem to attack/melt the surface finish of the chairs because it is stronger, which the Mek doesn't, although as you so rightly say you do need to flood the chair/sleeper joint with it to ensure enough melts into the grain of the ply.

 

You'll understand perhaps that I have an aversion to plastic based track, it and I have just never been able to hit it off despite several attempts over time, and so since my Tri-ang series 3/super4 days it's ended up being either been pcb or ply sleeper based track that I have used whatever the scale I have worked in, 2/4/7mm etc.

 

Izzy

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hayfield

hayfield

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Izzy

 

I have read before that the original MEK differs from the latest MEK PAK, and perhaps Butanone is nearer the original formula

 

As for plastic sleepers, the thicker (1.6 mm) plastic sleepers/timbers/track bases is far superior. Yes ply does look better providing stain rather than paint is used, it is far more expensive for plain track, but you do have keys on the chairs, however if flexi track is to be used, then plastic turnout and crossing timbers are the best

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Horsetan

Horsetan

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I suspect that the formulation of EMA Plastic Weld has also changed slightly, as my latest bottle seems to evaporate quicker than previous ones, even to the point of drying up before I've had a chance to apply the brush to the work.

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