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Liquid poly. Does it all stink?


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I never use the stuff, much better to use Dichloromethane, available from suppliers on that famous auction site, which I then decant into a small brown glass screw top bottle (ex witch hazel). It looks like water and brushes easily onto joints, smells sweetly pungent a bit like chloroform but the smell stays local to the worksite and is not unpleasant. It is also a hell of a lot cheaper than buying those little bottles of liquid poly (which appeals to the tight northerner in me!).

 

Geoff

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I should add that the d-Limonene I use is also refered to as Dipentene which is the solvent variant of the product. I purchased mine from http://www.magnacol.co.uk/tissueprocessing/d-limonene1litre.html a long while ago and managed to get a 250ml bottle (which has hardly gone down in spite of leaving the cap off overnight once). The supplier only seems to list 1ltr and above so it might be worth ringing them to see if they can still do 250ml.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichloromethane

 

Plenty of names. The important one is 'Toxin'.

Unfortunately any product that actually works for the job required of it is either toxic or (if taken orally) addictive, it was a while before I managed to source solder that contains lead as all the stuff you buy now has no lead content and is completely useless! There used to be a product you could buy from the chemist that actually cured an upset stomach, it was called Dr Collis Brownes Mixture and it contained a small amount of morphine.........so that got banned. The thing is there will always be the odd person who will abuse the use of a product, but sensible use with precautionary measures wont cause any problems.

Grrrrrrr don`t get me started...................................................you got me started!!!!!!!! Nanny state blah blah

 

Geoff

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I seem to remember research into why people found cabbage smell so offensive, when other did not mind it at all, and it is down to Genes and the receptors of smell in the nose. Solvents were tested as well, including Methylene Chloride, and the reaction to each item is related to that person in these classes of aromatic solvents.

The research then went on to explain why half the population hated Brussel Sprouts.......again down to genes.

 

Stephen

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I agree about Humbrol liquid poly; the smell is very nasty. I threw mine out into the garden soon after I opened it. I find Plastic Weld OK, and Slaters Mekpak reasonable; each tends to work with some plastics better than other.

 

I've used Plastic Weld a lot when building track, sticking plastic chairs down onto Plastruct sleepers (this is 3mm/ft finescale), and could stand it for reasonable periods. It has a fairly sweet smell, not unpleasant. I believe it is in fact Dichloromethane. 

 

I have a problem at the moment in that the latest chairs I have, from a different source, work better with Mekpak than Plastic Weld, whereas Mekpak doesn't work so well with the Plastruct sleepers. I've been told Butanone, which I've bought but not yet tried, should be fine, but have yet to test this.

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And, just to add another solvent into the mix, my current favourite is "Mr Cement S". It's Japanese and not always easy to come by, but it is very effective, evaporates quickly, and it's not very smelly.

 

For jobs where you need a less aggressive solvent, Mr. Cement Limonene is good and it smells of citrus fruit. 

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