Slaters MekPak Quantities

[DLT]

Please can anyone help?  

 

Is it still possible to purchase Slaters MekPak in larger quantities than the standard bottle?

Some stockists are advertising MEK in half-litre quantities.  This is NOT MekPak, but actual Methyl Ethyl Ketone, which I understand is nasty stuff?

 

Many thanks,

Dave.

 

 

[brossard]

Came across this old thread:

 

MEK is the same as Butanone, and, yes it is nasty stuff, but apparently the new MEK Pak has been dumbed down.

 

I have a half liter tin of MEK bought at a hardware store.  It has worked great sticking ABS chairs to wooden timbers.

 

John

[Derekl]

I bought 1 litre of MEK from Shiny Hardware Limited (SHL). I don't remember what I paid for it, but I see it is now listed at £7.80.

In use, it is much as the Slater product, perhaps a little stronger, but precautions should be taken. The sell larger quantities as well.

The also sell IPA at reasonable prices.

[Paul H Vigor]

1 hour ago, Derekl said:

I bought 1 litre of MEK from Shiny Hardware Limited (SHL). I don't remember what I paid for it, but I see it is now listed at £7.80.

In use, it is much as the Slater product, perhaps a little stronger, but precautions should be taken. The sell larger quantities as well.

The also sell IPA at reasonable prices.

I've always bought my MEK Pak in the smaller bottles. After a narrow [knocking over] escape I've taken to working with the bottle stood in a shallow, wide-based container, packed around with crumpled kitchen roll. 

[Izzy]

Slaters sell their Mek-Pak in half-litre re-sealable tins. I use mine to replenish a bottle via a Revell pipette, the bottle standing inside a shallow glass jar that once contained foodstuff of some kind so it can't get knocked over. I like Mek-Pak as it's not as strong as MEK or such as EMA ( which I both have) so useful for use with softer plastic as in many kits.

 

Bob

[Steamport Southport]

2 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Slaters sell their Mek-Pak in half-litre re-sealable tins. I use mine to replenish a bottle via a Revell pipette, the bottle standing inside a shallow glass jar that once contained foodstuff of some kind so it can't get knocked over. I like Mek-Pak as it's not as strong as MEK or such as EMA ( which I both have) so useful for use with softer plastic as in many kits.

 

Bob

 

Yes. I think you've got to ask them for it in the large quantities.

 

Or you can pick it up at an exhibition from some suppliers.

 

https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/313/slater-s-mekpak-polystyrene-cement-500ml/

 

 

Jason

[DCB]

9 hours ago, Derekl said:

I bought 1 litre of MEK from Shiny Hardware Limited (SHL). I don't remember what I paid for it, but I see it is now listed at £7.80.

In use, it is much as the Slater product, perhaps a little stronger, but precautions should be taken. The sell larger quantities as well.

The also sell IPA at reasonable prices.

What are the precautions please?  is it just fumes?

[Jeff Smith]

Having run out of Mek-Pak some years ago and MEK being unavailable in small quantities over here I have now adopted Tamya extra thin which seems to be just as good and has an excellent fine brush in the cap.

[Izzy]

8 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Yes. I think you've got to ask them for it in the large quantities.

 

Or you can pick it up at an exhibition from some suppliers.

 

https://www.roxeymouldings.co.uk/product/313/slater-s-mekpak-polystyrene-cement-500ml/

 

 

Jason

Having just had a look at my current tin it’s actually 475ml, and I got it from my ‘go to’ model shop of John Dutfields in Chelmsford who stock a wide range of bits many others no longer do. 
 

I do see Slaters don’t have it listed on their website, just the 50ml bottles, although there is an image of it.

 

Bob

[ikcdab]

The exact chemistry eludes me, but i always buy butanone in 1l bottles.   Does exactly the same job as the stuff I used to buy from slaters in the small bottles.

 

[Derekl]

12 hours ago, Paul H Vigor said:

I've always bought my MEK Pak in the smaller bottles. After a narrow [knocking over] escape I've taken to working with the bottle stood in a shallow, wide-based container, packed around with crumpled kitchen roll. 

 

Yes, I decant from the larger bottles to small bottles (taking care) and I stand the bottle in one of those foam supports used to support paint tins.

[Derekl]

3 hours ago, DCB said:

What are the precautions please?  is it just fumes?

Yes, fumes, and see above about decanting into smaller bottles. The idea of around a litre of MEK floating around the floor doesn't appeal!!

[JeffP]

Both my MEK and my liquid flux bottles are either stuck down with a sausage of blu-tack, or are stabilised with an off cut of wood with a suitable hole in the middle.

And I always put them to my left, so as not to reach over them for other stuff.

[Barclay]

I bought a litre of MEK off the web a few years ago for less than £10. I keep it in the garage and use it to top up the old square Humbrol Liquid Poly bottle that I use at my workbench. This is pretty stable and it's a shame they went to the taller conventional bottles (I have managed to knock one of these over).

 

For anyone with a large quantity I would recommend checking the cap, because mine split, allowing the vapours out. Fortunately the smell is very distinctive.

[smokebox]

4 hours ago, Barclay said:

I bought a litre of MEK off the web a few years ago for less than £10. I keep it in the garage and use it to top up the old square Humbrol Liquid Poly bottle that I use at my workbench. This is pretty stable and it's a shame they went to the taller conventional bottles (I have managed to knock one of these over).

 

For anyone with a large quantity I would recommend checking the cap, because mine split, allowing the vapours out. Fortunately the smell is very distinctive.

Unfortunately I knocked one over that was nearly empty that splashed over a relatively new super detailed Hornby pullman coach.  I almost cried

[Buhar]

Can MEK be diluted?  If so, with what?

 

Alan

[Dava]

I understand Slaters add a delaying agent which slows its evaporation. I don’t know what it is, I’m not a chemist.

 

Dava

[DLT]

Thanks very much for all the advice guys, looks like I'm stuck with the smaller bottles unless I switch to MEK or Butanone, with their added hazards.

Having to mail order everything now that my local model shop has gone, also having a shelf full of empty MekPak bottles ready for decanting (I get through a lot)

Just had confirmation from Slaters that they are no longer supplying in larger quantities, mainly due to the large number and cost of tins they would have to order, and the subsequent storage space needed.

Thanks again,

Dave.T

[asmay2002]

59 minutes ago, DLT said:

Thanks very much for all the advice guys, looks like I'm stuck with the smaller bottles unless I switch to MEK or Butanone, with their added hazards.

Having to mail order everything now that my local model shop has gone, also having a shelf full of empty MekPak bottles ready for decanting (I get through a lot)

Just had confirmation from Slaters that they are no longer supplying in larger quantities, mainly due to the large number and cost of tins they would have to order, and the subsequent storage space needed.

Thanks again,

Dave.T

MEK and Butanone are different names for the same thing.  MEKPAK was originally MEK + PAK.  Why do you think MEKPAK is safer or that pure MEK has added hazards?  Logically it is the other way around, MEKPAK has the hazards of the MEK in it PLUS the hazards of the other stuff in it.  Read the appropriate safety data sheet such as https://www.fishersci.co.uk/chemicalProductData_uk/wercs?itemCode=10227333&lang=EN if you are worried about it.

MEK/Butanone is one of the more benign solvents out there.  The solvents to avoid are ones with chlorine in such as Trichloroethylene https://www.fishersci.co.uk/chemicalProductData_uk/wercs?itemCode=10235920&lang=EN. 

If you need to, you can get huge quantities of MEK via amazon.

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by asmay2002

[Halvarras]

I have a DC Kits 2H DEMU kit to build at some point - not having built a DC Kits kit (!) before I understand that EMA 'Plastic Weld', which works for ABS, is insufficient for the plastic used in these kits, I'll require MEK/Butanone (from memory the instructions recommend the latter by name). Good to hear it's not difficult to get hold of.

[Mike Bellamy]

13 hours ago, asmay2002 said:

MEK and Butanone are different names for the same thing.  MEKPAK was originally MEK + PAK.  Why do you think MEKPAK is safer or that pure MEK has added hazards?  Logically it is the other way around, MEKPAK has the hazards of the MEK in it PLUS the hazards of the other stuff in it.  

 

 

Thanks Andy - but what is "PAK" ?  What is the "other stuff" in it ?

 

There are various quotes above that what Slaters supply is actually MEK/Butanone yet others say MEKPAK is different and I'm sure I have seen claims that over the years Slaters have changed the formula.

.

[RodneyS]

The bottle I'm using at the moment was bought about a year ago and does have a different smell to the previous one.

The cap also seems to have been improved and the contents don't seem to evaporate.

The contents of the previous bottle just seemed to disappear.

Rodney

[DLT]

11 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

Thanks Andy - but what is "PAK" ?  What is the "other stuff" in it ?

 

There are various quotes above that what Slaters supply is actually MEK/Butanone yet others say MEKPAK is different and I'm sure I have seen claims that over the years Slaters have changed the formula.

.

Quite so Mike, MekPak is definitely not MEK/Butanone.  MEK/Butanone will fix C&L track components, but MekPak won't touch them.

Therefore the assumption that MekPak is less harmful than MEK/butanone.

[polybear]

MEK/Butanone is available cheaply from pretty much any Plumber's Merchants - it's sold as PVC Solvent Pipe Cleaner.

[Ruston]

I used to get MEK for nothing, from a friend who worked at a  print works.  They used it for cleaning rollers etc.  It was more effective than MEK PAK.

 

When the works closed, my supply dried up and so I bought a large metal tin, from Slaters. After a few weeks a small patch on the conical part of the tin began to rust. One day I went into the shed and could smell the contents of the tin. The entire conical part had collapsed in; rusted from the inside so beware of this.