ship69

Yes this was a significant part of my problem. I have been layering up the styrene in order to get the required thickness. And although it seems remarkably strong remarkably soon, it is obviously taking more than 24 hours to fully evaporate/cure again...

Oxford

Thanks. Unfortunately we now have weekend problems - have you seen anything faster than 10th Nov (Tues)?

Yes, a bit fiddly but otherwise good thinking - particularly the key load-baring places, if all else fails. P.S. Out of interest may I ask why do you use superglue rather than a solvent/cement?

OK so this is slightly embarrassing... but I just found some styrene that had been bonded using one of my cements (I'm now not 100% sure which but probably Tamiya Extra Thin[??]), and which genuinely HAD formed a bond as strong as the virgin styrene! I had previously been testing after 24 hours but this had been left 2 or 3 days. ==> much food for thought! Meanwhile I'm still trying to source some MEK (Methyl Ethyl Ketone / 2-butanone) - as opposed to MEK-PAK which apparently contains Trichloroethane not MEK! This is because someone said it was the absolute strongest cement. ALSO it may work better on ABS for if I upgrade to ABS instead of styrene. Any idea where I can get some MEK on expedited delivery (to UK mainland)? I cant find any at either ModelsRgo.co.uk or ScaleModelShop.co.uk ... Meanwhile any thoughts on materials stronger than plasticard/HIPS/styrene? e.g. is ABS significantly stronger - or just looks more attractive?

Hello I am new here. Can anyone tell me what is the way to get the strongest possible bond between styrene (HIPS/plasticard) to self? Background I am building a functional prototype for something and I need absolute maximum physical strength! I also need to be able to build stuff reasonably quickly so thus far I have been finding it useful to work with styrene (HIPS), partly because it is so easy to cut using a score and snapping from a sheet of the stuff. And also partly because the bond with cements like EMA Plastic Weld is as good as it is. BUT even 24 hours later I am still finding that where I have glued things together with EMA Plastic Weld is still the weakest link! i.e. the 'welded' joint material it is NOT as strong as the virgin base (styrene) material. In order to get an all round increase in strength I am toying with changing to a stronger material than HIPS/styrene. (e.g. ABS??) however so far although ABS does seem slightly stronger then plane HIPS styrene, I have not yet discovered a way to bond it self nor to styrene to create as strong a bond as plane styrene-styrene using EMA Plastic Weld. Fwiw, I have also tried experimenting with other cements (e.g. Mr Cement S, Tamiya Extra Thin)... but so far I haven't found much difference between the cement bonds. What *is* noticable is that Tamiya evapourate very much more slowly than Mr Cement S (EMA Plastic Weld is in fact slightly faster)... but I haven't found much difference in final strength. I should explain that the reason I need so much strength is because my prototype in volves a very powerful torsion spring (and made worse by repeating torsion cycles). I should also explain that in certain places where I dont have the exact thickness of plastic that I need, that I building it up using multiple layers of sheet, glued together (currently using cement such as EMA Plastic Weld) Any thoughts? J P.S. I tried a 2-party epoxy calld Plastic Fusion made by Super Glue corp. So far I have found it absolutely useless. And even 24 hours after setting I can still cut it / remove it using a finger nail!