Tenax-7R Liquid Model Cement

Get a can of MEK from Home depot

Plastruct Plastic Weld (orange label) is close. Not quite as aggressive but it works. Takes a bit longer to set.

Pete

Favorites (in order) for very thin cement:

#1 Faller Super Expert Cement part number 170490

#2 Tamiya Extra Thin cement part number 87038 

#3 Faller Expert cement part number 170492

#4 Plastruct Bondene (the white label)

All available at Amazon or good hobby stores.

One of our (LHS) customers is well-connected to a group of proto builders.  In the absence of Hebco's Tenax 7-R, they've found that MicroMark's "Same Stuff" works nearly as well...

Same Stuff Link

Personally, I can't vouch for this.  I've not tried it myself in a 'Tenax' situation.  OTOH, we're stocking the 'stuff' and it's selling well.  The reporting customer seems pleased with the results, anyway.

FWIW, always.....

KD

BTW....While not having any insider data, this is not the first time Hebco's let the Tenax supply go dry.  Something's up.  Our distributors continue to carry it as a back order item, however, so maybe there's hope.  IMHO, when a supplier begins to have supply problems, it's time to search in earnest for sustainable alternatives.  Ambroid was the last one of these glue-guys to drop out after a few failed attempts to make a go of it.  Maybe the extreme volatility (It disappeared quickly (understatement, to be sure!!!) from the bottle if not properly sealed/stored was a portent of the entire company's future???.  We'll see.

It's just methylene chloride.... 

MEK will work and is overkill for styrene, but it's terribly flammable and particularly nasty smelling.

Thank you all for the timely replies...good to have choices, plus availability.

Bob

This glue is very good but last time I posted it on a forum I got shouted down by all the experts about how it's probably just another substitute for MEK why waste your money.

Anyway it works for me on both styrene AND ABS plastic I used it yesterday to glue some styrene brick sheet around square ABS Hollow square. But what do I know I'm only building a Steel mill I know nothing . Roo.

I have been using my first bottle of the Plastruct "orange label" general purpose plastic cement.    To me it seems to work about he same.   I like the idea because it says it works on styrene, abs, and other plastics.    I have so far just used styrene.

Roo posted:

This glue is very good but last time I posted it on a forum I got shouted down by all the experts about how it's probably just another substitute for MEK why waste your money.

Some love MEK; good for them.  It's nasty enough that in 30+ years I've only had 1 bottle of it in my labs.

Anyway it works for me on both styrene AND ABS plastic I used it yesterday to glue some styrene brick sheet around square ABS Hollow square.

Interesting stuff; not sure that it's actually a solvent glue - 95% formaldehyde ethylene acetal.....with the rest being butyl acetate.

But what do I know I'm only building a Steel mill I know nothing . Roo.

When will you be producing steel for export?

Bob,

buy some bondene from plastruct. It is great for similar plastics (styrene to styrene). For dissimilar plastics use plasticweld cement ( orange container)

alan graziano

Roo posted:

 

 

Not looking Good.......Looking GREAT!!!! I can almost feel the heat coming off the furnaces!

Simon

Thanks Simon long way to go If we didn't have weekly operating sessions I might get more done but what's trains if you don't run em..

I forgot to mention with all my styrene only models I use Faller "Expert" glue because I like the name gives me confidence.  Ha, Ha.

Seriously, maybe other glues are the same, I don't know, I just like this glue I think it does a great job. I buy it in bulk direct from Germany much cheaper.

 Roo.

Roo posted:

Thanks Simon long way to go If we didn't have weekly operating sessions I might get more done but what's trains if you don't run em..

I forgot to mention with all my styrene only models I use Faller "Expert" glue because I like the name gives me confidence.  Ha, Ha.

Seriously, maybe other glues are the same, I don't know, I just like this glue I think it does a great job. I buy it in bulk direct from Germany much cheaper.

 Roo.

 

Looks like a nice applicator Neville. Have had great success with Tenax, it evaporates so fast that a slight over apply may not even mar your surface.

Roo posted:T

I use Faller "Expert" glue because I like the name gives me confidence.  Ha, Ha.

...And to add to the "Ha, Ha." re "Expert"....

I was only a few months past college graduation, learning the ropes, so to speak, on my new job with an automotive components group.  I was introduced to a member of the Inspection Department regarding his analysis of a part I had engineering responsibility for. 

He commented, "Ah, you must be the new expert on this job!?  And, of course, you know what an expert is, don't you?   'X' represents an unknown, and a 'spurt' is a drip under pressure!"

We immediately were best of friends!

    The story I was told by a local hobby shop owner is that the guy who produced the Tenax 7 cement had passed way.    So...it was off to Menards to pick up a quart can of MEK, which I was quite surprised that they carried!    This stuff is nasty, but does the job.   As a safety precaution, do not make contact with your skin, as this stuff will cause permanent liver damage!!!   Good thing is, if one accidently spills the stuff, it has a low flash point, and evaporates instantly.

I have a friend who is awaiting a lung transplant - according to the medicos his lung damage was caused by using MEK in the fibreglass boat building industry.  He has a little trolley with an oxygen bottle with him where ever he goes.

Just sayin'

If you go through life fearful of everything you might as well be dead.

If you go through life and use common sense you might survive.

Most of my "gluing" is done in a three car garage with one large roller door always open not for fumes from glue but because I walk in and out of it all day long.

During the Vietnam war we set up an ambush we killed two Viet Cong in it, running to the track I was shot through the leg and the bullet split my femur, the mate behind me killed the third Viet Cong that shot me, the rest of the patrol (5) served the rest of the year without any more wounded or killed, at that time it was probably one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, they survived, I survived. It's the luck of the draw, you draw the short one, to bad, use a ventilated room you will survive. I'm not an expert in anything except surviving, I'm still here enjoying myself and laughing.

Have to go it's operating day, got to prepare the layout, ring me if your coming and I will make more sandwiches for lunch.

Roo.

mwb posted:

It's just methylene chloride.... 

MEK will work and is overkill for styrene, but it's terribly flammable and particularly nasty smelling.

 

 

A friend at work just ran some on one of our GCs. As you said its Methylene Chloride plus 2H-pyran tetrahydro. He mentioned with more time he could determine the relative quantities but I told him I was thankful for this for now.

What does this add to its effectiveness? I see its pretty pricey especially compared to the Methylene Chloride.

Pete

Norton posted:

mwb posted:

It's just methylene chloride.... 

MEK will work and is overkill for styrene, but it's terribly flammable and particularly nasty smelling.

A friend at work just ran some on one of our GCs. As you said its Methylene Chloride plus 2H-pyran tetrahydro. He mentioned with more time he could determine the relative quantities but I told him I was thankful for this for now.

What does this add to its effectiveness? I see its pretty pricey especially compared to the Methylene Chloride.

As far as I know, the pyran adds nothing to the effectiveness and it's there probably as an oxidation stabilizer to make someone somewhere a happy regulator; been using pure methylene chloride for years.  I looked for trace stuff in it years ago by MS and NMR.

Pricey is an understatement!  Anhydrous methylene chloride, ≥99.8%, runs around $60 for a liter. 

So you end buying a little bottle of Tenax that is pretty marginal on sealing, too.  Might as well expect it to be empty when you need it next time.

Might as well expect it to be empty when you need it next time.

which is why I stopped using it.

PRR Man posted:

Might as well expect it to be empty when you need it next time.

which is why I stopped using it.

I can fix that for you....

I have a friend who is awaiting a lung transplant - according to the medicos his lung damage was caused by using MEK in the fibreglass boat building industry.  He has a little trolley with an oxygen bottle with him where ever he goes.

Thanks for the warning. I'd guess that your friend's exposure to MEK was a lot higher than any model railroad hobbiest is likely to encounter.
On the other hand, a lot of people in this hobby seem to have a very cavalier attitude towards safety with chemicals and aerosols. 

A few people I know were believed to have their health impacted by model railroad chemicals, and I have heard of several others.

When I use chemicals, I try to use them with care, avoiding skin contact and breathing the fumes as much as possible.