Plasticard tips?

[Mountain Goat]

I used cheap superglue the last time I made something.

[Steve M]

I have always used ‘Plastic Magic’ or the one sold by Revell with a thin tube applicator with good success.
But I do use a support jig like this:

20190827_185056 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Two pieces of ply at exactly 90° With some magnetic stainless steel stuck to it (eBay). Then use various neodymium magnets and blocks to hold the plasticard in place, brush the solvent into the joint and leave it to thoroughly dry.

[Paul-H]

Not wanting to be beaten by this as most people report good results I decided to do some tests

Test process was simply to glue two pieces of 40 thou plasicard together one an overlapping joint and one edge to flat joint

Application method was the same for all pieces ie apply solvent to both surfaces, wait a few seconds, apply second coat, then assemble joint. All were left for 12 hours, I then tried to pull the joint apart using moderate pressure

I used all fresh bottles of the following

Tamiya Extra Thin Cement
Tamiya Limonene
Revell Contacts
Plastic Weld (but it's an old bottle so may have lost some of its potency)
99.9% Methyl Ethyl Ketone (AKA MEK)
Dichloromethane

The result was quite surprising given my past experience, they all passed the test and all looked like they had worked the same.

Now with all that solvent I had better start making things before it all goes off

Paul

[JohnSmithUK]

I have always used ‘Plastic Magic’ or the one sold by Revell with a thin tube applicator with good success.
But I do use a support jig like this:

20190827_185056 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Two pieces of ply at exactly 90° With some magnetic stainless steel stuck to it (eBay). Then use various neodymium magnets and blocks to hold the plasticard in place, brush the solvent into the joint and leave it to thoroughly dry.

Now that is impressive, and very useful.

[Steve M]

John, it’s probably one of the most useful tools on the bench.

For any one wishing to build something similar make sure you get the right kind of stainless steel as not all types are magnetic. Here’s one I found on eBay.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 1827916665

As I said neodymium magnets are good for holding parts in place but I also made some blocks, plastic and wood with magnetic tape on one side - allows me to make jigs of different angles when required.

[mijj]

I made one similar to Steve M and found out the hard way that there are two types of stainless steel .
Before I had an insulated roller door fitted I had left the 'right-angled' thingy in he garage where it got very cold in winter. There is quite a difference in their coefficient of expansion/contraction. It was a right angle no longer . Bringing their temperature up sorted that though.
I did find the neodymium magnets too strong for the cardboard kits one gets.
Our local iron mongers had less strong ones.
Jim.

[JohnSmithUK]

Stainless has arrived. I didn't check if it was magnetic when ordering, as I just assumed steel was magnetic. Schoolboy error.



However, I am in luck, it is magnetic!!!!!!!

Just need to source some wood offcuts, and jig will be made for building.

[JohnSmithUK]

Little update.

It has been a busy few weeks, but started on building a jig. Found some straight slatboards, so to keep them straight whilst gluing them into two boards, well.......

[JohnSmithUK]

Results of my construction are below, with some experimental parts to test construction techniques.

Progess on builds proper will go back to the South Auckland Junction thread.