Anyone compared the "hotness" of plastic glues?

I have noted the “hotness” of the different types of liquid cements that I have used, but not in any sort of scientific way.

Usually the hotter the glue, the quicker it tends to evaporate when placed on plastic. Tenax and Plast-i-weld are the hottest types that I have used. I use them for the quickest and hardest joins. Tamiya Extra Thin and Humbrol Liquid Poly are not quite so hot, and are my standards for everyday use. Testors liquid cement had some quality control issues (too cool, about as effective as sugar water or Elmers glue) several years back, so I stopped using the stuff. 

I wish you could still get tenax it was perfect. Now I'm using plastiweld it does the job but it's not as hot as tenax. I know some people use straight mek have also heard of lacquer thinner being used. To answer your question stick explained it well.

Hello!

Recently I have been experimenting with some chemicals that are many times cheaper than the specialized plastic glues. What worked for me best was an old lacquer thinner and unfortunately I don't have ingradients list for it. Other lacquer thinners that I see in hardware stores list xylene and toluene as ingredients. I have also tried acetone and butanone/MEK - and those evaporate too fast. It looks like you need to mix acetone or MEK with something that doesn't evaporate so fast - I guess it might be toluene. Once you get the mix right you can save some serious $$$ on plastic weld glues!

Have a nice day

Paweł

You can compare the dissolving power of various chemicals by applying a small amount to packaging styrofoam. Just touch a small amount to the foam and watch a hole form. The more dissolving power the bigger the whole. I use a cheap paint brush to apply, making sure I apply the same amount each time.

Packaging foam is expanded polystyrene, the same plastic found in most plastic kits. The glue eats through the foam much more easily because it is mostly air.

I have found Tamiya Extra Thin,with the green cap to be perfect for me. As far as testing,well you have sprue,and a lot of kits have extra parts from versions not used.

I use Tamiya Extra thin most of the time, since Tenax departed I sometimes use "Same Stuff," I got it at my local hobby shop, maybe I've seen it at Micro Mark catalogue also. Still have a nearly full Tenax bottle, in comparison Same Stuff seems to work identically.

Tenax evaporated in bottle really quickly, the fix for that is a thin metal cap filed to fit the top of the bottle, then screw the cap on firmly. Tenax can last for years then.