Tenax Drying to fast

Hi John. I've been using it for my build of the Yorktown. I always put the parts together before applying the Tenex. I use the Touch -N-Flow applicator. It does set up quick. I'm glueing the 40mm. guns to their mounts and I only have a few seconds,30? to position it if it moved when I applied the Tenex. Love the stuff for this type of application. Hope this helps.

Jim is right. You have to apply Tenax with the parts almost touching each other and allow capillary action to draw the Tenax into the joint.
The Touch-N-Flow is the best way to use Tenax but you can also use an old paint brush.
Just don't leave the Tenax open too long or it will evaporate.

Mike

The guys are right. You can't use it like regular glue by putting it on the parts and then sticking them together, that isn't what it was designed for. As the instructions say, apply it to a joint and let capillary action pull it in. That's why I still keep a couple of bottles of CA around to.

Thanks for the help. Where can I get a Touch-N-Flow? Does it help a little more?

I don't have a Touch-N-Flow simply because I keep forgetting to order one when I order stuff. Many of the mail order hobby shops have them. If you do a Google search for that term you'll find numerous hits.

I took a hypodermic needle and cut the point off, and beveled it a little with a Dremel tool. Zap'd a piece of plastic tube in the back for a handle. Took about 5 minutes to make and it works fine.

The Touch-N-Flow is good but I like a drafting pen much better.

Get a small square of glass to set on top of the open bottle of glue to keep evaporation down.

John,

Woodies suggestions a good one. Just hold the two pieces close together and using a drafting pen try to draw a line between the two parts as if the pen had ink in it. The Tenax will go between the two parts through capillary action and you have a weld. I have been doing this for a long time and it works great.

Good luck,

Richard

I purchased my Touch-N-Flow at Hobbyland. It came as a kit with the Tenax. About $12. Micro Mark sells it along with the Tenax.

thanks guys

Here's a tip I picked up somewhere -

Tenax dries fast, Testors liquid cement dries fairly slow. Get a clean bottle and mix the Tenax and Testors 50/50 - but don't mix up all of it. You will then have 3 flavors of cement on your bench; slow, medium and fast drying. I find myself using the 50/50 mix almost exclusively. Hope this helps.

Edit - My applicator is simply a piece of small-diameter brass tubing with a beveled 'business end'. I stick the tubing in the bottle, cover it with my finger, place the tube on the seam and release. Works great.

Guys...

Got a nasty problem. My Touch-n-Flow (both of 'em) seems to be clogged, but even if I do as it suggests to clear the clog, no dice. I would like a slightly bigger dispensing tube (one I could run a piece of wire into to clear)

I'd made one with two nested hypo tubes and some brass tubing grafted onto a glass eye-dropper, but the MBS solvent (Canadian generic Tenax) ate the CA I first used. I tried JB-Weld, and after a few weeks, that ~shrunk~ and cracked along the side. I'm using it for a Robbe kit, so getting sufficient quantity in there fast is essential.

I ~think~ the hypo tube is grafted to the glass pipette with dental alginate... anyone know where I could get a bit?

Anyone tried using the Easy Filler bottle as an applicator? I'm afraid the solvent would eat bottle or hypo nozzle.

And before you suggest... I tried brushes... it ATE the brush. Plus I couldn't get enough in there fast...

On the drafting pen, is it all-metal? Which make/type? (might be a better alternative for me)

Can't help with the Touch-N-Flow, I just use a hypodermic needle with a piece of plastic Zap'd on the end as a handle.

The drafting pens are all steel. Specifically, most of them are stainless steel. Yuo can find them at virtually any engineering supply store, university book store, even many larger office supply stores. There are lots of brands, Dietzgen, K&E, Koh-I-Noor, Pickett, , etc., but in general they are all pretty much the same. They do come in varying sizes and styles though.

Check the tip on them. I used to draw with them many, many years ago and some of them have very sharp points. Probably exactly what you want for gluing but they can scratch plastic pretty easily.

If you use ebay try a drafting tool search. I've bought several partial sets that had the tools I was looking for for cheap! You can gleen dividers, compasses(I put an extra point in the lead side and scribe perfect circles with it), and the pens in question. They are precision tools and many are handy in your model tool box. Heck you might even use them for their intended purpose while laying out the latest scratchbuilt bit.

For what it's worth, I've been using those el cheapo white plastic Testors paint brushes to apply my Tenax. When dry the bristles sort of turn into one solid chunk but once I dip it back into the Tenax they seem to turn back into their "brush" form. So far so good. I still use my ol' Testors tube glue about 50% of the time but it was in this forum where I learned of Tenax. It's a great thing (That's what Martha would say if she built models and used Tenax). I, too, at first tried to brush it on and then stick the parts together. LOL! So young and foolish was I last month.

Take care everyone!

Eric

Guys;
Ambroid Pro-Weld works just the same and it comes with a brush applicator already in the bottle. $2.69 at Hobby Lobby or any LHS.
Steve