Glue: Seperating Glued Plastics Help

[Hap Hazard]

I am trying to repair a Mr. Lem robot and need to remove the shoe cover from the shoe base but they are really glued together well. Does anyone know how to seperate the parts without damaging the plastic or at a minimum not too badly. I am making an assumption the the plastic is Styrene and it looks like it is solvent welded together. I tried "working" the joint loose but no way is it coming loose.

[Eagle]

Heat Gun?

[milwaukeemachineman]

Hello Hap Hazard,

Working with plastic especially gluewelded plastic is NEARLY impossible, notice I said nearly? No a heat gun won't work either nor will ripping it apart, but?????

What does work, believe it or not is an EXACTO KNIFE or a very sharp razor blade, and be careful, don't try and cut all the way through at first, start by score-ing, a slight cut at the line of separation, and keep going over the same line again and again until you have cut through.

Try and keep the blade of the cutting instrament at the same angle with each slice while on the same line as many times to finally cut through, even if you have to do this on all four sides of the foot base that you want to cut into, what you are trying to do is cut a strait line with as much minimal loss of plastic as possible.

I hope this helps as I have done this many times while working with plastic parts that have also been gluewelded together, it's like cutting through a very thick piece of plastic, what you don't want to do is OVER-CUT!!! in otherwords

create two cut lines or worse cause damage beyond repair.

Good Luck, Be Careful and let me know if it works out for you.

Best Regards,

MMM

[Guest kenalexruss]

Use xylene with a q-tip and the exacto knife method mentioned above. Xylene will melt the plastic, but nothing that can't be polished back when done. The xylene will soften the plastic enough, if not outright separate it, so that the knife can do its work. OK, where does one get xylene?

[larry seven]

:) Somewhere back in the pages of Alphadrome Henk told the procedure for using the ultrasound device salvaged from an old jewelry cleaner to separate plastic parts. I remember that the story knocked me out, but I have never had the opportunity to try it! -Larry7

[Hap Hazard]

I'm going to try and get my hands on some Xylene and a razer blade and hope I don't injure myself...I'm sure I can buy it OTC at Walmart....

Xylene affects the brain. High levels from exposure for short periods (14 days or less) or long periods (more than 1 year) can cause headaches, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, and changes in one's sense of balance. Exposure of people to high levels of xylene for short periods can also cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat; difficulty in breathing; problems with the lungs; delayed reaction time; memory difficulties; stomach discomfort; and possibly changes in the liver and kidneys. It can cause unconsciousness and even death at very high levels (see inhalants).

[Andyman]

I'm going to try and get my hands on some Xylene and a razer blade and hope I don't injure myself...I'm sure I can buy it OTC at Walmart....

Xylene affects the brain. High levels from exposure for short periods (14 days or less) or long periods (more than 1 year) can cause headaches, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, and changes in one's sense of balance. Exposure of people to high levels of xylene for short periods can also cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat; difficulty in breathing; problems with the lungs; delayed reaction time; memory difficulties; stomach discomfort; and possibly changes in the liver and kidneys. It can cause unconsciousness and even death at very high levels (see inhalants).

sounds like the party is at Hap Hazard's place. ;)

[Guest kenalexruss]

I'm going to try and get my hands on some Xylene and a razer blade and hope I don't injure myself...I'm sure I can buy it OTC at Walmart....

Xylene affects the brain. High levels from exposure for short periods (14 days or less) or long periods (more than 1 year) can cause headaches, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, and changes in one's sense of balance. Exposure of people to high levels of xylene for short periods can also cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat; difficulty in breathing; problems with the lungs; delayed reaction time; memory difficulties; stomach discomfort; and possibly changes in the liver and kidneys. It can cause unconsciousness and even death at very high levels (see inhalants).

I don't buy any of that! What did you just say???

Anyway, try using goof off glue remover. It has a healthy concentration of xylene and some other fun stuff. I just tried it and it works like a charm! Now, to see if it actually works on plastic... (joking, it does great)

Yes, please work outdoors or at least with an approved mask and ventilation. Otherwise, for a good time, throw all precautions to the wind!

[rocket_2]

Xylene affects the brain. High levels from exposure for short periods (14 days or less) or long periods (more than 1 year) can cause headaches, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, and changes in one's sense of balance.

Huh, and all along I've always thought these symptoms were just from bidding or getting out-sniped on eBay.

[Hap Hazard]

Let me share the outcome of my Mr Lem foot surgery. I reached the conclusion that if "Solvent-Weld" can weld parts together via melting... it can melt parts apart as well. Well, it so happens that MR. Lems feet are not "solvent welded" they are just glued together. So melting the plastic does nothing more then mess stuff up (Duh). So after all that I had to use an X-acto like M3 recommended and carve the foot apart. Surgery was successful!

I guess old school convential wisdom ruled the day!.

[milwaukeemachineman]

Thank You Hap!

Since I work with plastic everyday and in multiple forms of plastic I hope everything worked out alright and no damage occured during the surgery? Like I said I have ruined many a good Robots and action figures over the years and have found that not only does the EXacto knife method work it's really the only way to prevent loss of the plastic edge you still need to make everything go back together and fit right.

Now as for glueing it back together, I'll leave that up to you, but some glues don't hold on to some plastics. But I do have a product that will help with the holding, it's called WONDER PUTTY, I have used it on all types of plastic and it will hold but it is permanent and it can be used easily, you might have to do some light sanding or cutting away any excess as sometimes it becomes like sculpting, you just remove what you don't want or need.

Well, Good Luck, Hopefully you can show us a picture of what your doing to get a better idea?

Best Regards,

MMM

[SarasotaRobby]

This is an old post but I'll add to it anyway....

When taking an old model kit apart, some use Pine Sol, and I've heard some use WD-40. In the 80's, before Polar lights, and an original Lost In Space built up robot model went for several hundred bucks, I got ahold of a complete one that had been sloppily put together by an 8 year old in 1966. I dumped the whole thing in Pine Sol and it took off the paint and loosened the glue to take it down to it's original parts. Care had to be taken to wash off the Pine Sol before it began working on the plastic as well. Don't know if t would have worked on the robot repair above, but it works on taking old models back to their components....