MEK Substitute : Good replacement for MEK gluing?

[pnolan48]

I guess I'll hoard my gallon. What do you think is next? Toluene? You can probably break down touol into something useful for drug making. C'mon, we're talking hydrocarbons here, and any organic chemistry student can figure out how to synthesize something useful. Isn't that what chemical engineering is all about?

[Ian MacMillan]

Windshield Washer fluid..... TSC already IDs for it up here 

[Chris333]

I bought a gallon of MEK yesterday at a small hardware store for $22.00.

[pnolan48]

Used to be about $8.00.

[Chris333]

It would take 128 small Testors bottles to fill the gallon. Cheapest I could find them online was $3.15, or $403 a gallon. And I doubt any of the regular places I go sells the Testors that cheap.

[Hyperion]

It would take 128 small Testors bottles to fill the gallon. Cheapest I could find them online was $3.15, or $403 a gallon. And I doubt any of the regular places I go sells the Testors that cheap.

Tenax is even worse.

It'll run you almost $5 for a 1oz bottle -- that's $640/gallon. 

But, in reality, it's even more.  Because the stuff evaporates like no one's business.  Sealed bottles won't last more than a couple years, and I've left a bottle open on the workbench and had it evaporate overnight.  And even through regular use of opening and closing and leaving it open briefly you'll be lucky if you actually get to use half of what you paid for.  The rest just disappears. So it really works out to almost a thousand dollars a gallon of usable product.

[Chris333]

Yeah I didn't mind buying the small bottles, but I knocked one over 

That got me thinking I should buy in bulk.


I also have a 16oz. bottle of superglue chillin' in the fridge to keep my small bottle topped off. 

[pnolan48]

I figure I'm making my glue for just a little more than $0.06 an ounce. I don't know what an empty one-ounce bottle costs.

[dick green]

I was at Menards today. They have MEK

[Hyperion]

You can just buy the stuff on Amazon.   No reason to hunt it down locally, though it's probably cheaper.  $15 will buy & ship you 32oz.

You can buy "Lab Grade" MEK for $30, whatever exactly that is.

[Scottl]

Different purity.  You don't need that for gluing.

[dick green]

I ran out of testors. Have a can of lacquer  thinner it works as well or better. and my quart can will last a lifetime

Dick

[jimmo]

I used to swear by Tenax but it dissolved through the thinner styrene too easily. I tried Plastruct Bondene and have been using it ever since. The bottle says that it contains trichloroethylene.

[peteski]

Since this thread has been resurrected it looks like the real MEK is again readily available in hardware stores (at least the ones I frequent in the New England area).  Quart and gallon sizes.

[muktown128]

I'll check, but I think we may have a bulk tank of MEK where I work.  We have a drum of MEK and other solvents in one of our lab storage areas.  I know you can order it by the drum.  We may even sell it by the pail.  I doubt we supply this in gallon cans.  If anyone is interested, I'll provide a product code and information for ordering. 

Scott