What Glue for Chassis Parts

[Bluest2 14]

I am restoring FF01 chassis for which parts are virtually non exist. On dismantling the rear end there is a significant crack in one of the chassis pieces to the point it is in danger of becoming 2 pieces. Any idea what glue works best on Tamiya chassis plastic? Will poly cement work? The car is going to be a shelf queen, but would still like to it to be strong enough to run if I wanted.

[Willy iine 18806]

I'm not sure what is best, but I would use CA. 

Have you checked eBay for FF01 parts?  I found a whole bunch of listings including NIB.. 

[alvinlwh 5895]

I believe there are some that will use plumber cement. However check if it will even work (melt) the plastic first on a hidden location first. 

I am sorry @Willy iine, CA will probably be too weak in the shear plane to hold the thing together if run. 

[WillyChang 1814]

5 hours ago, Bluest2 said:

Any idea what glue works best on Tamiya chassis plastic?

I used to use Styrene Cement & Plastruct Weld with varying success. Most of these dry pretty quick & surfaces need to be grease free squeaky clean no gaps.

Recently been trying T’s ABS Cement on TL01 & M03 chassis and that works heaps better... even managed to bond some interesting cut&shuts  It takes a lot longer to cure though, that seems to be the trick I’ve missed previously. Leave the join 2-3d before touching it again.

 

[Willy iine 18806]

44 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

I am sorry @Willy iine, CA will probably be too weak in the shear plane to hold the thing together if run. 

CA has worked for me, but again, that's just me and OP can try it if they like.  

But I did see a bunch of parts for sale for the FF01 on eBay so that might be the way to go as well.  Options are good.

[WillyChang 1814]

CA is brittle, have tried hot glue too but both these just sit on the plastic surface. Ok to tack parts together but joint don’t last. 

Whereas the solvent cements literally weld the plastic pieces together to become one. 

[Bluest2 14]

8 hours ago, Willy iine said:

I'm not sure what is best, but I would use CA. 

Have you checked eBay for FF01 parts?  I found a whole bunch of listings including NIB.. 

I think CA is too brittle, I’m thinking I need a product that “melts” the plastic together, like poly cement does for static kits.

there are no FF01 rear end parts available that I can see on EBay and BNIB kit is too expensive.

[Bluest2 14]

7 hours ago, WillyChang said:

I used to use Styrene Cement & Plastruct Weld with varying success. Most of these dry pretty quick & surfaces need to be grease free squeaky clean no gaps.

Recently been trying T’s ABS Cement on TL01 & M03 chassis and that works heaps better... even managed to bond some interesting cut&shuts  It takes a lot longer to cure though, that seems to be the trick I’ve missed previously. Leave the join 2-3d before touching it again.

 

Thanks I will try some ABS cement. The repair I want to make is crack, so the joint is tight and it will be no problem to clamp it up for a few days.

[Juggular 4964]

There are many different kinds of ABS plastic.  I'm afraid most ABS glues work only for styrene type.  (I have not used that blue capped ABS cement. It might be designed for impact resistant ABS too. If it works well, please let us know.)

At any rate, having a reinforced parts would be useful.  (as you can see, I've used both ABS and CA glue, depending on the plastic involved.)

There was a crack, I had to put some styrene sheets to reinforce.  Otherwise, shocks and vibrations will crack it open again.

I only use ABS glue for body shells, not for chassis.  For this soft ABS body, I ABS glue works wonders (Tamiya thin, limonene ABS, and Plastic Weld glues).  But I'm afraid most chassis are not made with styrene-rich soft ABS.  Chassis are made with better quality, impact resistant ABS, and they might not respond to ABS glue very well.  (Again, I have not tried the blue cap.)

If light can penetrate in the crack, I would recommend UV glue. Not by itself. With reinforcement pieces.  It's similar to super glue, but when cured, it's like plastic. It gives a little, and it adheres well to most surfaces.  But it's no good when it seeps into tight cracks. This won't solidify if it does not get the UV light.  

 

So... what would I use on cracks on chassis? 

I think I'd go with CA glue.  As other members already mentioned, CA is brittle. It can pop.  But you can reinforce it with baking soda, it does not fix the brittleness. It just means stronger bond.  Below is my MF-01x chassis.  But the middle sections twist easily. This kind of plastic does not seem to work well with normal ABS glue designed for scale models.  So I used CA glue with baking soda.  Baking soda solidifies to work as a reinforced piece.  Or you can use actual reinforced plastic pieces.  Unless these middle sections land directly on a pointy rock after a jump, I think these spots would hold.  

 

(Since the problem is twisting motion, a piece of thin sticker would prevent that movements also) 

If the blue-capped ABS glue works well on ABS for chassis, that'd be wonderful.  If not, you could try CA + baking soda next.  

 

[Bluest2 14]

Thanks for insight, I did not realise ABS was not all the same. The piece I want repair is at least 5mm thick black plastic, so no scope for UV to properly penetrate the joint. I like the idea ofmusing CA as it is thin enough to be drawn in capillary action.

I've just been and tested whether plumbers cement for PVC pipe, as suggested above, works as I happened to have some from a bathroom renovation. It does appear to melt the plastic, but ismuch too thick to penetrate the crack effectively. Something similar but much more watery would be good I think. I wonder what the viscosity of the Tamiya ABS glue is like?

 

[alvinlwh 5895]

20 minutes ago, Bluest2 said:

It does appear to melt the plastic, but ismuch too thick to penetrate the crack effectively.

Force the crack apart slightly and use a toothpick to push the cement into the crack. When it springs back, it should weld properly. 

Just a suggestion. 

[dmelczer 100]

Another option that I've used a few times on a chassis...JB Weld Steel Reinforced Epoxy.  I didn't see anyone mention it here.

https://www.amazon.com/J-B-Weld-8281-Professional-Reinforced/dp/B014OVHAOY/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=3R9ZDKZ09HRL4&keywords=jb%2Bweld%2Bplastic%2Bbonder&qid=1655939577&sprefix=jb%2Bweld%2Caps%2C308&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFVNTNGMkRYNVI3TjQmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAyMDkyMjEyMTU5TEkyV0ZPTFJYJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAxNDQ5NDhZSFgzVlI3MFJVNzMmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1

[Willy iine 18806]

On 6/22/2022 at 2:03 AM, Bluest2 said:

I think CA is too brittle, I’m thinking I need a product that “melts” the plastic together, like poly cement does for static kits.

there are no FF01 rear end parts available that I can see on EBay and BNIB kit is too expensive.

Well in my mind, if being brittle is a concern, chances are your chassis was already brittle to begin with (maybe due to age, due to how it was stored, due to design, etc) for the impact, and thus caused it to crack. 

It’s going to crack again in the same or similar area if placed under the same impact.. so this is why I think best to just replace it entirely or use CA to glue it together and keep it as a lightly driven car as shelf queen as your original post mentioned.  It should work.

GL! 

 

[WillyChang 1814]

On 6/23/2022 at 4:46 AM, Juggular said:

If light can penetrate in the crack, I would recommend UV glue. Not by itself. With reinforcement pieces.  It's similar to super glue, but when cured, it's like plastic. It gives a little, and it adheres well to most surfaces.  But it's no good when it seeps into tight cracks. This won't solidify if it does not get the UV light.  

that bottle looks more like a UV Resin for molding stuff not the UV glue

UV glue cures pretty rock hard vs molding resin which stays a little rubbery afaik. (Just bought some water clear GreenStuffWorld to play with)

Both just sit on top of surface to be glued anyway, doesn’t etch in nor solvent weld. Some do get rather hot whilst curing (with strong UV source). 
 

Was also looking at 3D printer resin fluid ... I’d suspect it’s also a close cousin  

[Bluest2 14]

Well, for better or worse I've gone with thin CA despite my misgivings as I wanted something that would creep into the hairline crack which it has done. All of the more specialist adhesives I could find were quite thick and I wouldn't be able to open up the joint to get it in without splitting the part in 2. Also, as the part is between other components there was limited scope to build up adhesive on the surface over the crack.

[Pylon80 2629]

I would definitely try epoxy resin with small pieces of fiberglass as reinforcement. Also I would stop-drill the existing cracks to stop them from propagating.

Epoxy is strong but also somewhat flexible (like chassis parts). It's a pain because you have to mix it thoroughly. Slow cure epoxy (24h) is much stronger than the so called fast cure ones. 

Best of luck. 

[superted 121]

We use this to bond plastic, plastic to metal and carbon parts of our full size race cars.

If it can hold a carbon roof on a 150mph Mitsubishi Evo Time Attack car will be fine on this.

I use it to repair all my plastics