Acetone to remove model glue?

[g-train]

Is Acetone the best way to remove cured/dried rubber cement [model glue] from plastic parts? ie - I have a plastic fin can and tube coupler that I need to remove the cement [glue]from in order to re-assemble my crumpled Amazon.

 

[KurtH]

Acetone will likely damage the plastic, and make it a worse gooey mess than you have now. That is nasty stuff! Rubber cement might just peel off of plastic, I have not used it on plastic, just paper. Maybe you can use sandpaper?

Good luck

 

[GregGleason]

Because of the relative softness of dried rubber cement, I would first try a Popsicle stick to scrape off the residue. The wood is harder than the glue, and softer than the plastic.

Greg

 

[g-train]

See - that was exactly why I asked. I was afraid of turning it all into mush. I'll try the popsicle stick. Didn't want to shave off w/ my Exacto and wasn't too sure if I wanted to sand it off. Thanks, guys!

 

[K'Tesh]

Here's an idea... I like using the oil from an orange (or any citrus fruit) to get stuff off, haven't tried it on hard dried rubber cement, but it couldn't hurt.

 

[JPVegh]

If it is truely dried out I would take a hobby knife to knock off any globs and sand the rest.

 

[Wizard]

It depends on the plastic. I'm not sure what that one is, and I can't seem to find my handbook of solubility parameters, so I would avoid using any strong solvent. Acetone is not all that effective for rubber cement anyway. What I like to use is denatured alcohol- it won't dissolve either material, but it interferes with the rubber-plastic surface bond. If you use a soaked paper towel and rub it around, it will tend to ball up cleanly. Big plus over any solvent, which tends to smear residues and leave that slightly tacky surface.

As an aside, same trick works well for removing adhesive residue from old insection, registration, parking, etc. stickers from the inside of your windshield.

David

 

[g-train]

Ooooh! Good tip, Wizard! I was just using standard Testers Rubber Cement in the red tube. My Amazon parts have been ~20 miles away from where I've been staying for the last two days, so I have yet to get to this project!

g-train

 

[KurtH]

Testor's in a red tube? That is model glue, which works by softening the plastic ... So you can not remove it per se. You will probably be best served by sanding the area down.

When you said rubber cement I was imaging the stuff in a jar with a brush that is stinky used for bonding paper to paper .

 

[BEAR]

Try some WD-40 or salad oil on a towel.

 

[samb]

g-train,

Is this the stuff you used ?:



If so, then I would just take sandpaper (or an emory board) to it. I never heard of plastic model cement referred to as "rubber" cement.



And I've never run across a need for rubber cement in rocket building.

 

[g-train]

KurtH, samb - that's the stuff, model glue. I guess I've referred to it as rubber cement ever since I was a kid working on models. I'll amend my title accordingly (anyone know how?)! Thanks for the responses!

g-train

 

[Rex R]

iirc you can edit the title by going to the initial post and edit it there. hth
rex

 

[chadrog]

After you go into the post to edit it, click the "advanced" button. There you can edit the title.

 

[luke strawwalker]

You cannot "remove" model cement from plastic-- basically it's just a solvent with some styrene dissolved in it to make a syrupy paste... the solvent literally melts the plastic along the joint so that the dissolved styrene can bridge the gap and the two pieces of plastic literally "weld" together... when gluing a paper tube or something to plastic with this stuff, the dissolved plastic soaks into the paper fibers and welds the two components together after the solvent evaporates...

The plastic part will have the remnants of the dissolved styrene from the glue solidified and welded to the original surface of the plastic. The ONLY way (that I know of) to remove this "gunk" is to sand it off or very carefully shave it off with an X-acto knife (basically, whittle and scrape it off).

Rubber cement, OTOH, is a rubber "gum" dissolved/suspended in a solvent... the 'gum' is rubbed onto the surfaces to be glued while suspended in the solvent, the solvent evaporates, and the parts are pressed together while still damp or gummy, gluing them together. The actual "gum" doesn't really penetrate the surfaces to any substantial degree, and it CAN be removed later with some work and additional solvent (as someone mentioned, alcohol works well).

Two TOTALLY different kinds of adhesives... be sure you describe which adhesive your using ACCURATELY if you want to get good advice!

Hope this helps! OL JR

 

[g-train]

like strawwalker - that's just my ignorance about the adhesives in play! With assistance, I was able to change the title of the thread to better reflect my situation.

I'll be sanding and whittling away tonight at work. Gonna be SLOW, so may as well have some fun!

Thank you all for the replies! I really appreciate how helpful the community is!

g-train

 

[paul.nortness]

Testor's in a red tube? That is model glue, which works by softening the plastic ... So you can not remove it per se. You will probably be best served by sanding the area down.

Actually....that is untrue. Testors Model Glue is just a standard adhesive formulated to work on plastics....it is literally no stronger than Elmer's White Glue. The bond can easily be broken by putting the parts in the freezer for 24-48 hours. Works like a charm. I have disassembled entire scale aircraft model kits by putting them in the freezer.

Once frozen, you can just chip it off

What you are thinking of is solvent based glues like Tamiya Extra Thin Cement and Tenax. Those melt the plastic on contact and the two parts "fuse" together. Freezing them will not have any effect as the parts are physically bonded together.