I have a Kalamazoo boiler part with the smoke box attached. What would be the best way to dissolve the adhesive to separate the two pieces without damaging the plastic.?
Home Depot/Lowes or hardware stores sell a product called Goof Off which I use in the sign industry to remove adhesive. Never had a problem with it taking off the paint of things. Always try it on a out of sight area first though.
Scott
Scott,
I think Travis needs a glue dissolver not an adhesive remover. He is trying to get some glued together plastic parts separated. Goof off products are really just cleaner and paint stripper products.
Try a heat gun carefully and use your hands to break the joint
I have used WD-40 as an adhesive release on many items. Doesn’t seem to hurt plastics. Although if the glue is old and dried well, it may not work. David’s suggestion may work even better. I tried to separate some old Aristo houses in order to modify and found whatever kind of glue they used to assemble the original building really tough to break. Finally had to use an exacto knife and separate each piece carefully. Let us know how it works out.
Soak in warm (160 - 180 degree F) water for several hours. Boiling might lift the paint.
Please after all above suggestion are tried and if none work DO NOT use my method of get mad and destroy.
Be careful with Goof-off. It can dissolve some plastics.
Devon, oh, so I ain’t de only one.
If all else fails try the freezer. Plastic has a fairly high coefficient of expansion. Depends a lot on the type of glue but shrinking the parts in the freezer may cause the joint to debond. This works quite well with super glues and other hard setting adhesives. Many large scale items seem to be put together with an adhesive similar to hot melt glue in which case the hair dryer or heat gun method may work better.
David Maynard said:
Devon, oh, so I ain’t de only one.
Lets just say some peoples parts bins grow faster than others. . .(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
On a tank car end, I used the band saw planning on a sleeve. That way worked for me.
John
Devon Sinsley said:
David Maynard said:
Devon, oh, so I ain’t de only one.Lets just say some peoples parts bins grow faster than others. . .(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Devon, lest not go there. My original parts bins have overflowed into boxes that overflowed into more boxes that overflowed…
Gary Buchanan said:
Many large scale items seem to be put together with an adhesive similar to hot melt glue in which case the hair dryer or heat gun method may work better.
If it is a type of hot glue, this might work…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNNqSXgj6DE
-Kevin.
WOW! Now that is cool. I never would have thought of that.
Ok Guys I successfully removed the smoke box from the boiler. Chris Haon suggested a technique uses… Put plastic part in the freezer for a hr or longer then take out and heat it up with hair dyer being careful to not melt anything. The part snapped of at the glue seam with a little effort…
Great report; file that away for use before the destroy method.
Great suggestion. The rapid and extreme temperature change stresses the glue joint due to contraction then expansion. I would have never thought of that! Heating first, then rapid cool would probably stress it more, but hard to do without causing the plastic to be brittle and break, Thanks!
I’ve done the freezing, but did not think of the heat afterwards, good idea!
I use hot glue a lot, and it a PITB to remove. Love that rubbing alcohol trick.
I am going to try that after logging off, just so my graying brain remembers it.