Recommendations on glue for PETE plastic?
Alan Millar
common U.S. 2-liter soft drink bottles. I chose this plastic because
it is so freely available. The label identifies the plastic as "PETE".
Can anyone tell me what this plastic is, and what a good glue for it
would be? Typical model cement for polystyrene plastic doesn't stick
to it and just peels off. Other glues I've tried, including epoxy, do
mostly the same. Any suggestions? Thanks.
- Alan
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Alan Millar ami...@bolis.SF-Bay.org __oo \
=___/
But Moses said "Oh, Lord, please send someone else to do it." -Exo. 4:13
Bill Lee
I use pieces of a plastic Coke bottle as a wing-tip protector on the
FAI Team Race models I fly. (Control Line model airplanes, for those who
might not know what I'm into 8-{)
I roughen the PETE with some 100 grit sandpaper and use the thick CA to
glue it to the underside of the wingtip. Seems to work quite well, I've
never had a piece come off.
Regards,
Bill Lee
Jesse Thorn
>would be?
I have had success using superglue to attach PETE plastic to styrene.
--Jesse
Philip L. Gravel
> I am making a model, and I would like to use the plastic from the
> common U.S. 2-liter soft drink bottles. I chose this plastic because
> it is so freely available. The label identifies the plastic as "PETE".
>
> Can anyone tell me what this plastic is,
- - - -
otherwise known as polyester (yes, the very same stuff that goes into
clothing)
> and what a good glue for it
> would be?
Hot melt adhesives (glue guns) normally work pretty well although they might
prove difficult to use in your application. Polyester is also used in
photographic film so you might want to stop by your local camera shop and see
what kind of adhesives they have available for splicing film.
Phil
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Philip L. Gravel Internet: pgr...@nap.amoco.com
Amoco Chemical Company, Chicago, IL Phone: (312)856-3553
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These opinions aren't worth the paper they're written on and
certainly don't reflect those of my employer.
Rusty Whitman
>In article <1993Jan1.2...@netcom.com>, ami...@netcom.com (Alan
>Millar) writes:
>
>> I am making a model, and I would like to use the plastic from the
>> common U.S. 2-liter soft drink bottles. I chose this plastic because
>> it is so freely available. The label identifies the plastic as "PETE".
>>
> > Can anyone tell me what this plastic is,
>
>PETE = polyethylene terephthalate ester
> - - - -
>otherwise known as polyester (yes, the very same stuff that goes into
>clothing)
>
>> and what a good glue for it
>> would be?
>
>Hot melt adhesives (glue guns) normally work pretty well although they might
>prove difficult to use in your application. Polyester is also used in
>photographic film so you might want to stop by your local camera shop and see
>what kind of adhesives they have available for splicing film.
>
I may be a bit confused here but I thought the soft drink bottles were
PET, which I think is different than PETE. Well, at any rate, I tried
building a model rocket out of a 1 liter bottle. I found that every
type of glue I tried would not bond with the bottle material. Things
would stick, but they would not bond. I had a chemist that works for
Kodak explain to me all about PET (or PETE, whichever it is). It takes
some very toxic solvents to dissolve the material. There is a good
reason for this, you don't want the contents of the bottle which you
intend to drink to leach out chemicals from the plastic. Anyway, I
wound up drilling a couple holes in the bottle and pushing epoxy
through them to make rivets to hold my fins on. This worked just fine.
As an aside, this chemist told me that Kodak makes about 80% of the
plastic soda bottles used in the U.S. I wish I still had his
description but I must have deleted it since none of the files I
dusted off contained his post.
Rusty Whitman - "just my opinions"
Iskandar Taib
>PETE = polyethylene terephthalate ester
> - - - -
>otherwise known as polyester (yes, the very same stuff that goes into
>clothing)
Darn.. no wonder these bottles are tough. This is the same material as
Mylar. Some people use them up to 100+ psi as reservoirs for compressed
air model plane engines. Much better than the sheet metal they used to
use back in the 20s and 30s.
>Hot melt adhesives (glue guns) normally work pretty well although they might
>prove difficult to use in your application. Polyester is also used in
>photographic film so you might want to stop by your local camera shop and see
>what kind of adhesives they have available for splicing film.
I think only some film stocks are polyester. There was an ultra thin stock
Ilford was using for its 50 exposure rolls of HP5. Other films are cellulose
acetate (not nitrate!).
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NT...@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS !
Iskandar Taib
>I may be a bit confused here but I thought the soft drink bottles were
>PET, which I think is different than PETE. Well, at any rate, I tried
>building a model rocket out of a 1 liter bottle. I found that every
>type of glue I tried would not bond with the bottle material. Things
>would stick, but they would not bond. I had a chemist that works for
>Kodak explain to me all about PET (or PETE, whichever it is). It takes
>some very toxic solvents to dissolve the material. There is a good
>reason for this, you don't want the contents of the bottle which you
>intend to drink to leach out chemicals from the plastic. Anyway, I
>wound up drilling a couple holes in the bottle and pushing epoxy
>through them to make rivets to hold my fins on. This worked just fine.
>As an aside, this chemist told me that Kodak makes about 80% of the
>plastic soda bottles used in the U.S. I wish I still had his
>description but I must have deleted it since none of the files I
>dusted off contained his post.
What do they use to hold the black plastic bases on the bottles? I think
its some kind of hot glue, isn't it? Might not be the thing to use for
rockets 9-) There is a kit (Midwests'?) of the T-6 Texan that uses the
things for the cowl. I read the construction article for the prototype
a while back in MAN and found it pretty funny. The author told you to go
out and get a 2 liter bottle of pepsi to celebrate framing up the fuse-
lage. Then he said "See that little plastic thing at the bottom of the
bottle? Don't throw it away, thats your cowl".
I'm wondering if one of those plastic welding tools might work. I think
you'd need plastic fins though!
Have you ever looked at the platic they use for labels? Once you strip
away the foam stuff underneath the plastic is the toughest stuff for that
thickness I've come across. Wonder where I can get large rolls of it..
gozdz,antoni s
>>> common U.S. 2-liter soft drink bottles. I chose this plastic because
>>> it is so freely available. The label identifies the plastic as "PETE".
>>>
>> > Can anyone tell me what this plastic is,
>>
>> - - - -
>>otherwise known as polyester (yes, the very same stuff that goes into
>>clothing)
>>
>
>I had a chemist that works for
>Kodak explain to me all about PET (or PETE, whichever it is). It takes
>some very toxic solvents to dissolve the material. There is a good
>reason for this, you don't want the contents of the bottle which you
>intend to drink to leach out chemicals from the plastic. Anyway, I
------------some text deleted-------------
Yes, all the known solvents for PET are very nasty indeed:
phenol
o-chlorophenol
dichloroacetic acid
trifluoroacetic acid
hexafluoroisopropanol
pentafluorophenol
methylene chloride/hexafluoroisopropanol
tetrachloroethane/phenol 1:1
and various combinations of other chlorinated alkanes with halophenols
Not a single solvent that can be safely used in your kitchen!
Tony
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Antoni S. Gozdz tel (908) 758-2931 | Bellcore NVC 3X-261
to...@prefect.cc.bellcore.com FAX (908) 741-2891 | Red Bank, NJ 07701, USA
no .sig, strictly business
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Philip L. Gravel
> >I may be a bit confused here but I thought the soft drink bottles
>
> its some kind of hot glue, isn't it?
I believe so. The base is (inexpensive) polyethylene.
Philip L. Gravel
> >PETE = polyethylene terephthalate ester
> > - - - -
>
> PET, which I think is different than PETE.
I normally call it PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate), but the letters below
the recycle symbol say PETE for the same material.
> I had a chemist that works for
> Kodak explain to me all about PET (or PETE, whichever it is). It takes
> some very toxic solvents to dissolve the material. There is a good
> reason for this, you don't want the contents of the bottle which you
> intend to drink to leach out chemicals from the plastic.
All true.
> As an aside, this chemist told me that Kodak makes about 80% of the
> plastic soda bottles used in the U.S.
Kodak is certainly a big player in the polyester market (they also use it for
film), but so are DuPont and Hoechst-Celanese among others. Kodak, DuPont,
Himont, and my company (Amoco) are all major manufacturers of purified
terephthalic acid, one of the raw materials that is used in making polyester.