I've got a plastic shower tray in the motorhome, got a few cracks in the
corners (someones stupid idea to put a couple of crates of drinks in the
shower tray, then drive halfway around europe)

I've read about some stuff called M.E.K. solvent cement, it's apparantly
sold primarily for sealing a plastic shower tray to the wall, but is also
used for plastic shower tray repairs,

it's in a sealant guny type cartridge, and the blurb says it turns to solid
plastic in 12 hours after being applied,

Problem is i've only found one place that does it, and it's on ebay, and the
sellers postage is taking the **** a little bit to say the least.

Anyone know where i can buy this stuff from a shop? or is it more of a thing
for the static caravan market and thus i need to be near the coast to find
it in those types of shops, (i'm near nottingham)

CampinGazz wrote:
I've got a plastic shower tray in the motorhome, got a few cracks in the
corners (someones stupid idea to put a couple of crates of drinks in the
shower tray, then drive halfway around europe)

I've read about some stuff called M.E.K. solvent cement, it's apparantly
sold primarily for sealing a plastic shower tray to the wall, but is also
used for plastic shower tray repairs,

it's in a sealant guny type cartridge, and the blurb says it turns to solid
plastic in 12 hours after being applied,

Problem is i've only found one place that does it, and it's on ebay, and the
sellers postage is taking the **** a little bit to say the least.

Anyone know where i can buy this stuff from a shop? or is it more of a thing
for the static caravan market and thus i need to be near the coast to find
it in those types of shops, (i'm near nottingham)

The only form of MEK I know is sold as liquid polystyrene cement for
plastic models. Ask for "Slaters Mekpak" in a decent model railway shop
(the sort that doesn't just sell a few Hornby boxes, or google for it.
It works by melting the parts together rather than being applied like a
filler in your description. It might work on a shower tray, depending
on the type of plastic.

MBQ

've read about some stuff called M.E.K. solvent cement, it's apparantly
sold primarily for sealing a plastic shower tray to the wall, but is also
used for plastic shower tray repairs,

MEK is a colourless clear solvent used for cleaning certain plastics
purposes. I doubt it will solve your problem. A sealant that contains
MEK might do it.

Firstly find out what plastic your shower is made of. Some are Styrene
some are Glass Re-inforced Polyester. Bit difficult to tell the
difference I will admit.

If it is GRP a car body repair kit will do the trick. You will have to
make the repair from the underside as it is not very pleasing to see
Glass Fibre Mat sticking up from the surface of the shower.

If it is styrene a model repair cement should do the trick but it is
not very strong. You will problably have to re-inforce it on the
underside of the shower with Glass Mat soaked with the repair cement.

"Merryterry" wrote in message
oups.com...
've read about some stuff called M.E.K. solvent cement, it's apparantly
sold primarily for sealing a plastic shower tray to the wall, but is also
used for plastic shower tray repairs,

MEK is a colourless clear solvent used for cleaning certain plastics
purposes. I doubt it will solve your problem. A sealant that contains
MEK might do it.

Firstly find out what plastic your shower is made of. Some are Styrene
some are Glass Re-inforced Polyester. Bit difficult to tell the
difference I will admit.

The shower tray is very light weight, it seems to be a vacuum formed plastic
item,
i cant get access to the underside without ripping the entire shower
enclosure out, as the wall boards overlap the tray's outer lip,

i was going to inject some expanding foam between the tray sides and the
walls of the van around the cubicle, through the cracks in the tray, so
that's give a re-inforced tray i hope, why i never did this when i put the
tray in i dont know, makes sense now,

the stuff i've seen on ebay is here...
http://tinyurl.com/gxj76

i guess if it does the job it's worth every penny, i was just hoping to be
able to go into a shop and get it, or something similar rather than pay 6
quid postage for an item that'll cost about 2 quid to post,

i had thought of fiberglassing the entire shower cubicle, but that'd be a
big job, and i've never glassed before, so don't really want to practise on
the area that will show up the imperfections big time... and leak if i get
the mixes wrong, losts of complex curves in the shower tray and all that
too.

MEK stands for Methyl Ethyl Ketone. More commonly known as solvent
cement/glue for solvent pipe fittings.
It doesn't tend to work on most plastics other than water pipe.
It's a solvent mixed with plastic powder to make it thick and gooey - by
itself it's like water and very runny, so they add plastic powder to make it
easier to work with and to give it some density.
It works by melting the plastic of the item it is applied to (plastic water
pipes being the favourite). Painted on the ends of the 2 pipes, they go
sticky, plug em together and the whole lot sets usually in a couple of
minutes.

I'm not sure about a shower tray, as the strength of MEK relies on
overlapping surfaces melting and bonding together. The shower tray won't
have this overlap.

If you can find out what sort of plastic the shower tray is (there's loads
of different typpes), you may find an appropriate solvent and a spare bit of
the same type of plastic as a patch to stick underneath... But I wouldn't
know who to approach to find this info out.... sorry.

Cheers

Garp
______________________
"CampinGazz" wrote in message
...
I've got a plastic shower tray in the motorhome, got a few cracks in the
corners (someones stupid idea to put a couple of crates of drinks in the
shower tray, then drive halfway around europe)

I've read about some stuff called M.E.K. solvent cement, it's apparantly
sold primarily for sealing a plastic shower tray to the wall, but is also
used for plastic shower tray repairs,

it's in a sealant guny type cartridge, and the blurb says it turns to
solid plastic in 12 hours after being applied,

Problem is i've only found one place that does it, and it's on ebay, and
the sellers postage is taking the **** a little bit to say the least.

Anyone know where i can buy this stuff from a shop? or is it more of a
thing for the static caravan market and thus i need to be near the coast
to find it in those types of shops, (i'm near nottingham)

Garp wrote:
MEK stands for Methyl Ethyl Ketone. More commonly known as solvent
cement/glue for solvent pipe fittings.
It doesn't tend to work on most plastics other than water pipe.
It's a solvent mixed with plastic powder to make it thick and gooey - by
itself it's like water and very runny, so they add plastic powder to make it
easier to work with and to give it some density.
It works by melting the plastic of the item it is applied to (plastic water
pipes being the favourite). Painted on the ends of the 2 pipes, they go
sticky, plug em together and the whole lot sets usually in a couple of
minutes.

I'm not sure about a shower tray, as the strength of MEK relies on
overlapping surfaces melting and bonding together. The shower tray won't
have this overlap.

No, MEK will glue styrene end to end as used for plastic model kits. No
need for an overlap.

MBQ

Garp wrote:
MEK stands for Methyl Ethyl Ketone. More commonly known as solvent
cement/glue for solvent pipe fittings.
It doesn't tend to work on most plastics other than water pipe.
It's a solvent mixed with plastic powder to make it thick and gooey - by
itself it's like water and very runny, so they add plastic powder to make it
easier to work with and to give it some density.
It works by melting the plastic of the item it is applied to (plastic water
pipes being the favourite). Painted on the ends of the 2 pipes, they go
sticky, plug em together and the whole lot sets usually in a couple of
minutes.

I'm not sure about a shower tray, as the strength of MEK relies on
overlapping surfaces melting and bonding together. The shower tray won't
have this overlap.

If you can find out what sort of plastic the shower tray is (there's loads
of different typpes), you may find an appropriate solvent and a spare bit of
the same type of plastic as a patch to stick underneath... But I wouldn't
know who to approach to find this info out.... sorry.

Cheers

Garp
______________________
"CampinGazz" wrote in message
...
I've got a plastic shower tray in the motorhome, got a few cracks in the
corners (someones stupid idea to put a couple of crates of drinks in the
shower tray, then drive halfway around europe)

I've read about some stuff called M.E.K. solvent cement, it's apparantly
sold primarily for sealing a plastic shower tray to the wall, but is also
used for plastic shower tray repairs,

it's in a sealant guny type cartridge, and the blurb says it turns to
solid plastic in 12 hours after being applied,

Problem is i've only found one place that does it, and it's on ebay, and
the sellers postage is taking the **** a little bit to say the least.

Anyone know where i can buy this stuff from a shop? or is it more of a
thing for the static caravan market and thus i need to be near the coast
to find it in those types of shops, (i'm near nottingham)

In article .com
wrote:

Garp wrote:
MEK stands for Methyl Ethyl Ketone. More commonly known as solvent
cement/glue for solvent pipe fittings.
It doesn't tend to work on most plastics other than water pipe.
It's a solvent mixed with plastic powder to make it thick and gooey - by
itself it's like water and very runny, so they add plastic powder to make it
easier to work with and to give it some density.
It works by melting the plastic of the item it is applied to (plastic water
pipes being the favourite). Painted on the ends of the 2 pipes, they go
sticky, plug em together and the whole lot sets usually in a couple of
minutes.

I'm not sure about a shower tray, as the strength of MEK relies on
overlapping surfaces melting and bonding together. The shower tray won't
have this overlap.

No, MEK will glue styrene end to end as used for plastic model kits. No
need for an overlap.

With a model kit you have two flat surfaces that are accessible until
they're stuck together, and mate properly. I suppose a solution in this
case (if the shower tray is susceptible to MEK) would be to flood it
with the runny stuff to get solvent to any closely-fitting faces, then
use the thickened stuff to fill any gaps. But in any repair of this
sort I'd really want a patch on the back as well.

wrote in message
oups.com...

No, MEK will glue styrene end to end as used for plastic model kits. No
need for an overlap.

That's fine as long as the shower tray is made of the right plastic - shower
trays are a different type of plastic normally, and a blob of MEK over a
crack will prove innefective as its strength is based upon the fact it is a
solvent and makes the plastic surfaces go like welsh rarebit for a short
while - the surfaces bond and provide more strength than the glue itself -
you can't use it as a filler like Araldite - it has no inherent strength on
its own.

The surface area of a crack on a shower tray is about 2mm - 2 off 2mm
surfaces pressed together will have no strength unless supported by a
bonding patch underneath. The weight of a human being stomping on the shower
tray will be quite substancial and easily pop the joint.

You may be better off loading up the base of the shower tray with resin and
fibreglass sheeting and layering it up over a period of days till it becomes
thick and strong - although I don't know how well the fibreglass and resin
will bond to the plastic - sand the plastic first to roughen it up to
provide a better surface to bond with. And then support the underside of the
base with something light and strong to support the repaired section - maybe
expanding foam in a tin? Use with care and caution though, as once it gets
on a surface its a bugger to remove!!

wrote:
Merryterry wrote:

've read about some stuff called M.E.K. solvent cement, it's apparantly
sold primarily for sealing a plastic shower tray to the wall, but is also
used for plastic shower tray repairs,

MEK is a colourless clear solvent used for cleaning certain plastics
purposes. I doubt it will solve your problem. A sealant that contains
MEK might do it.

Firstly find out what plastic your shower is made of. Some are Styrene
some are Glass Re-inforced Polyester. Bit difficult to tell the
difference I will admit.

If it is GRP a car body repair kit will do the trick. You will have to
make the repair from the underside as it is not very pleasing to see
Glass Fibre Mat sticking up from the surface of the shower.

If it is styrene a model repair cement should do the trick but it is


MEK is a cement for styrene.

MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) is a clear colourless fluid. It is highly
inflammable and can damage internal body organs by being absorbed
through the skin.

MEK solvent cement is not MEK. It is presumably an MEK base with added
plastic to make a solid cement when the MEK has dissolved.

I have used gallons of MEK until it got banned for HSE reasons.

Dave

"CampinGazz" wrote in message
...
....
i guess if it does the job it's worth every penny, i was just hoping to be
able to go into a shop and get it, or something similar rather than pay 6
quid postage for an item that'll cost about 2 quid to post,...

Except it is illegal to send many substances through the post and I would
expect this to be one of them. It should be sent via a carrier and the
charge is about right for that.

Colin Bignell

"Dave" wrote in message
...
....
MEK solvent cement is not MEK. It is presumably an MEK base with added
plastic to make a solid cement when the MEK has dissolved.

It used to be sold in liquid form, by specialist model shops, which could be
applies to the joints of model kits with a fine brush after they were
closed. It drew into the joints by capilliary action and made a much neater
joint than the conventional plastic cements. It looked and smelt exactly
like the MEK that I bought in gallon cans as a modified for a jeweller's
oxy-hydrogen welding unit.

Colin Bignell

nightjar wrote:
"Dave" wrote in message
...
...
MEK solvent cement is not MEK. It is presumably an MEK base with added
plastic to make a solid cement when the MEK has dissolved.

It used to be sold in liquid form, by specialist model shops,

It still is!

MBQ