Weld-On Cement

I am about to glue on some plastic tortoise bindings. I have seen Weld-On #16 cement touted as the one to use for gluing plastic bindings to wood. My question is: are there any alternatives? The only place I've seen Weld-on is online and I don't want to spend $10-15(including shipping) on a 1.5 oz bottle of glue if there's another product that does the same thing?

Or does anyone know where I could find Weld-On? So far I've struck out @ Lowes & Home Depot.

thanks

Maybe a good hobby shop?

I glued some PVC bindings on a Banjo uke I made 8 years ago and I used regular acetone clear cement from the local DIY store..and the bindings are all still in place.... Try a sample on a test piece.

Cyanoacrylate, (CA), (Superglue). The thin (low viscosity) stuff works best. As far as I know, 'Weld-on' is clear acetone cement. The slight disadvantage with it is that it works by dissolving the surface of the celuloid (tortise) so you have to keep it taped firmly in place for a day or so until the sovent dries out.
Thin CA is more or less instantaneous although that does slightly soften the celluloid. One way to do it with CA is to tape your binding in place leaving a 1/4" gap between the pieces of tape. You then wick a drop of CA into every other gap. If your binding is a good fit the CA will run along the joint and it will adhere instantly. When you've done this all the way round, you take off the tape and wick a little more CA all the way round to make sure the glue line is continuous.
I use the pipettes from Stewmac (although you can probably buy them a lot cheaper on the net). With a pipette you have more control. To avoid the risk of knocking the bottle of CA over I stick it to a bit of board with double sided tape.

Thats the way I've just done my last three binding jobs "Dave"....But i got a bit too invoved with the process and ended up gluing my thumb to the uke several times in places where the bindings needed a bit of extra adjustment...i was using hand bent rosewood bindings tho'...By the way in the UK you can buy "Thin CA glue 3 bottle kit" for £1 in Poundland including pipettes.

On my first instrument build, I used Duco cement for plastic binding to wood. It's cheap and available at hardware or big box stores. It smells like model airplane glue so have good ventilation. Now I would use superglue.
Doug

How do you keep the thin CA from wicking into the edges of the soundboard? Do you seal the wood before binding?

I primarily use Duco for celluloid binding and medium CA for ABS binding although I've used it for celluloid too. I didn't like Weld-on. You can also dissolve celluloid binding in acetone and use that mixture as glue. It helps hide any gaps. I don't worry about the glue wicking into the end grain and it usually cleans off the adjoining surface during the final sanding process. I'd suggest prebending your binding, especially in the waist, before gluing it in.

Timbuck said:

ended up gluing my thumb to the uke several times in places where the bindings needed a bit of extra adjustment...i was using hand bent rosewood bindings tho'...By the way in the UK you can buy "Thin CA glue 3 bottle kit" for £1 in Poundland including pipettes.

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I was doing exactly the same thing last week Ken (including gluing my thumb a few times). I'll have to ask my daughter (still in Sheffield) about Poundland. That's incredibly cheap, even without the pipettes! People in the US can buy it by the US pint for $30 from Starbond. They include 2 small bottles for decanting and about 30 micro-tips. It's a great deal but I imagine shipping to Europe would be either very expensive or not allowed (Hazmat).

Mzuch, yes, I forgot to mention that. I always seal the rebate with a coat of thin shellac. Thin CA will wick into the grain of some timbers (especially spruce and even worse on cedar) and can show as a stain on the finished instrument. I also seal the cut-out for the rosette before gluing in with CA. One of Taylor Guitars' 'Factory FRidays' videos shows them doing just this.

I used to use Zap superglue in the green bottle. Slightly more viscous than the thin stuff until I saw the binding video on the Taylor fatcory friday section of their website. Now I use Weld-on but I decant it into a bottle with a fine nozzle and thin it with either acetone or cellulose thinners. I now prefer it to CA because it melts the plastic and is a better gap filler as a result - and when I mean gaps I mean those hairline ones you always get in one nasty place with plastic binding unless you are super meticulous and have a steady router hand.

Ha, Poundland! Reminds me of our lovely 99 cent stores.