Dear Wahid Hamza,

Cutting cement with the base solvent used in the cement is viable. However, you must be careful. All of the solvent you add must volatilize before you marry the bond area. If you do not allow this, you will trap solvent in the bond and get poor results.

Your best option is to talk to your cement manufacturer to determine what solvent can be used and how much can be safely used.

As far as the composition of the cold bonding solutions are concerned, that is propriatary information. Although the base rubber is generally polychloroprene, there can be many additives.

The hardener is more difficult to mix without moisture contamination and I suggest that you do not attempt it.

Check your MSDS for an overview of the chemicals used. Again, this will not give you a recipe or a mixing procedure.

Unless you are using many drumfulls, it is not economically feasible to produce your own. The development cost for these products would be approximately US$30,000 to $50,000.

Regards, ■

Dear Wahid Hamza,

It isn't too expensive to manufacture, although $1/KG appears slightly low. The expense is in the development time - even when you start with a base formula supplied by a manufacturer. Expect to make and test many formulae variations before you get one that you are satisfied with. ■

Adding to AMD comments:

Toluene disolves rubber or put another way, dilutes it. Adding toluene to a usable, but viscous cement, will reduce its strength.

Therefore, be careful on how you use toluene.

Lawrence Nordell

Conveyor Dynamics, Inc.

ww.conveyor-dynamic.com ■

Larry,

How does Tolulene effect the surface area of a splice or repair if you are using it as a solvent to clean the area prior to application of adhesives.

This is used widely here in Australia

Regards

Shane ■

Toluene and Trichloroethylene will not have any harmful effects on splice or repairs to either rubber or fabric if used within the guidelines.

Most manufacturers recommend the use of these products for cleaning purposes and in most cases make up the base compound of their Hot and Cold solutions.

Toluene is generally used for Hot splicing and Trichloroethylene for cold.

Trichloroethylene is used to dilute Rema SC2000 and to freshen up the Rema uncured and cured rubber product’s.

It is also used as their splice cleaning solvents. ■