Today I went to experiment using CA glue, as I was trying to put a small drop on the part I wanted to glue ( a tread to plastic ) I spilled some of it and made a mess, luckily, the Admiral had nail varnish remover ( Acetone) and I use it to clean up.
So the questions are: How to use CA without making a mess and preventing from gluing your hands. Also, how to prevent the glue from gluing its own cap and any other attachment that it may have?
As always, thanks
Joe
I add CA useing a fine piece of wire. I either dip that in the spout, or place a small drop onto a piece of shiny paper. The glue i use has a small metal pin in the lid. never had a problem with the lid sticking.
Darren Scannell of the Resin Shipyard demonstrated his method of making CA tube tips at an IPMS Nats a few years back.
http://www.resinshipyard.com/pages/tip_pages/glue_tips.html
His method is stretching Teflon RC aircraft control sheathing. You are able to draw out a very fine tip that allows you to deposit the finest drop of glue. The sheathing is less than $5 at your local RC hobby aisle
The problem with the cap getting glued on depends on the brand of CA and their nozzle/cap design. The best nozzle/cap design that I have seen yet is what they use on the Gorilla brand of super glues. So far, the cap has not gotten stuck, and the tip has never gotten those annoying clogs that ruin so many other bottles of CA before you even use 1/10th of the expensive stuff in the bottle. Another brand I found recently with the same nozzle/cap design is VMS Flexy 5K CA. Like the name implies, it forms a quick bond like CA always does but remains flexible until a full cure, so it gives you time to get PE and other non-styrene parts into perfect position before it becomes permanent.
For use of any medium or thick CA, and preventing messes and getting stuck to things, a plain old pack of Post-It Notes works like a champ. Put a drop or two of CA on the Post-It, use a toothpick or other small diameter stick/needle to transfer CA from that to the parts being glued, then peel the Post-It off the pack and throw it in the trash. That way you don’t have a hidden drop of CA hanging out on your work bench, active, just waiting for you to remove oxygen from it by touching it with something and…BAM…you’re either stuck, or something else is. In situations where I have had to reach down inside of something to apply CA, I found that a piece of uncooked Angel Hair pasta or spaghetti makes a good applicator that you can also toss when done to prevent unwanted sticking things together.
I also use the Post-Its right before I shoot paint with my airbrush. That way I can make sure I have good paint consistency, and the exact pattern and volume I want for the job at hand.
I perform this task much like Eagle has stated above. Post it notes are great as you can just toss it when done. My applicator is a sewing needle with tape as a better handle. When the tip of the needle gets gunked up a flame removes the residue.
I put a drop of CA on a piece of card stock. Then I use a toothpick to apply it to the model part.
The card stock or post-it notes and a tooth pick or wire work great under normal circumstances when you are just applying a drop at a time. When I was building the bar armor sections for my ATC, I needed to do a bunch of CA gluing fairly quick, but also had to be able to move things around without accidently touching the CA. So, instead of the cardstock piece, I used a block of wood about the size of a deck of cards, and covered the top surface with blue painters tape. That way I could move it around and it wasn’t so light as to move by itself with the room’s ceiling fan on. I could put more CA on it, and then when I was done with gluing I could peel the tape off and trash it immediately.
Additionally, with that fairly bright blue color, you always know wher it’s sitting so you dont bump or touch it by mistake. Easy Day!!
Usually use a tooth pick to apply it
my son in law , saves his beer caps for me . I use them to put a drop or so of CA in and use a tooth pick to apply .
I use beer bottle caps a lot. Not just for glue, but as paint palettes as well. Great when doing washes. I keep telling myself that I’m not an alcoholic, I just need the bottle caps for modeling…
I like the idea of using a needle as an applicator, I think I will copy it, as long as you do not mind that I am using your idea, but, instead of tape as a handle, I may make a handle from some spare piece of wood.
Joe
[dto:]
However, for finer control I made a tool by jamming a medium sewing needle into a piece of dowel. Then I cut the needle in half with my dremel, leaving a fork that can pick up a small drop of ca.
I get a flood of small plastic cards-dummy credit cards, discount cards, etc. that I dont want- they make great palletes for putting drops of ca on.They are disposable when they get too many old hard drops.
i do what don does… someone posted the idea too awhile back. When the barb gets boogered up, i use an old xacto blade to clean it up. I work from drops dropped on wax paper.
I put a couple drops onto an old used gift card and apply the glue to the part with a toothpick or thin wire. I only use the Bob Smith Industries glue now, due to the bottles they come in. I have had to toss out more of the inexpensive tube super glues over the years than I have actually applied to projects due to clogs and drying in the tube.
For dealing with clogs when using Bob Smith CA glue bottles, I saw a tip to keep a couple extra nozzles on hand and if clogged to soak in a jar of acetone. In fact the guy I was watching just kept his spare nozzles and caps in the acetone bath until needed.
They sell the spares separately, I picked up several for $.75 each.
I’ve certainly had my trials with “super glue”. My small-but-expensive bottles of Bob Smith Industries extra-thin and gap-filling glue started getting clogged soon after I ordered them, but I did learn some valuable glueing techniques. I figured out the value of putting a small drop of super glue on a postage-stamp-sized piece of cardboard and applying it with a toothpick or something even better, to my mind, the Glue Looper:
The secret of the Glue Looper is the channel that’s near the tip. Put the tip in a drop of thin crazy glue and the channel sucks it up via cohesion. Touch the tip to whatever you wish to glue, and the crazy glue seeps down the channel and onto the part you’re gluing or the part you’re glueing onto. When the tip gets clogged, just burn off the hardened crazy glue with a match or cigarette lighter. The curved tip of the Glue Looper is easy to fit into tight spaces.
The clogging of the Bob Smith glue got worse and worse, to the point I had to use a Vice-Grip wrench to remove the tops. Eventually, I managed to spill each of them. Fortunately, my dining-table-cum-work-bench was safely shrouded in a plastic drop sheet on both occasions. Otherwise my wife might have used the drop sheet as a shroud for me!
The second spill was “spectacular”. Nearly all of the bottle of extra-think glue spread out in a large pool on the drop sheet. In attempting to salvage drenched tools, I managed to get a good deal of glue on my fingers, which I was barely able to release before the glue hardened. I spent the next half hour scrubbing my hands with nail polish remover and a stiff brush. For the next two days I had to peel stubborn patches of glue off my fingers and tools. A couple of the tools will never be returned to pristine condition, not that they were in pristine condition before the accident.
Despite my problems with super glue, I’ve found it to be remarkably useful. Several days ago I managed to almost drop my completed Hampden bomber, and in trying to save it managed to snap off the radio antenna, to which antenna wires were attached. But one tiny drop of extra-thin super glue, applied with my Glue Looper, was all it took to invisibly re-secure the antenna.
Another positive moment with super glue came when I noticed that the two halves of the hull of my SS Hope/USS Repose model weren’t coming into contact at the stern, and would never contact once I attached the main deck. So I squeezed them together and touched the seam, from the inside of the hull, two or three times with super glue. Voila! I think it would take an torpedo to tear that stern apart!
I have now purchased two new bottles of super glue, made by Lepage’s. The ridged buttons on each side of the bottle make it easy to release just the amount of glue that you need:
Bob
When not using superglue, I keep it in the fridge. Does not stop clogging of the nozzles, but definately extends its life.
I found something weird with thin CA yesterday. I had painted a part with the new Testors lacquer paint, and got a little where I didn’t want it. When I tried to take the exccess off with a paper towel, it took the paint with it. This part had been painted weeks ago.
A heads-up, and further to my recent post about Lepage’s super glues. I tried the Ultra Gel yesterday, and found that it was considerbly thicker than the Bob Smith Industries gap-filling super glue. Perhaps my bottle has aged more than it should have; I bought it only three or four days ago. Has anyone else tried th Lepage’s product?
Bob
I’m cheap and would rather not toss half a tube of CA glue when the tip clogs.
Lay the clogged tube on a lid and use a pin to poke a small hole anywhere in the tube to allow the glue to ooze out. Eventually the hole will seal over, just poke another hole.
Hi Joe;
First and Foremost. Always make sure the tip of the bottle is Clean from the Shoulder to the Tip after using.Then put the top on. Second, NEVER let the bottle lay on it’s side, Tube either. Third, NEVER squeeze the Tube type Super Glues from the Middle, Always the bottom.
I cannot stress cleanliness enough as far as this stuff is concerned. Gluing the flesh together is not so far fetched. After all that’s what it was developed for. I discovered that Plain old water makes a good setting solution if you don’t have their Accelerator! It Was designed to react to the moisture normally present in the skin and tissue.
Lacquer thinner will break the bond. Just be patient. And don’t pull. By the way C.A has little torque strength. So when seperating the lacquer soaked fingers a slight twwist will usually do it. Keep it cool. Do NOT subject it to temps above 90 degrees farheneit for too long.That will glop up the tip quickly! Also makes it set in the container.
Like Don and other responders suggested, I took a Sewing Needle, Ground off one end of the loop or eye, stuck it in a dowel for a handle, and use it to draw a dot from a pallette made from a discarded, non -requested PLASTIC Credit Card offer.
Although familiar with LePages I don’t know about their C.A. They have been in the Glue Business since Mucilage was present in Offices across the land ( Before The Selectric Typewriter even.) I didn’t even know they offered Super - Glue.
Lastly, and most important, I have Rarely found a need for the C.A. that’s labeled Super Thin. That stuff is the Most dangerous of the type. Believe me! I think I have had my fingers Re-Skinned a few times. I do use it, But only in rare situations NOW.