Gel super glue is the best kind of super glue

Super thin superglue is the best because the gel stuff can’t penetrate for shit.

Need to shore up some punky wood? Want to deep fill a crack? (no rude comments please) Gel simply won’t cut it.

I’m going to say that you may need certain viscosities for certain applications.

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Agreed. Ceramics are porous, so I would break out water thin or medium viscosity. As long as the break is clean, they don’t need to gap full. CA is weak in its shear plane so substrate penetration helps with a more durable bond.

Brand name glues are overly expensive, and in general Gorilla brand glues are on the browner end of the spectrum. My go to in the workshop is a large bottle of medium CA from Würth, as the heavy twist-to-raise cap and internal blocking pin keep the contents liquid for months with weekly use. Definitely cheaper in the long term than “almost single use” tubes. For households with occasional repairs, these make sense. A ten pack of few-cent tubes cover most eventualities.

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You are Dr. Brandon, and I claim my £5!

We’ve always had the best results w/Loctite.

Regular nail polish remover does the trick. The stuff that’s safe for fake nails does not.

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Gluing it old-school.

(I wish I knew where the background music was from)

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Is it rated for food use?!?!?

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Dear thread,

20200524_004438

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I think you have to commit to maintaining CA glues. Unless you’re using it a few times a week, a bottle will clog or go dry by the next time you need to use it. And for some mysterious reason, doesn’t seem to matter how long “next time” is; somewhere over a month is required.

By maintain, I mean set a reminder in your calendar of choice to remind you once a month to check your CA glues. Do it when you clean your furnace filter.

I’ve rescued many a bottle with a tiny drill (maybe 1mm) and just drill through the clog. Works often.

I’ve been very happy with Starbond’s medium thick; comes with a few extra tips and long pins to help you maintain it.

Lest I sound like some sort of CA Ninja, I can assure you I suck at using it. More than once I’ve had to yell for the SO to bring me nail polish remover to unstick some part of me to another part of me to the house or bench or mouse (computer, not rodent. NTTAWWT).

And don’t get me started about those cans of spray insulation.

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Good tip about Drierite. I bought something similar at a big box store; 6.5lbs of “silica cat litter crystals” for CDN$13. A 2ish gallon jug of the stuff. I stuff a 1/4 cup of these crystals into small mesh satchels, cinched closed with built-in ribbon. I throw them in tool box drawers, fishing tackle box, boat storage places. Mold & rust are a thing of the past.

Might have read the tip here.

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I can confirm that acetone is the right solvent for dissolving superglue. I sonicate objects in acetone overnight to remove and reglue cyanoacrylate. Mark can’t put nail varnish remover in the coffee creamer anymore.

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Nice thing about drierite is that it changes color as it absorbs moisture, so you know when it’s not working anymore. Then you can heat it in an oven to dry it out for reuse.

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I like the fastest and thinnest superglue to be found. Do all the assembly dry, then add the glue.

Some tips:
Don’t touch the nozzle to the work. Apply a small pool to a clean surface, transfer drops from the pool to the work with a wire.
Wipe the nozzle with mold release before cutting the nozzle tip.
Poking into the nozzle exacerbates any clogging. Compressed air is better for clearing if practical. (Aim into waste basket.)
Any large volumes to be rebuilt, stack on crushed wallut shell (from pet store), set up with glue. Can be sanded in about ten seconds.

I use a two ounce bottle a month at work (patternmaking). The bottles always finish empty.

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Had to repair my eyeglasses today. Went to the freezer and grabbed my superglue (still works and isn’t clogged). After the superglue dried, I hit the crack with some abs cement to strengthen it. Crack is right where the hinge is embedded in the plastic. 2 hrs post fix and the only flexing is at the hinge and not the crack. Glue teamwork!

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LOL The music is awfully funny!

Guess that design didn’t work so well, since it’s disappeared.

Some stuff lasts forever. Just yesterday I used some aircraft-quality epoxy glue that I had from making an ultralight in 1981!

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I was curious and counted the amount of different types of glues I have on board and have 16 different kinds, all for different purposes, enviroments, material, cure time, etc. Using the right adhesive is key. I even learned that glue can be too good and I now actually have intentionally weaker glues for my window frames since they have to be re glued every five to ten years and the glue the previous boat owner used (3M 5200) was an absolute bear to take off with no gain on longevity.

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The single use packages aren’t even wasteful, since you can amortize the packaging across the 3-4 tubes that come in it, and (unless the Dryrite trick works, or a pin does the job) you were otherwise going to throw the whole tube away the next time you unsuccessfully tried to use it.

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