Longevity of CA glue...?

I have heard (and experienced, to a small degree) tha cryano-acrylate glue (common super glue) will crystalize over time and degrade...

Any commentary on this?

 

From experience, I've found that sometimes it does get brittle and lose it's bond. I wonder, however, if it depends on the materials that it is bonding to. I tend to use CA for resin - because if a piece is dropped, it'll tend to break at the bond, and not shatter. If I want a really good structural bond, I tend to go with the 2-part epoxy.

-RAJ

 

I totally agree. I use it to "cheat" on styrene models, so I don't have to hold the parts together so long, but I try to always back up the bond with actual styrene glue since that virtualy welds the plast together...

 

That is my experience too - that the bond from a CA 'superglue' will get brittle over time and break down. Sometimes I find CA to be totally innefective from the get go.

 

I've had a near full bottle turn solid in hot weather (80+)
If you use kickers to speed up the cure time it also weakens the bond.
Accept for baking soda, than you get solid rock.

Also depends on the quality of the glue.
My preference is Jet brand Industrial grade.

Never use Krazy Glue.
Zap isn't much better IMHO.

D6

 

Any time I've used Super Glue, even as a kid, it has never worked.

The only thing I glue is my fingers.

FB

 

I do that too.

 

Huh,

I seem to have pretty good luck with it. However, it does work better on certain materials.

I have problems with the glue not lasting long once the bottle has been opened.

 

I have pretty good luck with CA glue- but I HATE the real runny stuff, it seems to flow into the ODDEST places, without me knowing it.

Its the wierdest thing, like I will apply the glue to the parts, and hold them till it sets. Then, I take my hand away, and like my OTHER elbow will be glued to the table. Body parts that were no where NEAR where I was working with it will end up with CA on them.

So, I gotta have the thick stuff. And I second the Baking Soda thing. It rocks.

 

i once was squeezing two pieces of plastic together and some super glue squired out into my eyeball. I could feel my eyelid glueing shut so i ripped my eye open and let the glue dry on my eyeball. It felt like someone had glued pieces of glass onto my eye when ever i blinked. I had to go to the emergency room where this doctor turned out all the lights and picked all the pieces off my eye with a 'black light' and a 5 inch needle.

just thought i'd share the joy's of CA's

 

Use it at work all the time. Never had any problems with parts "weakening" over time when using it. Models that we built well over a year ago, which have traveled all over the US come back to us all the time. The glue will have held but the parts would have broken elsewhere.

Of course, we don't use common super glue like you can get at the hardware store.

To help keep CA thick and water thin glue effective and not drying out is simple. Stick it in the freezer.

It won't freeze and keeps it from drying out.

 

if you have an unopend bottle of ca glue the best place to keep it is in the fridge,
and after opening is a dark moist free place, as sunlight and moisture hardens it.

when the glue hardens is crystalizes, over time the parts move due to heat and cold and the bond sometimes weakens over time, and some matrials just don't bond with ca glue as the surface structure is too smooth.

to get the best bond is to use 2 part epoxy and if there is room a metal pin