Keeping your CA nozzle clear...

[Donga]

I\'ve just had to sling out a half full bottle of Super Glue. The glue had gone solid because after weeks of drilling out the nozzle until there was no nozzle left. I had to cut it off to get the glue out with a length of wire.

It went to jelly then eventually solid.

I\'ve just got a new bottle of Zap-a-Gap (it was Rocket rapid that went solid) and I want to prevent it happening (even though I\'ve never had a problem with Zap-a-gap). The rocket rapid was a sod!

What\'s a good preventative measure, excluding drilling out the damn thing every time I want to stick something.

 

[Amazon warrior]

Lord knows. I must have tried at least half-a-dozen super glues with different nozzle types, and the best thing I can say about them is that some were far, far worse than others.

 

[alextheartist]

I just buy small toothpaste style tubes now, not worth the hassle of having a bit one clog.. THey cost about £2.50 and you can chuck em when the clog..

 

[BPI]

The only one I\'ve heard (but not been habitual enough about to verify) is to blow down the nozzle immediately after use to clear it, then put top on. Do not inhale vapour. The guy who suggested this to me did once stick a bottle to his top lip doing it though lol B.

 

[PegaZus]

I\'ve been using a brush-on super glue; small bottle with an internal brush. You might give that a try.

 

[exilesjjb]

\"I\'ve been using a brush-on super glue; small bottle with an internal brush. You might give that a try.\"

they work fine till the brush head comes off in the glue
:cussing:
I think Alex may have the best solution (no pun intended) why buy big bottle that dried when a few small tubes (they will not sell you more than one at a time I believe) will do the job

Simples

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by exilesjjb
\"I\'ve been using a brush-on super glue; small bottle with an internal brush. You might give that a try.\"

they work fine till the brush head comes off in the glue

Been using brush-on Glue for years never happened to me. But I\'m careful to always reduce the amount of glue on the brush to the least possible amount before using it.
Keep the top on at all times and make sure that you don\'t allow dust or anything else to clog up the brush.

 

[Chrome]

I\'m using Loctite Super Attak. I\'ve never had a bottle dried out. Every now and then it clogs but only if I leave the lid off and then it\'s still just a matter of poking a steel wire down the nozzle and it\'s fixed. I love it.

 

[freakinacage]

un bend one part of a paper clip and stick it down the nozzle. i use super attak as well but my bottle clogged this week

 

[Einion]

We know that moisture is what sets of cyanoacrylate, right? So the best way to keep the glue from hardening inside the container is to seal it completely from air getting inside, which the caps tend not to do very well unfortunately.

This is especially important now since the humidity is rising in this part of the world. The best way to do this I know of is using Parafilm M. I bought this for airbrush masking but I primarily use it now for sealing superglue tubes - with luck you can come back to one after it\'s been sitting for a few months and it\'s still good.

Einion

 

[airhead]

Enion nailed it. Moisture is the catalyst in CA.

Trouble is the first time you open the bottle and let a bet of glue out, then suck nice humid air back into the bottle. The clock is now ticking on that bottle.

You can try storing it in a freezer to slow down the reaction, but that is all you will accomplish.

Best bet is to not buy more than you are going to use in a week/month before you have to chuck it.

When I was doing model airplanes, I\'d get 2 oz bottles and use it all up. Now I get bottles with a few drops in them and hope they last before they go solid.

 

[daddyo]

when you buy super glue in those handy little tubes, you are multiplying the cost by a factor of ten.

blowing into the bottle to clear the nozzle is a sure-fire way to kill that bottle, water vapor being the major catalyst in the cure reaction. (some accelerators are simply water...)

the paperclip idea is a decent way to plug the hole, but there must be a good seal, or moisture will surely get in and wreck the bottle.

i keep my super glues in the fridge, it almost doubles the life of the bottle. just make sure the stuff is up out of the reach of the small kiddies. kids and super glue is disaster waiting to happen. (experience galore here...)

and be real careful popping open that tube- if you\'re under a low pressure weather system, that stuff runs out all over the place. i spent an entire three-day weekend once with three fingers and a thumb glued to the tube, waiting for my finger oils to loosen the join. and then try to explain to the colonel why i saluted him funny. he was only slightly amused...

 

[Donga]

Originally posted by airhead
Best bet is to not buy more than you are going to use in a week/month before you have to chuck it.

I\'ve got the smallest bottle that Zap-a-gap do! But I think Alex has hit upon the answer, Wilkinsons do bottles for about a £1 each. It works just as well as CA that\'s much more expensive.

I may just get a dozen or so next time I\'m in Wlikinsons. When they clog they go in the bin!

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Often the simplest answer is the best.

 

[supervike]

The glue I use:

Loctite Precision

Actually has a little \'nail\' inside the cap, and that keeps the nozzle clear.


And yeah, I also find it easy to keep smaller bottles, as opposed to one Daddy Bear sized portion.

 

[freakinacage]

i lied, i no longer use super attak, it\'s loctite super precision

got some brush on today as well

 

[Joek]

Well, I\'ve been using a fairly bog standard Loctite Super glue with an ordinary end (as it were...). After using it, I just tap the end on the desk a few times, and it seems to work nicely. Well, it\'s a couple of months old, and no trimming of the nozzle has been needed - which hasn\'t happened before!

 

[Pearlay]

Glues

I Use Zap a Gap and stick a Piece of Tape around the Edge so as to be able to slide a large Sewing Pin with a head in it, to clear the nozzle when Clogs.

*You can use Pliers to break any glue off the needle that might build up easy.

I use Plastruct Bondene (Plasti-weld) for Plastic.

 

[Trevor]

Just watch using the cheap stuff, it often doesn't stick as well and is weaker.

 

[Donga]

OOOOO! Thread-Omancy....

Since I first posted this thread, I got a small bottle of Zap-a-Gap. It's just run out without any issues with blocking. I think the big cap that goes over the smaller cap makes all the differance.

That and I used it up REALLY quickly.

So small bottles are the answer, you may get more for your money in a bigger bottles. You waste more too...

 

[nosirrahkcaz]

Ive been using loctite super glue in the hard bottle with the little side squeeze thing (hard to describe) for a couple years now and Ive never had the problems that are being described. I currently have a bottle I opened maybe 6 or 7 months ago thats been sitting for another 2 and I just tried it and it worked fine.