Just a little tip when you are gluing, if you are new to the process or haven't found this in an archived thread.....
Go to WalMart and get a package of syringes that they sell to diabetics. You get about 10 for $3.
These are great for applying Proweld or solvent types of glue. Careful, you don't really need to depress the plunger. Just fill a little bit with the plunger and lay the syringe sideways on a little block of wood until you need it. Then just lift it and run it along a seam. Careful, solvent will drip out on a surface though. But this is more accurate than the brush that comes in the bottle and a useful technique in some spots.
This morning I found it really useful in assembling passenger car diaphrams.
Why doesn't it glue up the inside of the plastic tube and plunger...I dunno, but they can be reused.
Some places sell a long pipette with a hollow needle applicator, but I found these were really hard to fill and often became plugged and one had to keep tapping and dragging it to get it to work. It was also far too long. Advantage was, there is no dripping from these.
Anyway, whatever turns your crank, eh, Jethro.
Are you using these for very thin glue, like Testor's styrene cement, or maybe something thicker like CA?
I've been wondering how to apply Modge-Podge to make ripples. That stuff is thick as a brick, and I don't think it would go through small needles at all.
I'm surprised you can get syringes at Wal-Mart without a prescription. I thought the government got all uptight and assumed everyone who wasn't a diabetic was buying these to shoot illegal drugs.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Cisco Kid wrote: These are great for applying Proweld or solvent types of glue. Careful, you don't really need to depress the plunger. Just fill a little bit with the plunger and lay the syringe sideways on a little block of wood until you need it. Then just lift it and run it along a seam. Careful, solvent will drip out on a surface though. But this is more accurate than the brush that comes in the bottle and a useful technique in some spots.
I have the cheek to quote myself...well, for a little correction. The solvent isn't that dangerously free flowing, so I have to push the plunger a little to get a drop of solvent to the tip if the syringe has been sitting for a while. If I don't push too much, there is also little danger of a drip. So it is more controllable than I first suggested.
Anyhooo, no Mr. B. I don't think anything thicker than Proweld or Tenax type solvents will work well.
I was able to use the syringes a bit for some rubber cement that I injected behind some bubbles in a background poster. The cement would move through only with tremendous pressure. White glue will move through, esp if thinned a little. But the real problem with the viscous liquids, is loading up the syringe. You can't draw them up with the plunger, so you have to load them from the top with the plunger removed, and that is a real mess because the barrel of the syringe is so small that air is trapped too easily.....really hard to drizzle a thread of glue down into the barrel without blocking the opening. I wouldn't even bother. There are some good bellows type applicators from Micro Tools that I use.
Oh, my Walmart is in Canada. So if I ask politely I can get the nice little pharmacist to sell me some packs. But your notion was on my mind so I wear a shirt and tie when I buy them (no kidding).
A lot of modelers are also into computers. If like me you have tried to re-ink printer cartridges and have dissasters like me you soon find you have very good syringes. I think you could get Hodge Podge through some of them. I find them usefull for filling track cleaner cars.
Cliff CEO and chief goofup "Union Pacific Port Doom RR"
Cisco Kid wrote: Why doesn't it glue up the inside of the plastic tube and plunger...I dunno, but they can be reused.
I've never gotten them to work with any kind of glue or solvent. ALWAYS screwed the plunger up and you'd have to push too hard and everything squirts every where. My Wal Mart requires a prescription or you have to be a registered insulin buyer from them. They had to register me in their computer since I get my insulin without a script.PS-The syringe end caps make pretty good smoke stacks and roof vents.
MisterBeasley wrote: I've been wondering how to apply Modge-Podge to make ripples. That stuff is thick as a brick, and I don't think it would go through small needles at all.
My river is Envirotex. IIRC that's what you used as well. I mixed up a final small batch and poured it into a couple of paper plates to practice making the ripples. I used Matte Medium which is basically what Modge-Podge is. I used stiff 1/2" and 1" brushes and stippled the ripples. The best result I got was to use the brush laterally across the river in rows about 3/8" apart. Different brush orientations will change the pattern. If you use a lot of material, the ripples will be subtle. If you use just a little, the water will seem more turbulent. Almost all of the small bubbles formed by stippling eventually burst. The ripples will smooth out quite a bit as the material dries. If you make a second pass after the first coat dries, you will get a more pronounced effect. If you want to make wakes for canoes or boats, do it with a small amount of material after the first coat dries. Try several different techniques on the paper plates and you'll find what you want.
Cisco,
"Kindly state the time of the year and join your voices in a hellish chorus"
I haven't got anything to say on the subject of this post but I couldn't let a reference to one of the great concept albums of the 1970's go unrecognized: Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
"as the sun plays off the infantry returning from the sea..."
This record was the soundtrack to my life in the mid 1970's, I've learned to play most of it at one time or another...
I 'll raise you a Jethro and add a Barre (Martin)..
Sorry for the off topic...
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Mr. B.
Go to your local Farm Feed / Supply store and you can buy sirenges 10cc/ml up to about 60cc/ml for vacinating old Bessie and get some 16 gage needles ---- you can then squirt full strength Elmer's Carpenter glue at will. First started doing that with some furniture I was building years ago ---- got cattle so always have some used sirenges and needles on hand.
Need to clean 'em up occasionally and put a light coat of Vaselene on the rubber plunger ---- when clean and empty leave the plunger at about the half-way mark -- if it sticks, you can push in to un-stick it and then use as normal.
John T in the cow pasture
trainnut1250 wrote: Cisco,"Kindly state the time of the year and join your voices in a hellish chorus" I haven't got anything to say on the subject of this post but I couldn't let a reference to one of the great concept albums of the 1970's go unrecognized: Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick "as the sun plays off the infantry returning from the sea..." This record was the soundtrack to my life in the mid 1970's, I've learned to play most of it at one time or another...I 'll raise you a Jethro and add a Barre (Martin)..Sorry for the off topic... Guy
And don't let your farm be turned into a freeway...
Martins guitar playing is NEVER off topic IMHO...