hon30critter Hi folks, I have recently been having a problem with my CA glues not setting properly. I had a couple of bottles of CA which were a few months old and they simply stopped working, so I blamed it on age. I bought a replacement bottle of Gorilla gel CA from Amazon and I tried it for the first time tonight, and it doesn't work at all either. I have two questions: What CA glues work for you? How do I guarantee that I am buying fresh stock? Thanks, Dave
Hi folks,
I have recently been having a problem with my CA glues not setting properly. I had a couple of bottles of CA which were a few months old and they simply stopped working, so I blamed it on age. I bought a replacement bottle of Gorilla gel CA from Amazon and I tried it for the first time tonight, and it doesn't work at all either.
I have two questions:
What CA glues work for you?
How do I guarantee that I am buying fresh stock?
Thanks,
Dave
Interesting Gorilla super glue gel has been the only super glue I have used for a couple of years. I buy the tubes instead of the larger side sqeeze bottle. I have had the larger bottle seemingly thin out and separate but have had very little issue with the smaller tube. I wonder if that might have been what happened?? I do shake them a little after that. I have done a whole lot of work for the club with this brand and have found it to be the best superglue I have used as it is not brittle as many others are. That being said I did have one of the smaller tubes that was a bit thinner in consistency lately. I kind of figured I got an older tube where the stock had not been rotated. After I shook it up it appeared to work better. I have went through quite a bit in-between projects for the club and my layout so I thought it was a one off thing. I do not believe Gorilla glue puts dates on anything.
Jim
drgwcs Gorilla super glue gel has been the only super glue I have used for a couple of years.
Hi Jim,
There seems to be mixed opinions on how well Gorilla super glue works, but regardless of that, my bottle of Gorilla glue simply wasn't working at all. That makes me a little reluctant to try it again, but I am not being critical of you using it. I'm going to stick with the Loctite #406 for now. The bottle should last me a long time assuming it keeps working.
Cheers!!
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter I just tested the new bottle of Loctite #406 and the bond is quite solid.
I just tested the new bottle of Loctite #406 and the bond is quite solid.
Rich
Alton Junction
hon30critter drgwcs Gorilla super glue gel has been the only super glue I have used for a couple of years. Hi Jim, There seems to be mixed opinions on how well Gorilla super glue works, but regardless of that, my bottle of Gorilla glue simply wasn't working at all. That makes me a little reluctant to try it again, but I am not being critical of you using it. I'm going to stick with the Loctite #406 for now. The bottle should last me a long time assuming it keeps working. Cheers!! Dave
I had tried some when it first came out and really liked it but really got using it heavily when I got into several large scale projects for the club starting three years ago.
I do find that it probably off gasses more than other super glues so it can potentially fog acetate if a lot is used. The gel that had issues with thinness was one I bought recently. Could it be they are having quality control issues or it was an old tube? Good question.
I will say that they are a very different company than when they started. It used to be 10 years ago that they only sold directly to stores and they were shipped directly from the company. I managed a hardware store then and it was very rare to have an issue with their products of any kind. They have since changed their model where they send to retailers warehouses and are in all major retailers now. I wonder if that might be part of the change if the warehouses are not rotating. The bad one I got was from Walmart.
Give them a shake before using.
Nucksss Give them a shake before using.
Good idea and seems to help.
Doesn't the label on the Gorilla ca bottle say to do that? I think the bottle I tried said that.
NucksssGive them a shake before using.
The Gorilla glue that didn't work was the gel version and it was quite thick. I had to pound the tip of the nozzle on my workbench to get it to move, so I don't think that shaking it would have accomplished anything with that particular bottle. However, the new Loctite #406 is much more liquid so I will shake it before using it.
By the way, the Loctite #406 bottle says to not refrigerate after opening. Interesting.
hon30critterBy the way, the Loctite #406 bottle says to not refrigerate after opening. Interesting.
I might be remembering this all wrong...
I seem to recall in the 1980s there was a glue company called JET. They said their CA had to be refrigerated, and I remember Carl Wilson's Clear Track and Gulf Coast Model Railroading had small refrigerators in their stores. JET was the first gap filling CA I think.
Then other companies were marketing glues, and hobby shops kept them in the refrigerator also. Then these companies started saying DO NOT refigerate our product.
I do not recall ever seeing a label of CA that said to refrigerate it since JET.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Can you hear me banging my head against the wall?!?
The Loctite #406 seemed to be working very well. That was until I tried to make a small adjustment to the air line that comes out of the brass brake cylinder assembly. You guessed it. The CA let go.
It turns out that Loctite #406 is intended only for plastics, so I did another search for suitable Loctite adhesives. One of the sources that my search came up with was Uline Canada. I have had great success with Uline products in the past so I decided to have a look at their website. What I found was a very specific description of what each of the Loctite adhesives was designed to do. I hadn't found that detailed information on Loctite's own website.
According to the Uline information, Loctite offers several general purpose CA adhesives. Some are designed for heavy duty industrial applications and they are rather expensive. I found one general purpose CA at a reasonable price so I have ordered it. It is Loctite #454.
Uline delivers very quickly so I should have it in a couple of days. I will let you know how well it works.
Dave,
These are the two Loc-Tite brand CA glues I use:
Gel Control and Liquid.