Superglue Frustration

[MerseyTrainz]

Hi all

Soon, I intend to look at modelling using some photo-etch, but in the past I have had issues when using superglue. I’ve found that after opening the glue’s container, it dries out after only a short period of time (a few weeks), rendering the glue and it’s container useless. When I had finished using the glue, I would tap the bottle on the table to dislodge any glue left in the end of the nozzle and then wiped it clean.

Also, in tutorials I’ve seen or read, a small amount of superglue is poured into a small container in-order to glue some photo-etch parts onto a model. Noting that drying times of some of the superglues are 1, 5 or 20 seconds, how is it that the superglue in the container doesn’t dry out before all of the parts have been glued to the model.

What am I doing wrong?

[Rob]

I know what you mean about the frustration of the bottle or tube seizing up. Some people buy cheapo tubes from a pound shop and basically use them as disposables. I use bottles of Zap a Gap and, touching wood, these seem to stay usable for months.
As for pouring a puddle of glue for extended use, i think the glue basically needs a vacume to set quickly which happens when sandwiched between two parts and when treated with excelerater (which in essense covers the glue and cuts off the air)
I think!!!!

[Lego]

If you pour some super glue onto an old tinlet covered with tinfoil like this you can keep the glue alive for hours at a time. Comes in really handy working with lots of pe. This way you don't have to keep opening and closing the bottle and you dont get it hardening up in the bottle.

[Tiger131]

lego has got it right.. i cut the plastic bags the models come in to small sheets and use them once little blob in the middle then throw away and keep plenty of sheets llike this...always keep the super glue i use zap as well upright



hope this helps