CA Glue?

[DaveAAAP@aol.com]

Hi John.

  The information you posted is correct.  Let me give you a little more
information that you may be able to use.

  CA stands for Cyanoacrylate Adhesive.  I understand it was first developed
by Kodak-Eastman for use in microsurgery, reattaching blood vessels.  Perhaps
this is the reason it sticks so well to your skin.  I've even heard that they
use it in the boxing ring when one of the competitors gets a cut.  They just
squeeze it on and hold the cut together while it dries.  This gives you an
idea of how quickly it dries.
  
  There is also a CA accellerator available which when sprayed on the glue,
hardens it instantaneously.  You can glue a hammer shank together, spray it
with accellerator, and it's ready to play as soon as you can hit the key.

  I used it on an old upright the other day.  The hammer butt had split right
at the center pin hole and I found the other half in the bottom of the piano.
Since the customer was "thrifty" I glued it with CA, shot it with
accellerator, put it back in, and it worked fine.  Some people believe CA is
the universal answer to most of a technician's problems, but I don't.

  In my opinion, nothing compares to fine quality workmanship, but there is a
place for CA glue.  It saves mostly on time.  Time of course translates to
$$$.  You just have to decide where to use it.  You can't use it on everything
either, it doesn't bond well to some plastics and metals.

  I did hear of something that made it universal though.  It was a product I
once browsed through on the internet called PAF Powder.  PAF Powder was
supposedly an extremely fine powder that when mixed with CA glue, it would
then adhere to everything that it normally wouldn't.  PAF powder was made up
of microscopic glass beads so small they made a powder.  If I remember right,
it wasn't available in the USA yet. If anyone knows where to get it, I'd like
to hear.

  I'm trying to stay away from the info that others have given.  I don't like
to plug up Pianotech.  Let me give you an address & phone # that might be
helpful to you in the "land down under".  This comes straight from the bottle:

Sattellite City
P.O. Box 836, Simi, California 93062
Telephone (805) 522-0062

  Hope it helps.

Dave Streit (RPT soon to be)
AAA Piano Service
Portland, Oregon