Hi, Terry I find it difficult to imagine how you got a mixture of white glue and CA glue NOT to set up! As for the accelerator -- sure, it sets up CA extremely fast, but it also stinks. I don't know what is in it, but possibly it uses solvents, or something which is toxic, since the one time I used it it was so irritating. White glue is very non-toxic and so easily available. Also, I imagine that the white-glue-CA bond is tougher than the accelerated bond, possibly just because it takes a few seconds to set. I think that an absolutely instant bond isn't as robust long-term, though this might just be my idea. Possibly people should do comparative tests. I don't feel like it, because I don't want to breathe any of the accelerator. Once the joint has set up, it can be pulled apart fairly easily for a few minutes. It gets firmer and more determined within the hour, though. At least it has seemed this way to me. I like this feature, because if I do something wrong, I can take it apart if I catch it quickly, and then do it over again, after refreshing the glues. As for the bond of CA-white glue being stronger than CA alone, it was just my own experience. If I use CA glue alone, and get a little on my fingers, and they stick to something or each other, I can pull them apart, and just lose a thin superficial layer of skin. But the time I managed to have a little white glue on my index finger, and got some CA on my thumb, and THEY stuck together .... ! ! ..... the bond went deep enough I could tell that they were not coming apart, and if they did, I'd have a bleeding wound to deal with. I had nail polish remover in the car, and I had to walk out there with my thumb connected to the middle of my index finger, and it took a lot of work and repeated dousing with acetone to get them apart. I only did that once (smearing white glue into a hole for a rubber button, then holding the button and putting the CA onto it, messily, and the thumb contacted the slightly white-glued index finger while pressing the button into the lid) but I never forgot the experience. I don't think it's all that good an idea to repeat this experiment, just to validate the idea. Trying to figure out why you didn't get CA and white glue to set up .... I wonder. I've tried the "trick" with many brands of water based glues, Elmer's, Titebond, yellow carpenter's glue .. all worked equally well. However, I have not used different brands of CA. I've used Loctite brand, water thin, throughout. It has always worked, unless it got so old that it thickened in the original container. One could also consider quantities of each, but I've found the "trick" to be very tolerant of that. A pretty good ribbon of white glue with just a few minor dots of CA dropped into it set up pretty well. Small scanty smears of white glue with a layer of CA on the other piece (assuming it was non-absorptive, wood or cardboard instead of cloth) worked just fine. Someone used the "trick" to glue a thin wood carving onto a piano leg, using LOTS of both, and it squeezed out into a sort of foamy ooze, but the bond set up, and he was able to pull off the extra all in one string a few minutes later. If the bond is working right, for instance, cloth to cloth or cloth to wood, within a few seconds of the two glues meeting you can feel heat through the cloth. The CA mustn't be left just sitting around. I put the white glue on first, get it where I want it, then as soon as the CA touches it, the parts or cloth must be pressed together immediately. Once the CA is wet (in contact with water), it crosslinks and turns solid very quickly, and once it is solid it won't glue anything it wasn't already touching while liquid. Possibly if you gave me more details, Terry, I could figure out what might have happened. The original article is in the October, 1997 Journal. Susan Kline On 9/9/2010 5:41 AM, Terry Farrell wrote: > I've tried the white glue/super glue thing and it never seemed to set > up. It's definitely NOT instant. Maybe I just didn't want to wait long > enough - but then, that is one of the major advantages of super glue - > bonds can be within seconds - and is often one of the criteria I use > in selecting CA for a particular application. > > What is the basis for your claim that the CA/water-based glue joint is > much stronger than CA alone? With "CA alone you can truly glue > yourself to yourself in a way which requires acetone and a lot of > patience and determination to reverse. Don't ask me how I know...." > > I hope I don't sound too much like I am berating your Susan! I don't > mean to do that at all. My interest is that I don't want to be missing > out on any great little tech tip like this seems to be....... but I > just haven't been able to figure out what is the advantage of this > over CA with accelerator. > > Do you have a reference for your Journal article? I do remember > reading it, but it's been a while. > > Thanks!!! :-) > > Terry Farrell
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