Preferred CA glue viscosity for tape method?

Accessories
21

Hey Jim, hey all,

Cyanoacrylate – Wikipedia states:

Shelf life

Cyanoacrylate adhesives have a short shelf life. Date-stamped containers help to ensure that the adhesive is still viable. One manufacturer supplies the following information and advice:

When kept unopened in a cool, dry location such as a refrigerator at a temperature of about 55 °F (13 °C), the shelf life of cyanoacrylate will be extended from about one year from manufacture to at least 15 months. If the adhesive is to be used within six months, it is not necessary to refrigerate it. Cyanoacrylates are moisture-sensitive, and moving from a cool to a hot location will create condensation; after removing from the refrigerator, it is best to let the adhesive reach room temperature before opening. After opening, it should be used within 30 days. Open containers should not be refrigerated.[39]

Another manufacturer says that the maximum shelf life of 12 months is obtained for some of their cyanoacrylates if the original containers are stored at 35 to 40 °F (2 to 4 °C).[40] User forums and some manufacturers say that an almost unlimited shelf life is attainable by storing unopened at −4 °F (−20 °C), the typical temperature of a domestic freezer, and allowing the contents to reach room temperature before use.[41] Opening a container while chilled may cause moisture from the air to condense in the container; however, reports from hobbyists suggest that storing cyanoacrylate in a freezer can preserve opened cyanoacrylate indefinitely.

As cyanoacrylates age, they polymerize, become thicker, and cure more slowly. They can be thinned with a cyanoacrylate of the same chemical composition with lower viscosity.[30] Storing cyanoacrylates below 0 °F (−18 °C) will nearly stop the polymerization process and prevent aging.

I have not verified anything of this personally.

22

I stopped using tape/CA entirely. CA glue is too expensive imo. Granted if I’m working on something expensive or that has taken a long time I might consider using it again with these metal screw clamps.

I bought 4 pairs of these and cut out holes on my waste board. Almost zero risk of movement and they will last forever. Unless you drive you bit into one of them like I did…lol

Nonetheless, why waste money on tape/glue when there are options like this. The only downside I can think of is improper use - if you over tighten you can cause your material to move off the waste board but that was simply a learning lesson.

You can see how well it works in my youtube videos. https://www.youtube.com/@DarkWolfCreations/videos

1 Like
23

@Aiph5u That’s what I’ve been seeing too reading around and checking manufacturer’s recommendations. Like I said though, the fridge I’ll be using is a small soda can cooler, so I should be fine for some decent longish-term storage if I stock up.

@DarkWolfCreations I plan to use similar clamps for things like signs where I’m not carving all the way through, but a lot of my projects will have smallish bits where it’ll just be easier to use the tape+CA glue rather than having a bunch of tabs to clean up. Checking out your video now.

Really, I’ll be using a few different clamping methods, but tape+CA glue will probably be my most used based on the projects I’ll be doing.

Some great info in this thread. :+1:

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24

That’s a excellent point! I don’t often cut through items. But the clamps wouldn’t be good for that for sure. I guess the tab method could work but not sure I’d trust it with out CA/Glue.