Many of us struggle with CA bottles. I know that the narrow tip on my Zap- a-Gap bottle is guaranteed to seal up, so I never use it. I often use toothpicks, as they are cheap and disposable, but often, even the tip of a toothpick is a somewhat coarse and awkward applicator tip for CA. One day, I was cutting some .020 piano wire, and used some bit of it to apply CA in a tight spot and it was far better than the toothpick method. I then used a needle nosed plier to turn one end into a small “handle” and have been using it ever since. The dried CA can be easily scraped off, it will re-open a sealed CA application tip, and it can still be used to clean your teeth after a cheeseburger! Hope this tip helps… Cedarwoodron
Thanks for that tip! I’ve been using straight sewing pins, but I think most of them today are aluminum instead of tempered steel, and CA does stick to them.
I’ll definitely give your piano wire applicator a try.
Hey, good one Cedar!
Thanks for sharing that tip. For some applications, even the “Microbrushes” are a bit thick so I’ll put the piano wire on my “need to get” list.
If you chuck one end of that wire into a pin vise you’ll have a lot easier time handling the wire. I always have a hard time keeping that wire from wanting to spin in my fingers, even with a loop. Plus the pin vise will keep the business end of the wire from resting on your modeling surface.
MAXMAN - that’s a really good suggestion. I have been using straight pins, but now I will cut the heads off and use my pin vise. I can’t understand why I never think of these things on my own. Oh well, I got you other guys to show me the errors of my ways. Thanks.
Please forgive my ignorance but…
do you stick the wire/pins into the CA bottle or pour some out in a container like a pill bottle cap?
I just use the piano wire pin as an applicator, and do not leave it in the tip opening of the bottle. If the tip clogs up, I just pierce the sealed CA. If the pin gets crapped up with dried CA, I use a sharp xacto or even wet dry 400 paper to clean it. I suspect that leaving it in the opening of the bottle might lead to other issues… Cedarwoodron