Is it good or bad to store my CA bottles in the refrigerator?
Everything I have read indicates that CA will last much longer if it is stored in the refrigerator.
I recently used some CA that has been in the refrigerator for over one year and it was still as good as new. CA left out in the open for less time had hardened in the tube.
Batteries, too, will have a much longer shelf life if you keep them in the refrigerator.
I store CA tubes in an empty yogurt cup in case there might be a leak in one. This also keep them in an upright position.
It won’t hurt them at all and will actually increase their shelf life.
I’ve been using them for a long time and keep mine in a small cardboard box with a sandwhich bag liner in case they were to ever develop a leak or accidetally fall over and spill.
They will quickly attack the materials refrigerators are made of.
For a while I stored mine in the refrigerator, too. It was OK, but after a while I got lazy and just left it on the workbench. I really didn’t notice any significant deterioration. I use CA quite often, so it may be that I go through it fast enough that the long-term deterioration which can be slowed with refrigeration really isn’t an issue. I buy small containers, in part for the ease of use, but also so that I don’t need to worry about long-term storage.
I’ve always just stored mine on my work bench. I read somewhere on a model car website that storing it in the refrigerator to keep it fresh was just an “old wives tale”.
I am in the group that keeps it on the workbench where I need it. When it dries, I get some more. It is certainly not the most expensive thing in the hobby. For me, having it right there when I need a drop rather than having to run up the stairs is worth the shelf life issues, if there really are any.
Hey, all!
You younger modelers (under 60!) should know a little history of “Cyanoacrylate Cements”–more rightly “Alphacyanoacrylates.” From the very beginning, when first marketed as Eastman 910, by the inventors, Eastman Kodak, it’s been recommended they be kept refrigerated to extend their life. My first encounter was in the venerable Hobby Hut, in Wauwatosa, WI, where the owner, Gene Wiesflog, kept his supply in the Coke machine, atop the coin box! The stuff was horribly expensive at the time, some outrageous price for a tiny vial about the size of a 5X battery.
A less expensive product, now called ACC, was marketed in larger vials, at a much lower price, primarily by a company called Aron Alpha, and it was still recommended that it be kept in the refrigerator–even the freezer!–to keep it from either solidifying or becoming just an inert liquid. It was also recommended by MR that you store it upright in a sealed container, so I always keep mine in little jar that had contained Pepperidge Farm gravy, if that makes any difference. Freezing it may be overkill, but in any case, you should take it out ahead of time and let it come to room temperature before using it. If not, you’ll probably end up with half a bottle on the model, a hopeless mess, from the temperature change of a cold liquid coming into a warm atmosphere.
AC is an anaerobic, so even the gap-filling kind, which is what I usually buy (the LHS keeps all its AC in the refrigerator, by the way) works best in a really tight joint. Excess amounts should be soaked up with the corner of a tissue or paper towel–quickly!–and gently blowing on the joint will speed the curing. Incidentally, I long ago learned to use the special plastic tubing I sold in my hobby shop, to make it easier to get the cement into tight places and to more easily control the amount. I ream the hole in
I go one better and keep it in the freezer. ACC works by combining with the moisture in the air to “set” the glue factor. Try this to prove it. Put a drop on one piece and exhale a couple of time on the other one and see how fast they glue up compared to just trying to glue them normally. I have also been known when fixing something like china to wet one edge with a finger dipped in water and glue on the other piece.
I keep mine in the freezer too. I have a bottle of medium viscosity that I have been using for two years, and one of thin that I have been using for about one year. Both are about empty now. I thaw at room temperature or in the microwave for 5 to 8 seconds.
For an applicator, I use a sewing needle eye that has been cut open with a cut-off disk in a dremel tool. I place a drop on an up-side-down small plastic bathroom cup, then pick up a tiny amount on the needle eye, then apply it to the joint. I bought a pack of sewing needels of different sizes so I have a selection to choose from.
Way too much trouble to keep a $5.00 bottle of glue in the refrigerator! I keep mine on my workbench and it seems to keep just fine. When it gets down near the bottom and starts to get too thick, I just toss it away and get a new bottle. We’re not talking about $100.00 a bottle here!
Now if I lived in the wilderness and could only get hobby supplies once every few years, I’d keep some spare glue in the refrigerator. But that’s not where I live!
Well, my LHS(?) is 80 miles away, so it’s not just “run out and get some more when needed”. And I am not to keen on getting some from Wally-world.
G19, that’s a great idea! I was just looking at the same kind of tool in the latest Micro-Mark catalog the other day; been looking at them for years but never thought of them for CA, as they’re too big. I’ve been using my tubing method for 25-30 years, but your method isn’t any more wasteful, considering the amount I soak up off the model and squeeze out of the tube at the end to clear it. And the beauty of using modified sewing needles is that it does away with all the messing with the tube! I’ll certainly get a package of needles before I do the next “CA-ing” job.
I wonder if Micro-Mark would object if you sent this idea to MR and they published it? (I remember a couple of “flaps” with manufacturers back in the '50s and '60s, but I doubt if Tom Picarillo is the kind to gripe about giving the idea to a lot of modelers, as these days I doubt if many would DIY.)
I notice on the cardboard pack that the CA I bought yesterday has printed on it advice to store this product in the refrigerator - for lasting results. By the time I use this stuff on models, as well as liberally distributing it all over the place including my tongue and the inside of my mouth, CA never seems to last to such a time that it is likely to go bad for lack of use either in or out of cold storage.
Some time back sighting what I thought was a bargain at a local import store (The $2 Shop) I noticed cards containing 10 tubes of CA for the paltry sum of $2. It would have been a great bargain if the contents of any of the tubes had not gone off. Perhaps the Chinese manufactures of this dried up crud may like at some point to invest in some decent, or in fact any, refrigeration equipment, but then I guess their CA might well cost a lot more money. Oh well, another lesson learned from the University of life.
Cheers. Bruce.
Dean-58
I don’t mean to get completely off the topic of CA storage, but is there any truth to the story that CA was developed for the military to treat battlefield wounds, because it can instantly stop the bleeding. I have heard, too, that it is used in some hospital surgeries.
I just had back surgery and that is how they sealed the incision. No stitches! I keep mine on the bench too but I might keep the unopened tubes in the fridge from now on…
I remember using CA on model R/C planes in the late 1970’s or early 80’s. When I heard about it being used for cuts and such was in the late 90’s, so I don’t think it was developed for that, it just happened to work for it. I remember hearing stories about pranksters putting CA on toilet seats, and people who glued their fingers together. (I glued my fingers together one time and had to use an X-acto knife to cut them apart. Just sliced through the top layer of skin.)
EDIT: On the sewing needle tip, I got that from a magazine, MR I think.
Yes, doctors do use it to close cuts. My granddaughter fell off her bicycle a few years ago and cut her face. The doctor in the ER used glue to close the wound. No stitches, no bandages. I would think, however, that the glue they use is a medical grade, far above what we hobbyists use.
I keep mine in the freezer, and an added benefit, is that it doesn’t seem to harden in the spout. However, I have to keep the tube vertical, when I take it out of the freezer, as it seems to ooze out of the spout, when laying on the table, probably due to expansion as it warms up.