Getting fed up with CA having no more effect than warm spit in holding some details together (wire insulation and plain styrene, of all things - even Loctite failed to produce a strong bond), I tried using lovely Walthers Goo (contact cement) - and dang, it actually worked (as our hobby predecessors from the 1930s thru the 1970s would have guessed). However, unlike those predecessors, I have no idea of how to control those irritating “strings” of Goo and keep them minimal (or non-existant) - while the joint does seem strong, clean up of the strings is annoying (and using it seemed somewhat out of a 3 Stooges short, with long sticky trails stretching from the scrap styrene I put some Goo on to the needle I was using to apply to the detail parts - yes, I remembered, wait 2 minutes before putting parts together). Ugh, I say.
How does one prevent this? I can’t imagine such nonsense going over very well, say, the straight-laced 1950s or whatever other past decade you want to Caricature.
(BTW, I wouldn’t mind having some of that Mythbuster-brand Crazy Glue they were using on the 29 April 2012 show - they were lifting heavy weights and gluing tables and couches to ceilings with it, no problem. Although, come to think of it, while they readily lifted a station wagon straight up using 7 drops of glue (and a crane, of course), at no time did Grant smack the joint laterally with a hammer - the CA I’ve used, hard tap on the side = snap, failed glue joint)
I think that wire insulation is some sort of Teflon material. Good luck getting anything to bond to it.
I also believe that CA has very low shear strength.
I do remember that the old timers senior modelers used to mix something into the GOO to thin it down a bit to eliminate those strings. I want to say acetone, but I don’t remember for certain.
That’s what I do. Use a toothpick to remove it from the tube, and keep the toothpick moving until there are no strings left. After you apply the goo, if you get a string, repeat the procedure.
Senior modeler, here - I apply it by squirting a little Goo onto a card, then I dip a small brush into a little MEK and then pick up some goo. This thinned goo is easy to handle with no strings.
By the way, one of my favorite Goo tricks is to bond metal to wood by applying Goo to the metal part and letting it dry completely, then I hold the metal part in position and apply a little heat (soldering iron). The heat makes the glue flow and cure; the effect is much like sweat soldering.
As I recall, I used Goo once, and threw away the remainder of the tube. [(-D] I had somewhat better luck with Pliobond, but nowadays prefer LePage’s or Dap Gelled Contact Cement. The main drawback to it is that it’s available only in quart or gallon cans, but it’s very useful around the house. I use it wherever expanses of dissimilar materials need to be joined, like this sheet styrene “pavement” to the plywood layout top.
I’ve found that when used with styrene, it works better if the styrene is first “prepped” with a coat of lacquer thinner. Brush lacquer thinner onto the surface of the styrene…
…then let it sit while you brush the contact cement onto the other surface, in this case, printed paper background structures…
…then the contact cement can be brushed onto the styrene:
Let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes, or even longer if you wish, then carefully apply one coated surface to the other. In this instance, I used waxed paper to control the contact area, as bonding is instantaneous and permanent:
In my ignorant youth, I routinely applied Goo and other tubed cements directly from the tube onto the work. That resulted in all sorts of botched stuff.
I don’t use Goo for everything, or even for very many things, but I find there are still particular purposes and projects where it seems like the right product. Similarly, liquid plastic cements that work by capillary action are favored for many things, but from time to time there is still a role for the more viscous and thick “airplane glue” cements from Testors.
In my experience, the problem of “strings” seems to get worse the older and emptier the tube gets. it clearly gets worse the longer a dab of Goo has been sitting on a card waiting to be applied with the toothpick. And maybe it is just me, but it also seems like the “string” problem is less of a bother when the room is quite warm, such as in the winter when my workbench is near the furnace, versus fall and spring when the basement is getting cooler but the upstairs is OK and thus the furnance is not on much. I have not gone to the length of putting the tube of Goo near a warm light for a while before use, but it might actually help. I suppose it is possible that it is humidity, not coolness, that is the real culprit.
To all that answered, thanks. I should stress that I was applying the Goo by plopping a bit on a piece of flat plastic, and then transferring that to the parts using a needle or a sliver of plastic, much like I do when using CA - no direct application from the tube.
Not sure, maybe this is true - I do keep the Goo tube cap tightly sealed between usage.
This does seem to be true, the problem is the “dab” from the Goo tube to the, well, palette, is sizable enough that you just don’t want to waste it.
Interesting theory.
I think I was trying the roll the needle/toothpick trick, not sure how effective it was, but I have a little more to join, will try a bit more rolling.
My local hobby shop Kings Hobby recently got me to try Gator’s Grip Hobby Glue for athearn delrin handrails. It works very well almost like magic. It looks and acts like a thick Elmers Glue until it dries. Dried its like clear super glue. Awesome stuff.
I’d guess that the stringiness is due to the fact that the solvent is evaporating out of the glue as it sits - it’s effectively starting to cure, and gets progressively worse the longer it sits. I’m not sure why, but the gelled stuff, which I mentioned above, seems to form a better bond with styrene if the styrene is first “prepped” with lacquer thinner. My guess is that the cement’s thinners are reacting with the styrene, the same as a solvent cement, and are used-up, with the result that the cement can be lifted from the styrene as it dries. After pre-coating the styrene with lacquer thinner, the dried contact cement is much harder to remove.
At the rate that most of us will use the product, most of the time the Goo has started to thicken w/ age, You will notice that the stringing issue is no where as bad with a new tube.
Laquer thinner or MEK has already been mentioned to help w/ the application. Usually just dabbing staight from the tube working on very small items will always cause these. As mentioned place a dab, close the tube and work with it from there. Others have mentioned various methods of application and they all work quite well. I still like the toothpick, dip pull away quickly roll if needed and apply. Do the same pulling the applicator away from the work. If the Goo gets real thick (darkens to almost brown/ orange), thinning can stretch it out for a while until it’s trash.
Brings back memories of all the years and gallons of Formica contact cement laminating countertops.
I really like that idea of heat transfer for the bonding, may have to give it a try.
What were you trying to glue together with the CA.? What kind of CA were you using, thin medium, thick? Did you try using an accelerator? There are different CAs designed for different situations. It does not work with all plastics (notably delrin and other engineering plastics, pvc. CA is not the glue-all of glues, but for many situations it is the right stuff, for some it’s not.
I’ll have to try that. I’ve been using Gator Grip carpet tape for years to hold patterns and fences in woodworking applications, and I’m very happy with it. If all their products are comparable, it should be good stuff.
