I just got a needle point applicator from A-West. I can’t open the bottle to fill it with glue. And I’m a little scared I will brake the needle if I use too much force. Am I doing something wrong here? I know it’s a stupid question so it’s ok to laugh.
electrolove,
Grab the tip just above where the tip curves toward the horizontal and rock it betwen your fingertips. This part is inset inside the neck of the bottle and should come out rather easily.
I ended up being less satisfied with my A-West applicator bottle than an old, generic one I got about ten years that the A-west was supposed to replace. The A-West has several different tips, but ALL of them flow faster than the one I had on my old bottle. So be careful with it or you’ll find too much glue making a mess coming out of it.
In fact, does anyone have suggestions for other needle point applicators I could try that flow very slowly? The A-West will probably work fine for larger scales, but for HO, it often just flows too fast.
Mike, Thanks, I will try that.
Micromark sells one that is a long glass tube with a needle in the end (p/n 83276). Very slow flow. Do not leave glue in it or it will plug up. Takes getting use to filling it but it works great.
Mike:
When you fill the A-West bottle with MEK, only fill it about 1/4 - 1/8 full – that will slow the flow somewhat to not have the weight of a full bottle of fluid causing things to flow as fast. Also, I use the smallest needle A-West sells, 0.16" I think.
In short, if it flows too fast, empty out the bottle to “tune” the flow pressure until you get a flow speed you like.
Hi Joe,
I’ll give it a try. But I think I didn’t have much in the bottle in the first place, so I suspect I just got spoiled on my old bottle being so nice and sloooow.
And the older I get, the more slow sounds like a comfortable speed.
[#oops]
jsoderq,
I’ll check my Micromark catalog for that item. Do you happen to have a part number?
Mike, Maybe this is the item he mean:
electrolove,
Hey, now, that’s the ticket!
OK, I remember seeing those (#81778) before. Now that I hear of someone else’s success with them, it makes more sense. It’s essentially what we called a pipette [sp?] back in chemistry class, but smaller. The small quantity of liquid that it will hold will further slow the dispensing rate.
Cool!
It’s weird how well some threads end up working out a somewhat different problem than those that start them off. It’s great to share tips like this on what works for different people. Tools and materials used in modeling are often that way. What doesn’t work for one person may work fine for someone else for a slightly different application. The trick is in figuring out the right tool for the right job.
[tup]
Mike Lehman