Interesting new glue? happy ending in the end

[AES]

OK ladies & gents, I think it's at least a couple of weeks ago that I posted something like "more info next week when I've tried a few other things" (or something like that). Been busy on hospital appointments & other rubbish like Christmas shopping!

Anyway, for those of you who've been waiting agog for news ("Yeah, right"!), I have tried a few things as suggested here, including taking the supplied UV lamp apart to try and focus the beam a bit better, and Droogs's idea of using one of those butcher shop type UV fly killer lamps (we have a small domestic version which is useful on the terrace in the summer evenings).

The fly killer thingy did improve matters a bit but I still have a semi-sold sticky layer around the broken casing on the moulded-in screw boss on my camera body where the mono/tripod screws in.

In short, don't bother with this stuff, just keep yer money in yer pockets if you should also see one of these enticing promo videos in your local diy emporium.

I shall take mine back to the shop and ask for my money back, though I don't hold out much hope.

Meantime I'll try a bit of Devcon 5 min epoxy around the cracks & gaps on the camera body, though I don't hold out much hope - I find most epoxies aren't too clever on plastics.

Hope at least to have saved you all a wasted 15 quid though - I find that the glue is, in a word, "carp".

AES

 

[Droogs]

Thanks for taking the time to get back to us on this. Pity it doesn't work, could have been very useful stuff

 

[bodgerbaz]

Thanks for the update Andy and I agree with Droogs that it's a pity it didn't work as it could have been useful.

Thanks for being our guinea pig

 

[AES]

As per my last post on this topic I couldn't make this glue work - it just wouldn't set off. In the end I went to the DIY place where I bought it and we had a right old "up & downer" (firm but polite on both sides!) because I wanted my money back and they said NO 'cos I had no receipt.

In the end one of the staff (rather helpful I must say) brought a new one from their display and the first thing I noticed is that these glue kits are now packed in a transparent plastic box rather than the tin box I showed. He took the "UV torch" out of the new pack and we tried it there and then and hey presto, it worked - the glue set off hard after only about 10 secs exposure to the UV lamp. The other thing I noticed was that the lamp seemed to be much brighter than my own with perhaps a somewhat larger overall spread of light. We took the new UV lamp apart and sure enough the new lamp has 2 x batteries in, mine only had one.

Anyway they gave me the new lamp to go with my existing (virtually unused) glue kit and I went off happy as a samboy. The bloke told me they haven't had any complaints about the kit although just guessing, he thought I was one of the first customers to buy the kit from that particular store.

Anyway I've now made a decent repair to my camera body, and to the cracked support ring (some sort of "plasticy stuff") on the filter for my Kärcher shop vac.

In short if anyone else sees this glue and wants to have a go make sure you get the kit in the plastic case with a UV lamp with a double battery.

One other point, the "new" kit has now risen in price to CHF 23.50, which must be nigh on 20 quid.

AES

 

[Hay-yu]

Thanks for all the comments. I bought a tin kit in France about 1 year ago. Tried it with a bad result - it never set. I moved on but now need something to glue a load bearing plastic (Chinese brush handle which hangs (hung) on a frame on the wall) like the advert says Siliq should be.
I tested a blob of glue and again the UV lamp had no noticeable effect... But when I put it outside in direct Mediterranean sunshine the blob set in a few seconds. I shall try to get the more powerful UV LED.
Now I shall try to fix the handle on my chinese brush....

 

[Hay-yu]

Well well, it worked! A quick blast of intense sun and it set. One point though, I left the plastic cap off the glue tube when I had tested the blobs an, of course, the glue in the nozzle had set. A pin sorted it but take note to protect the nozzle straight after use.

 

[MikeJhn]

Guys am I missing the point here, is this not just one of the Cyanoacrylate, CA or superglues?

Mike

 

[ColeyS1]

Guys am I missing the point here, is this not just a Cyanoacrylate, CA or superglue?

Mike

Sounds like it. But the unique thing about it is you influence when it's time for the glue to cure by adding the UV light. On something really fiddly I'd imagine it would be amazing!

Coley

 

[MikeJhn]

You can get slow set CA and all are available in various viscosities to suit gap or crack filling.

Mike

 

[AES]

No, it's not. Nothing at all like it. Cyano dries simply by chemical reaction with moisture (for example, in the air).

This stuff dries ONLY by the application of UV light.

AES

 

[MikeJhn]

Then what is it?

Mike

 

[shed9]

Appreciated the info on here and the guinea pig trials.

On the subject of new glues and I suspect this has already been posted but has anyone seen or tried the new CA & powder kits yet?

http://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Supa ... ders%20Kit

 

[ColeyS1]

Then what is it?

Mike

Have you read the whole thread ?

Coley

 

[MikeJhn]

Yes I have read the whole thread, and I have not seen anyone mention what this glue is i.e. like Cyanoacrylate, if you know what it is how about being helpful and posting instead of being cryptic.

Mike

 

[AES]

Well, the reason I didn't say what this glue actually is, is because I didn't know (and still don't)! If you follow the link I gave in the 1st post, it takes you to the manufacturer's own web site, and last time I looked at that, the web site didn't tell you exactly what it is either.

Although I'm certainly not any kind of chemist I do have a fair bit of experience with various different types of glues, and in particular, with their different properties - which I believe is the most important thing to know when one is just a simple user of glues (like me).

However, of all the different "types" of cyano acrylate I've come across ("types" meaning mainly the different viscosities available - which also affects the setting times to a certain extent), it's clear that this "new" glue is not the same as cyano at all - as said above, all the cyanos I've ever used set off basically as a result of moisture ("sucked" out of the air, or in some cases, by means of dampness applied to the joint before actual gluing). OTOH, this "new" stuff seems to set off only by the application of UV light (or sometimes not!), so for example, cyano will set off even if "hidden" from light/view, whereas this stuff certainly will not.

An early response to my original post did mention a "glassing resin" type of glue-stuff which also set off by application of UV light, but frankly I'd never come across this type of glue before, hence my original post.

But without trying to be sarky, does it matter what type of glue this stuff actually is? As users we only have to know when, how, and for what types of joints and materials to use it for - well that's my belief anyway. For example, I did find it very useful for repairing my camera, specifically the screw threaded boss moulded into the camera body, which had suffered an accident causing the case to crack around the boss. When I (finally) got a UV light pen that really worked, the glue did the job well, whereas the cyano I tired previously did not work at all.

As to the final point above about "the new CA & powder kits", personally speaking, no I haven't yet tried it/them (or even heard of such yet) but thanks for the link.

I'm always pleased to learn something new.

AES

 

[AES]

@shed9:

Thanks for that link mate. I've now had a chance to look at it and it's book marked as it could sometimes be useful to a dabbler like me.

I had not seen it before, but it did remind me of a trick from my aeromodelling days, using cyano + ordinary baking powder (bicarbonate of soda) to fill small gaps. The filled up "empty gap" was usually not all that strong/tough though.

Similarly, did you notice details on the demo video, where the bloke filled a hole in a metal tube? He drilled it after the glue hardened, but judging by the slow speed of the drill he used, and the fact that the drill went through MUCH quicker than it would have done through the tube itself, it also doesn't look all that strong/tough - for example, I don't think I would have cared to tap that hole - maybe a bit like the above baking powder trick really.

But as per my last post, thanks for posting - another addition to any "Mr. Fixit's" tool box I think. But like the stuff I posted about originally, certainly not cheap, is it?

And to go back to the "new" original topic raised, from the video, it doesn't look at all like the UV light-activated stuff I originally posted about.

AES