What is CA glue?
 

Among the items on the list of “Supplies and Items Needed” to build my (first) plane is Thin CA glue and Medium CA glue. What is CA glue and which brands are most popular?

RE: What is CA glue?
 

CA glue is cyanoacrylate. It is an adhesive that dries very quickly (1-3 for thin, 10-20 for med)

It is kinda watery, and is very strong, IT BONDS SKIN!!! so beware!

I myself use hobby shop CA. If you buy from tower, tower's own CA is cheap.

If the maual asks for 2 oz, buy two oz. I accidentally bought 1 oz of Med and 1 oz of Thin when my tiger 2 arf told me to use 2 oz of med and 1/2 oz of thin!!

BTW, what plane do you have?

RE: What is CA glue?
 

Good question posted in the last reply...what plane do you have?

CA is good for most building, however, CA can actually "eat" or dissolve foam parts and some plastics, so be careful where you use it. It's best to test some on any material before using it to assemble. Also, if you're building an ARF, chances are you'll be joining wing halves. For this I'd recommend using a 30 minute epoxy, as it creates a much stronger bond. Although this hasn't happened to me, I've heard stories of people's wings snapping in half due to poor joining of the wing halves.

I'm using thin and medium CA to build a J3 Cub kit right now, and I'm amazed at how the thin stuff has the ability to absorb into the wood. I accidentally bonded my elevator to the workbench!...the thin CA seeped right through the top of the elevator through to the bottom! Just be careful and you'll be okay. Also, over the counter alcohol preparations work well to remove dried CA from your fingers...trust me...it's almost impossible not to get some of it on you!

Good luck!

RE: What is CA glue?
 

CA(cyanoacrilate), noun: type of super glue that bonds skin instantaneously, and everything else in three seconds:D
jk
good answers above, although I'd like to add that ca will not bond most metals(especially if it vibrates) for most wood to wood joints one of the best ways to glue is use an eyedropper to put a few drops of thin(if your not careful you will not only glue your work to the table but yourself to the work and the table and the bottle and...) then go back over it with med, the thin soaks into the joint to get a good bond, then the med really secures it. but like doc said, use epoxy on wing halves or other super-high stress parts, it's a little heavier, but make a better bond.

and always remember, ca+balsa=hardwood;)

RE: What is CA glue?
 

As far as the effect of CA - after getting about 60% through my latest (and first in about a decade) project, I have no fingerprints.

RE: What is CA glue?
 

one safty issue I forgot is that if your using accelerator(kicker) MAKE SURE you dont have any ca on your fingers, it get VERY hot very fast and will burn you good
and use it in a well-ventilated area, it's like 100 times worse than cutting onions.
also, ca gets les effective(and thicker) as it ages. so always buy a new bottle when you start the new building season.

RE: What is CA glue?
 

CA stands for cyanoacrylate. It's instant glue.

I like Zap CA because of the bottles. They don't clog... at least not the way I use them.
http://www.zapglue.com/zapca.html

I've used others, i.e. Northeast Hobby Products (or something like that) that have screw on tops made from a type of plastic that bonds to the CA. The top always ends up splitting before I empty the bottle. Perhaps it's just a matter of technique.

It seems that just about every company that makes model products slaps their own label on bottles of CA. So there are many sources.

Acetone is a good solvent for CA. You can get it at any paint store, or Home Depot.

CA tips are useful for applying thin CA one drop of a time. They're also useful if you have to apply medium ca and can't quite reach the joint. I found Sig CA tips are great. A single CA tip has served me through 2 model builds and is still in perfect condition in my acetone jar. I managed to get it clogged once, but a soak in fresh acetone cleared it.

Cheap CA tips look like this: http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXK295&P=7
Sig's are longer, and more durable. They don't have the appearance of something disposable. I couldn't find a picture.

I where dispoable vinyl gloves when I use it. The CA won't stick. Well... if you get large amounts on the glove it will stick. Latex gloves, on the other hand, are no good. CA sticks quite well to latex.

RE: What is CA glue?
 

Just make sure that you don't have any on your fingers when you go to take a leak.............................................. ....don't ask!!!!!!![X(][&o]

RE: What is CA glue?
 

CA glue -----------> glue made in CAnada

[sm=lol.gif]

RE: What is CA glue?
 

If you build / repair much, and especially if you do it late evening or early morning expect to glue your pants to you leg at least once. I think it has something to do with a right of passage.... [:-]

RE: What is CA glue?
 

Thanks guys! I will heed your warnings!

RE: What is CA glue?
 

If you really want to know ....

http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/99/09/006.html

gus

RE: What is CA glue?
 

Gus, that's a great link.
I've always wondered why water catalyzes CA glue. Further, I've read here that adding a bit of baking soda makes the water work even better. Now I know why:

"Cyanoacrylates ... are stabilized through the addition of a weak acid. When the adhesive contacts a surface, trace amounts of water or other species present on the surface neutralize the acidic stabilizer in the adhesive, resulting in the rapid polymerization of the cyanoacrylate "

I'll now toss my smelly CA accelerator and replace it with a water and baking soda solution.

That also explains why (I've read) people dust plywood with baking soda to improve CA bonding.
Plywood doesn't bond as well as balsa. It must be because it is slightly acidic.

RE: What is CA glue?
 

I use the baking soda trick quite often.

Use dry baking soda, fill the hollow/dent/crack/etc with it. Soak in Thin CA. Stand well back from the fumes genrated. Give it a few seconds to cool down.

I have recently used this technique to:
fill the holes at the exit point of the rudder/elevatorcontrol rods from the fuse.
When building an Engine Cowl from Balsa, lots of joins were difficult to match perfectly .... who cares. Fill the mis-cuts with backing soda. Drop some CA on.

The only real problem is that it cures very very very hard. Almost impossible to sand right.

gus

RE: What is CA glue?
 

A question about CA I've got is how is it used differently than wood glue? I'm always reading, "Just use a drop," but what if you're gluing 2 'long' pieces together? Do you run a light bead along the pieces to be joined, like white glue, or put drops of the CA along the pieces to be joined (and then, if so, how far apart)?

RE: What is CA glue?
 

If the pieces are close fitting, use thin CA.

If the join is long, Hold the pieces together so that their join slopes down-hill. Put a single drop of Thin CA at the top of the join, and watch it wick mostly down-hill. You can typically see how far it goes.

Then, put the next drop at the place where the wicking stopped.

If the joinis not so close, then use a bead of medium (perhaps thick) CA, and put a bead on the one piece to be joined. Put the pieces together and just let the CA do as much as it can.

gus

RE: What is CA glue?
 

This should probably go in the tips forum, but one trick I learned using CA, is to use wax paper, with the waxy side up. The CA won't stick to the wax paper. I saw this tip building a micro plane. I had to join 2 VERY thin pushrods together. I simply laid them on the wax paper, and dropped a bead of CA on the pushrods. It glued the pushrods, but not to the wax paper. Maybe this is widely known, but its the first time I saw it & works great :D
Joe
PS Yes I have glued my thumb to my finger b4 :eek: