Adam Savage's Favorite Tools: Superglue and Glue Accelerators!
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- Опубликовано: 15 мар 2021
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Adam explains his philosophy and processes for using cyanoacrylate--superglue--for modelmaking and small build projects. From the differences between thicknesses of glue to the ways you can speed up its curing with accelerators, Adam demonstrates his favorite ways of using CA glue and mistakes to avoid. Plus, the origin of how superglue came to be used in the special effects modelmaking industry!
Insta-cure CA glue: amzn.to/2OF90hc
insta-set accelerator: amzn.to/30vT9Uy
Zip kicker spray: amzn.to/3l79J6F
FastCap 2P-10 glue and activator: amzn.to/3bzotbj
This favorite tools video was suggested by Tested members Break Build Repeat and Duncan Jepson, whom we thank for their support and input!
Shot by Gunther Kirsch and edited by Norman Chan
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#AdamSavage #favoritetools 
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KiwiCo offers flexible subscription options and pricing starts as low as $16.95/ month. Tested viewers will get 50% off their first month of any crate by going to KiwiCo.com/tested
Insta-cure CA glue: amzn.to/2OF90hc
insta-set accelerator: amzn.to/30vT9Uy
Zip kicker spray: amzn.to/3l79J6F
FastCap 2P-10 glue and activator: amzn.to/3bzotbj
What was that little set of snips used to cut the styrene? Looks neat
I noticed that you dont say in the video intro, description or here that this video is sponsored by KiwiCo? Why is that? Is it not? I believe this declaration is required.
There is debonder for CA glue and it's a must have when you use a lot of it.
StarBond sells large bottles of it that comes with small applicator bottles to fill from the large bottle. They also tell you to keep it in the freezer to keep it fresh longer.
Would storing a large vat of that glue in nitrogen or argon then getting small bottles/srynges from that work? Or is it not oxidation that causes it to set? (Just got to 23:30 guess i'm one of those somebody's lol) (i would LOVE a test video of this and various methods)
"Back before the first robot wars" is an amazing thing to hear out of context :)
Back in the before time, when giant metal men walked the land....
The thing people don't realize about the Robot Wars is that it was never really about the robots at all.
The time before SkyNet became sentient.
I'll see her standing by the monorail
She'll look the same except for bionic eyes
She lost the real ones in the robot wars
I'll say I'm sorry, she'll say it's not your fault
Or is it?
She'll eye me suspiciously
Hearing the whir of the servos inside
And she'll scream and try to run
But there's nowhere she can hide
When a crazy cyborg wants to make you his robot bride
That’s when I still kept up on technology. Then I got hurt. After a long hiatus I tried to rejoin the workforce. I felt like ripvanwinkle. Computers were like calculators. People would say go do this on the computer. I didn’t know how. People were astounded and I was an outcast.
I just watched a 25 minute video about glue and I swear it felt like 5 minutes. Adam can make pretty much anything interesting.
Incredibly practical advice! The man's a master builder!
With you there. A great teacher.
There are just some people who make things so entertaining that the details don't even matter. Adam Savage demonstrating some glue hacks, James May making a cheese sandwich...
Keep the 2 oz bottles of CA in the freezer. Mine's 15 years old, and still going strong.
Thanks for the 'negative pressure' tip on thin ca. I wish I'd known about that decades ago!
Until I finally learned about accelerants and specifically baking soda, I was under the belief that the only thing that super glue stuck to was skin, specifically thumb to index finger skin.
I’m a huge fan but it’s clear that Adam and Co somehow haven’t worked with many aquarium keepers. Water will speed up the bond. Literally just water. It’s common to glue rocks, driftwood, or even live plants using gel CA glue and then immersing them for an almost immediate bond. I haven’t tried it but I don’t see any reason a spray bottle wouldn’t work just fine as well. Still glad I found this channel though.
OK
It may not be the "activator" that is dissolving the styrene but it may be the propellant used in the airesol can.
Great point
Yep I can guarantee it has Xylene and/or acetone.
When I was a kid we had the framing up for walls in the basement and had styrofoam between them for some insulation before the drywall went up, and I was allowed to spraypaint stuff all over them because it was going to be covered up. The propellant in the spray paint definitely ate away the styrofoam
Butane and propane as propellant, apparently the main activator is based on a Benzene ring also.
There are foam/plastic safe accellerators available.
I used to be a 501st member , and at a preview of a museum opening in Boston , me and a few friends were standing in front of the millennium falcon .. we were talking about how amazing this model is still here given it was made for movie so many years ago.. and commenting on all the parts on it
a much older guy next to us started talking model building , and how adding baking soda to CA glue made it super strong.. like aggregate in concrete .. we talked for about 30 min just about making models .. was great .. he introduced himself at end of chat it was Lorne Peterson
Incredible 🙌
Awesome. All of our "heroes" are real people who exist in real life...
Using baking soda as a filler is an old RC place builders trick that pre dates zap kicker.
@@doncarlton4858 I’ve heard that it works for body filler on plastic models too.
That's an epic story
A nearly 25 minute video on CA? I was like... this is going to be un-necessarily long. I was WRONG! AWESOME video. Entertaining and I learned more than I ever though possible about CA. Well done sir... well done! Thank you!
Nice asses out yonderr
CA is also used in woodworking. I often use a few dots of CA between dashes of wood glue to quickly join two wood pieces without waiting for PVA wood glue curing time. The CA binds the pieces together quickly, letting you work with the whole while the PVA cures for real strength. Applying accelerant to one surface does not affect the PVA but does kick the CA glue.
It's also commonly used for temporary joins. Typically, two pieces of wood will have painters tape applied to the adjoining faces. CA is applied to one strip of tape and accelerant to the other. Press together for 10 seconds and you have joined the pieces with enough strength for using one as a pattern template for routing the other, or for doing ganged cuts and drilling. Then you can pry the pieces apart with a putty knife and just peel off the painters tape leaving the woods unblemished and without holes from physical fasteners.
Great stuff!
Great tip!
“I’d probably be diagnosed with ADHD.”
Five minutes later: “I don’t know why I have two open bottles of this.”
also completely distracted by the discovery of styrene and accelerant going into a blendo story.
you need add to be that multifaceted adam keep it coming.
(wheres the raptor video)
*maybe you should....SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!*
I have this screen recorded video of Adam, literally knolling and cleaning up his table saw. Placing the tape measure somewhere he wouldn’t loose it. And literally as he sets it down he needs it for something. And does the whole step 720* look around the whole shop thing (we all know it, while saying we’re the fuck is that)
Only to find it where he magically placed it.
@@cavemanvi I'm sure that non-ADHD people would also get distracted by the disco..... hm, there's a chocolate-chip on my table, mhmm, that tastes good... uhm where was I?
@@cavemanvi I love that about Adam. I could go anywhere else on the internet to learn about CA glue, and sure, it'd be more concise... But I love the stories he adds in between everything!
CA glue cures using moisture. What actually happens is that the moisture deactivates the stabilizers that keep CA glue a liquid, which allows the glue to polymerize.
Blowing on a piece provides more moisture from your breath to deactivate the stabilizers quicker than just ambient air.
Yes. I also pointed this out. I use a very fine mist of water and it works great. Haven't bought any costly kickers in years and years.
I was under the impression that while it does cure faster when using water/moisture, the connection will also be more brittle?
@@joostvanputte from my experience yes, that's the same with most accelerators too.
Ah didn’t know that! Thank you!
Spot on! That is also behind the myth that cigarette smoke kicks CA glue. By blowing smoke on the joint you actually blow moist air onto it. I had a friend who used this as a party trick.
If you really like Baking soda, try regular pencil lead graphite dust! You will be even more amazed. it will come out looking like JB weld in color but it;s really cool compared to Baking soda for grip and hold and even way harder , the hardness is amazing.
JB weld is great stuff too!
Back in the day of my early years of syringe injections of insulin. I save the hardware and repurpose it for CA (thin/med) gluing application. So I bought the medium size bottles of glue to refill the syringe as required. These days I store the CA bottle and syringes in a vacuum seal storage box placed/stored in the fridge. This way all I have to pull out is a syringe of CA. Also if the needle gets clogged up. I used a lighter to heat it up and applied some syringe pressure to clear it.
Doesn't it glue or damage the piston of the syring? This stuff seem super agressive toward even hard materials so I would have though it would completely melt or at least destroy this fragile rubber piston. It would help a lot of people if you could publish a simple video of this set up including you vaccum box, I have no idea how this thing look like (no need to talk if that bother you). Thanks!
Watching Adam discover that the other accelerant weakens styrene-and then immediately diving into experiments and checking the first accelerant to see if he's been overlooking that property-is just delightful. Adam, that's the reaction of a true scientist, worth remarking upon. "New observation! How does this fit with what we already know?"
Hi Adam
Just found this video today. Love your stuff but I have a tip for the tipster this time. Graphite powder has a similar (marginally slower) reaction as baking soda and yields a very hard, toolable carbon acrylic. It also has the benefit of being black so it hides well on darker projects.
Hope you see this and it helps.
Perfect! I have a broken thermoplastic moulding on a saw (that's black) that will be exposed to vibration, oil & stress & i was pondering using the baking soda idea... But your tip with graphite powder sounds just about perfect!
Thank you!
A good tip thank you
Brass is good bearing material ain't it. Sticky slicky
@Les Hemmings How did this work? Any powder should work as a nucleator and cause a near-instant reaction with cyanoacrylate, the finer the powder the faster the reaction, I was thinking about using powered aluminum but I am worried about the explosive potential. Graphite might be perfect.
Cigarette ash works well too
You can try several spices as accelerant, cinamon has to be one of the weirdest. It generates heat, provides a longer sticking time to baking soda but similar strenght. I use these for vintage computer repair and parts making. Yes, you can add layers after layers, let it solidify for at least 1h and sand it to size. Many musicians use these to repair their instruments, it's how I found out about it.
Delish
Adam made Mythbusters one of my favorite TV shows growing and so happy that seemingly every time I look up ANY RANDOM MAKER INFORMATION he has a Tested video on it. Btw, any idiot can explain/review a product but Adam's experience, stories and personality make me forget im actually learning something because its enjoyable to watch. Thank you for the video.
The joy of super glue not sticking the pieces together but sticking the pieces to your fingers instead
I mean, wasn't it originally made as a first aid tool for liquid stitches?
I don't think it was originally made for that purpose but simply discovered it could serve as an emergency steri-strip.
Haha, Adam just explained that it was in fact designed specifically as a wound closure.
you should get ca glue debonder
The original use was designed for trauma wound closure during the Vietnam war. But be aware, that there are different grades of CA glue. The stuff commonly sold for house/shop use is not medical grade. Using regular grade CA can cause necrosis of the tissues being sutured. But if it is the only choice to potentially save yourself from bleeding out, it is worth the risk. And because it is an exothermic reaction, especially the thin, will burn. I once had several welts on my arm when a bottle of it ruptured (a faulty bottle with an air bubble in the plastic) and sprayed over my bare arm.
@@jamessmall6499 - No, it wasn't. It was originally made as a plastic to manufacture gun sights. Later, some "medically safe" variants were created, and are still used as a quick replacement for stitches.
As a woodworker, there are a lot of uses for CA glue. First, you can fill in small imperfections, dings, defects, and Knots, using sawdust and flooding it with a thin CA glue. It can also stabilize any Punky wood that you're turning on a lathe by fly needed with thin CA glue.
Also, penturners use CA glue as a finish. When applied in very thin coats, can actually build up to a crystal clear durable finish.
And one last warning regarding the thin stuff, if you do get it spilled on your fingers, it's an exothermic reaction, and even a little bit pooled up will quickly build up heat and can actually burn you. Don't ask me how I know.
I had no idea thin super glue could burn you like that, that's good to know. With medium ca glue it got on my fingers often and nothing went wrong, I wouldn't have thought thin can glue would've been different!
Once I broke open a tube of the stuff and had it spill all over the place. Instinctively I grabbed some paper towels and soaked it all up. Within a split second the towels were smoking with piping hot crazy glue fumes. Paper towels must speed up the reaction by increasing the surface area or something. So if you ever spill this stuff, maybe don't use paper towels!
I'm a psychic... I know how you know. If you'd like to know how I know how you know, my rates are competitive. But! Being psychic, I know that you won't hire me... That's how good I am!
CA glue is commonly used as a finish coat on pool cues.
As a little toy soldier modeler for 25 years, I appreciate this video and have shared it with all my toy soldier hobbyists. It's shocking how most modelers don't understand the CA glue, and the baking soda technique is a true gem! So many models from a certain game company that likes to Forge resin models for the World have a shocking amount of gaps and air bubbles. A little baking soda, some CA glue, and Bob's your uncle. Thank you Adam!
I just watched another channel and he used cotton to fill holes in wood, wall etc. added CA to it and the cotton became rock hard, drill-able. Amazing...He also used cotton thread to repair plastic posts that hold radios or coffee pots together by wrapping the joint with thread and adding CA....
That is astonishing and brilliant!
That baking soda tip is going right in the brain vault. Thats brilliant.
Modellers and model modifiers have know that trick for ages.
It's pretty cool for making snow bases on miniatures
I sat down to this video just to find out more about the baking soda trick. I was about to repair a plastic item and wanted to know just how strong I could make it and if the baking soda would help the strength. I used the gel form and applied it in 2 steps just for the gusset effect while watching the rest of the video. Repair was finished just as the video was concluded and I can now return the activity director's bingo bell to her in good working order.
Also, thanks Adam! :)
I agree. Its brilliant and new to me.
It's awesome for luthier-work too. I've repaired/rebuilt guitar bridges, and nuts using that
Piano tuning pins that become loose in old pianos can have their torque resistance increased with targeted application of thin CA. Many antique pianos would not be viable instruments without it
there's much loctite in every single piano i've restringed and tuned.
Lock tight
@@thingyee1118 actually Elliot was correct. Loctite is a brand of threadlock.
Many people simply call all threadlockers ‘loctite’, just as many people call all skid steer loaders ‘bobcats’ even though Bobcat is just one of the brands that build them.
Does it work on harpsichords?
I was so pleased to see you give credit to Eastman Kodak. I worked there for many years.
The glue was called EK910 & was a closely guarded secret in the begining.
I really enjoy your videos & have learned a lot over time. Thanks
Adam, et al… a tip to keep your stored CA glue workable longer is to store it sealed in an airtight container. Humidity (i.e.water vapour) will send it off, albeit not as quickly as activator vapour. I keep mine in an old honey bucket, and I throw any accumulated desiccant crystal sachets I find in the bottom, to create a very low humidity storage environment. Extra TIP: if you, like I, occasionally manage to touch the back of a fingernail on a grinder, angle grinder or even worse, creating a divot in the nail, try a drop of CA glue in the divot, then using a nitrile glove on the other hand, apply accelerator to the glove and press on the wound. Needs occasional renewal, but works a treat.
.
@@stevenmull9473 !
@@stevenmull9473,
Important safety tip: the reaction between accelerant and CA glue is very exothermic. If you kick a large amount of glue, it can start a small fire or melt thermoplastics that you're trying to bond.
Learned that as a kid when thin CA trickled down my project onto my accelerator-covered fingers. That was an unforgettable burn experience...
Bit of a tangent, but plaster of Paris should never be used for moulding body parts as when setting is also strongly exothermic, and can cause horrific burns. A school child in the UK lost most of her fingers and needed many skin grafts after plaster of Paris set around her hands in a bucket.
The curing process is exothermic, but typically slow enough to not be a problem. A humid day can cause heating in large amounts of the glue.
omg !
Shout out to anyone who learned about exothermic reactions the hard way, working with super glue and insta-set.
One of my co-workers sweatshirts nearly caught on fire due to some CA getting on it...
Oh, you mean shaking your fingers and yelling AH! AH! AH! - like that? I think everyone has. Dumbest thing I ever heard was one of our designers who got enthused by the model department's work and and got back into building 1/48 jet kits. One evening, his CA bottle deposited a big glob on his arm in the middle of a delicate procedure. Knowing the odds of smearing it on his plane, he quickly gave it a squirt of kicker, whereupon the jet quickly became a very secondary concern to finding the nearest cold water tap. Nice burn.
Just saw a small wooden art piece that I coated with thin CA start to smoke - there was too much moisture in the air and the glue just went nuts - water is a CA accelerant.
No insta set, just CA glue: Try doing an emergency shoe repair with CA when the rubber sole has detached, and you need to get through the day with it. Apply CA liberally to the sole, then use your weight to press down on it (while wearing the shoe). The inside of the shoe had some moisture in it, and my foot got very hot, very quickly as the CA reacted. Cue much shouting and hopping around as I attempted to take the now painfully hot shoe off. Happy times ;)
Thin superglue is amazing when you want to wick in-between surfaces. Place 2 pieces together first then apply thin superglue to the side of it and it will flow under the 2 pieces. Ideal if you need very accurate positioning, as you can position first
Adam is so much fun to watch and listen to. As a seventy-year-old retired forty year shop teacher, watching Adam Savage is almost as much fun as when Piper (our dog) and I go out to "Grandpa's Man Cave". Yeah, we have tons of projects on the go and waiting, but I still signed up for some crates. On the colder winter days up here in northern Canada, we retreat to the three project tables in the basement. It was researching for one of the winter projects that we found Adam. Thanks Adam, you really made my day.
Just a small tip: For adding baking soda in finer or less messy way, try looking at small "powder pump sprayers" like those designed for cosmetic luster powder or cake decorating glitter. they are available in a similar size to the Zip Kicker bottle (15 ml) for about $10.
You can also dissolve backing soda in water & then use it in a normal spritz or spray bottle etc & it basically works exactly the same as zip kicker.
"I was not tricked by them into buying the same brand of glue!" - Cut to the same brand of glue sitting on the table.
LOL! Was coming to the comments to see if anybody else noticed! ;)
I was scratching my head at that too, wondering if maybe I misheard or misunderstood what that other bottle of glue was.
@@Brigand231 yeah, I even went back in the video to look at the bottle of glue to make sure I wasn't going crazy
I think he meant "only" the same brand.
Ayup. And, whether or not he has the personal experience to “feel” what’s going on, he’s not gracing us with any scientifically sound demonstration about the “weakening of the styrene.” Little things like this frustrate me whenever I try coming back to his individual endeavours... which I desperately want to love.
Great video! Man, I love CA glue as a guitar tech & occasional builder and use the stuff daily. It's magic for reseating lifting frets with a vise-grip style tool called "Jaws" available from Stewart MacDonald, but one of the best uses I stumbled upon was for firmly securing routing templates to a surface to eliminate the need for clamps etc. The trick is to lay some wide green masking tape to both surfaces, then glue the template to the surface with medium CA. This is WAY more solid than any double sided tape & will save you the worry of the template slipping while routing etc. I use it for zero clearance plates on my bandsaw & disc sander too which is brilliant!
I'm just starting to think about a model making project for the first time in like a decade I am so grateful these videos exist!
Dad gave me a good CA glue tip last week. He uses it like tack welds to hold epoxy joints together while the epoxy sets.
You can do the same in wood joinery where you wanna glue two piece together but don’t wanna use clamps for fear of marking your pieces. Just do your strip of wood glue as usual but stop at few intervals to put a dot of CA. The CA will act as a clamp while the wood glue sets up.
Oh, indeed, that is a great application for it. Best of both worlds.
Also, glue a screw onto the tip of your screwdriver to get it started in a hard-to-reach place. The glue will fail by the time you get the screw all the way in, but by then you don't need it anymore.
@@WahooLee that seems like a good trick for a screw that you're never gonna need to pull back out, but wouldn't the glue at least mostly fill the screw head making it a pain to get it out of, as you say, hard-to-reach places? Haven't done this myself, and it seems like a potentially useful idea, just questioning things I could see going wrong.
@@blahblah9036 - the glue only fills the gap between the screwdriver and the inside surface of screw head. So once the screwdriver pops out, the space for it is still there.
I have a challenge for Adam. Find one thing in his shop he hasn't touched the longest amount of time compared to everything else. We see the stuff he's used all the time, tons of them. But what's something you literally never touch?
i know your comment is 8 months old but in his recent video he talks about what tools he considered taking out of his shop. one he has used only one time is his big vaccum forming machine
I can't explain how useful this was. I've been modeling with ca glue and just having all my observations verified and/or explained is so satisfying.
Adam's knowledge is the best content. I've learned so much from these videos.
Cotton balls. Used with CA glue to flash weld driftwood together in the aquarium/terrarium hobby for years. Produces a thermal reaction. The cotton can help fill voids for a better fit.
I'm surprised you didn't mention this: it's the introduction of water that causes superglue to start curing. The trace moisture present in ambient air and most of the materials you'd apply it to is enough, if you're not in a hurry. That's why blowing on it works as an accelerant - the additional moisture in your breath is what does the trick. Simply holding the joint in the exhaust stream of a humidifier is effective, though it'll weaken it a little.
Spraying straight up water also seems to work, though idk how it affects the properties.
Shhh!!! I've bought a mansion, a fleet of Bugattis, a few private planes and some yachts by selling accelerators to Adam and ILM ... If they find out I'm selling them water I'm screwed!!!
The accelerant is often made of toxic, highly toxic, or extremely toxic chemicals. Acetone and naphtha aren't good for you but they aren't terribly harmful when inhaled. The active ingredient is usually a p-toluidine, p-xylene, formaldehyde, or benzene compound which is definitely bad to inhale. Proprietary mixtures are full of unspecified stabilizers and additives.
The stuff usually stinks. Potent, acrid, repulsive chemical odours that any animal will instinctively recognize should be avoided. They add fragrances and perfumes to hide the awful smells ... which I think is really stupid since it encourages people to enjoy sniffing toxic fumes.
Plus, just plain old water can be used as an accelerant so no need for those 'semi harmful if not used properly' ones
There's a way for using the thin glue in a slightly 'safer' way, at least in some applications (btw, this also works with the medium).
You can decant some glue into a tiny cup and use things like a toothpick, a long needle or a bit or wire flattened at one end (like a screwdriver), dip it into the glue and touch this to the connection point of the pieces you want to connect.
Important is, the pieces you want to glue should to be fixed in the right position before you apply the glue. Touching the tool with the glue on it to the seam makes it go into that seam.
Doesn't work for everything but for a lot of situations. Advantage is, you have way more control over the amount of glue and where it goes. I've used this technique extensively.
Definitely going to give this method a try on my small balsa airplane stringers. 👍
Also available are small disposable pipettes with very fine tips so you can draw up only what you need for the application and don't risk big spills or contaminating your bottle. Do not put a used pipette back into a bottle if there is any chance there was accelerator used nearby.
As the father of two young children who constantly break toy joints, baking soda may be a game changer. Thank you
Holey smokes, that's a game changer!
Bob Smith Unbonder has saved my life more times than I can count on one hand...which is especially hard to do when the fingers on said hand are glued together....deserves an honorable mention.
Acetone works as a debonder too.
@@doncarlton4858 Yep: the reason a lot of crafters buy nail varnish remover ;)
Finger nail polish = acetone. $1 @ the dollar store!
The most important thing to remember here while talking about de-bonder, is that it is no use at all if you store it on a shelf 10 feet away when you have just glued your hand to the workbench. Just sayin' ;)
I keep CA glue in the refrigerator and it doesn’t harden in there very quickly. Probably the lower temperature and lower humidity together. I use the dollar store mini tubes too. Less wasteful.
I've used a lot of thick ca for gluing live coral to base rock under water. But a trick I learned is that storing opened bottles in the freezer extends the life of the glue and prevents hardening for a very long time. But you do have to sit out a few minutes to warm up before using it.
For the balsa wood plane event in Science Olympiad, even reducing the weight of the CA glue used would have an effect. We used to put a puddle of thin CA glue on like a piece of plastic wrap and then dip a needle in to pick up and place a small bit of glue just where it was needed. A lot more control than squeezing it out even with a very small opening add on tip.
Probably a bit fiddly, but really useful if you need that precision (like for work on the visible parts of hero props, etc.).
A Brazillian youtube science channel made a video about superglue, so I know a little bit about the stuff right now.
First: the stabilizer for superglue, which prevents the polymerization of the glue, is an acid, and that's why baking soda works so well in accelerating the process. Any other basic element will work as well!
Second: as another person have commented, moister (water in general) will dilute the acid, helping in the glue polymerize.
As a bonus: superglue works super well with cellulose! So toilet paper, sawdust, and cinnamon(!!!) with baking soda will make an extra durable, and fast glue joint.
Manual do mundo?
The CA glue + baking soda trick is also useful in the guitar repair/setup universe. A common use is if the slots in a guitar’s nut (the typically white piece of bone or plastic that the strings pass over where the neck meets the head of the instrument) are worn or cut too deep or wide. You can mix CA and baking soda and build the slot back up, then file it to the proper dimensions. Blends right in.
I know this is an old comment, but if you happen to have any scraps of nuts/saddles, sanding those into dust for nut slot filling works even better! Same for when you're slotting/shaping an uncut nut, save the bone dust for future low slots! Of course, ALWAYS use a mask when sanding/filing bone (anything really, but ESPECIALLY bone; bone dust is very 'sharp' like asbestos, and is known to cause mesothelioma iirc).
Yeah, I 1st heard of this application like 40 years ago. It's not a super new use for super glue. Even guitar manuals mention this fix.
@@D2.159 Thanks for the clarification. I guess I should have been clearer myself: guitar repair manuals don't talk about using superglue & soda for nut or saddle repair. Doing that would just be plain retro-tard mode. A new nut costs like $1. & the saddle? There's 100 reasons it'd be even d-d-d-umber to repair a saddle that way. The geetar manuals I've seen the fix in mention it for filling in dings in body, head, neck, or the fretboard. Nut & saddle? Not unless you wanna saddle yourself with a hokey fix that probably won't last, sounds awful, looks worse, and saves $0. The only time I'd ever do a repair like that would be a dire emergency, like I'm gigging & busted my nut, but then again, any geetarist worth their salt has an extra geetar, or if like me, an extra 10 geetars. Can you imagine? Doing something so d-umb at a gig that you bust your nut and you're futzing about with super-glue & baking soda trying to frankenstein something that'll play? It'd be a funny show, that's for sure. More like a comedy than a musical performance, but then again, everything is nuts these days, so never say never, unless you've got some personal standards. I'd actually pay a higher ticket price if the band did goofy stuff like that while they were playing. Can you imagine the mess? It's on your strings, which are now glued to fretboard, and your fingers are glued to the neck so you can't move you're hand. That'd be some funny stuff. Fix drums with pie plates & buckets. Have vocalists just scream as loudly as possible when the mic breaks (& of course there's no spare mic, as if that ever happens). Bass player gets out a mop & an electrical extension cord strung like a string when their bass breaks? Sure. That's plausible. Or not. Cheers.
Interesting I've just found out about using cotton wool with it as an accelerate too.
Dan Erlewin is the Luthiery King of CA, especially CA finish repair. Check out all the CA products in a Stew Mac catalog.
Thanks for this CA glue in-depth, Adam! As a wood carver (who likes to build other things as well), gluing cutting wounds back together makes kinda 90% of its use cases for me. I just wait until the bleeding stops and put it in there. Way better than a band-aid 😁
Love to see these types of videos. Always fun to watch Adam get excited about the little things. Not to mention the interesting little tidbits of usefull info, sometimes unintentionally, that he passes along to all of us. Keep up the good work Adam and crew! Good to see you all back in the cave! Stay safe. Much love.
A couple things I would add; you can extend the shelf life of CA glue almost indefinitely (many years at least) by storing it in the freezer, and CA de-bonder is quite useful to have on hand if you manage to get this stuff on your hands : )
Mason jar with acetone in it will dissolve all the glue in your old or clogged caps and nozzles, and make them new again. I try not to ever use tools to clear a clog and just change the top out for one a saved from a used up bottle
@@davidhogue100
Thanks for the tip
We used to keep a squirt bottle full of rubbing alcohol nearby for accidents - quick squirt would "curdle" the CA for lack of a better word and you could then easily peel it off your skin
When i found out about debonder i started using ca glue a lot more.
@@user-ee9cz6mc1x Just use acetone, unless it will melt the pieces you are trying to unglue, lol.
Adam , I love watching your videos. I was never a quick learner in school but you have taught me more than all the science teachers I have ever had and not once did my mind wonder off !! Thank you so much for continuing to share your knowledge with us . Hope to see more of you.❤😊
This was probably one of the most informative of your tested videos. I enjoyed how you thoroughly explored the nuances of CA glue. Many more types of videos where you expose us to the many types of products you use on a more daily basis that we generally would have never heard of: delrin, epoxy, leather, etc. would be a great watch!
Pro-Tip: CA glue lasts longer if you refrigerate it
I also store it in the fridge :)
*truth*
I didn't knew that. It make sense, heat is known for it's reaction acceleration properties.
100%
Is there anything else hobby wise that this is true for? I might get a mini fridge if you can justify it lol
one thing i love about thin CA glue is the capillary action getting into very small cracks. almost like soldering in a way.
Can I sleep in your dumpster?
It also gives off incredible heat, it's also used in wood turning for a varnish!!! Mainly on turned wooden pens and other small items. Our smallest bottles in the UK to my knowing is as small as 10ml, we also have it in tiny metal tubes!
Another fantastic video Adam, am I glad that I found your channel 👍😷👍🏴
You should always keep some De-Bonder around when using CA. My Dad and I built RC airplanes for years and he had to sleep with a cigarette glued between his first two fingers, and then all of that glued to his lips, waiting for the hobby shop to open the next morning. He told me that the De-Bonder was grape flavored, but that may have been a lie.
Lacquer thinner or acetone would have worked
@@byever1 I'm pretty leery of lacquer thinner and skin contact. Acetone? I just Goo-kled it. In small and moderate amounts, it is fairly harmless. It is actually made in our liver when breaking down fats. It is the most common ketone produced by the liver. It is also common in plants. Too much, or constant skin contact results in dry, cracked skin. (dermatitis) But! Higher doses are DANGEROUS! Use ventilation to avoid inhalation, latex/chem gloves to prevent skin contact. 😉
@@byever1 If I remember right, finger nail polish remover ( what ever is it I do not know) also does the trick.
@@richardlug6139 Fingernail polish remover is acetone.
@@richardlug6139 Nail Polish remover is mainly Acetone, with a little Lanoline oils to reduce the drying and skin cracking effects.
Thanks to a tip from Steve at SKS Props, I typically do buy CA glue in a large container and disperse to disposable smaller bottles (with a needle like tip) to save some money overall. The cost per ounce saving by buying in bulk over the smaller bottles was worth it to me. I also have similar small dispensers for the accelerator since being able to apply just a few drops exactly where I need it seems more efficient than spraying it over a large area of my work piece.
Please post a link of the bottle you use for the glue, I tried several and it failed (this stuff is very reactive and probably react wit the plastic, also the needle became clogged after first use, using a lighter only manage to ummelt the needle from the bottle). Please make a video of it
Cannot believe that after 30 + years of experience you did not know that the glue bottle is ment to be covered with it's cap that is on at the purchase. As well, just for info, the "super-glue" is activated by moisture, water, humidity. That is why in contact with the skin is sticking to it so fast.
I have my 15ml super-glue bottles open but with their caps on after each application an using a bottle for 6 or more months in a row as they never dry out. Use the caps that are coming with the bottles and twist them back on as soon as you've finished using the glue. It is going to be a revolution for after all those years, believe me!
Gracias for all your videos, I'm in love with you and the way you do stuff.
I already knew most of the stuff Adam covered but something about the way he relates story is simply amazing, plus the added bonus of anecdotes from the IL&M and M5 days are glorious and worth the time. The canned spray accelerant I use (stick fast brand) contains benzenamine, acetone, alcohol and that's why it weakens the polystyrene, Nasty stuff to breathe in closed spaces. I was thinking the other day that I stopped watching TV more or less the same year Mith Busters went off the air. Coincidence? I think not.
I once sat on a small tune of CA. Yep. Sat. Levis. Denim. Wooden chair. In my dorm at college. You find out who your friends are.
I remember that.
Here in South Africa they are commonly referred to as Super Glues. I put a pin in my super glue tube to seal it from air and then store it in the fridge, which seems to work really well.
same here in the U.S.
Yes. The fridge thing. I never heard of that until my wife told me. Now I keep all the CA glue in the fridge. Lasts forever.
@@rolandk2403 confused here. if moisture accelerates curing, how does refrigeration preserve it?
@@joelblauvelt5062 I have no idea how it works.
Refrigeration dries the air, taking moisture out of the cooled air. Think of how freeze dryers work. @@joelblauvelt5062
Thank you for including Arts. As someone who was trained in a STEM field, arts really is what separates the well read from the well practiced. When I hear (or read) STEM or STEAM mentioned, I always think to a scene in Stargate SG1, where Samantha Carter and Rodney McKay are working on an EM generator and... (I cut the jokes out for dramatic effect!)
Dr. McKay: "I always wanted to be a pianist."
...
Dr. McKay: "Music was my salvation. It had this ... perfect order for me."
...
Dr. McKay: "When I was 12, my teacher told me to quit. A fine clinical player, he said, but no sense of the art whatsoever."
...
Dr. McKay: ... "I turned to science because I thought it would be different than music, but it isn't. It's just the same, it's just as much of an art as anything else."
...
Dr. McKay: "You're an artist, Major. Maybe the best I've ever seen."
And this is so true, I've met folks who can recite pi to blah blah decimal, I known people who can recite complex equations off the tops of their head. But most of them, have no sense of self in what they did. We all have strengths, most of us have artistic ability, it doesn't need to be replicating a "Noisy Cricket" or even drawing a perfect circle, but taking one idea and combining it with another idea that are seemingly unrelated, but still creates a previously unknown result, you've done art. Sometimes by mistake, sometimes out of curiosity, or boredom, or "well, we haven't tried anything else, let's give it a shot". Having a basic understanding of artistic expression has helped so many more people than memorizing pi to some random point. And I can tell you, I've used modeling clay more often in my life than I have Calc!
Thank you for being an artist, and an inspiration for science artists!
Your soda gussets are a great tip. I’d like to also add that this matrix can be sanded and shaped and added to. It’s one of those great reactions between two common products we’ve all had a need for at some point.
As a middle school STEAM teacher for 17 years, I can’t count the number of pants I ruined with water thin CA.
As a table top wargames player for 26 years, I might be close to a similiar number... XD
Same LOL
I take it you didn't teach the "M" part of that.
Its socks for me. Walking all over the drips, then a couple min later crunchy discs on my socks :p
I learned to use only a drop of glue on the end of the xActo knife instead of trying to apply it directly from the bottle because it will run out and ruin my stuff and get all over my fingertips and under the nail.
I'd love to see your take on the uv cured glue product.
Imo they are trash. Best for holding an object together while better glues work their magic so you don't have to sit there and wait all day.
Fantastic video! So many great tips as always. I’m learning so much about making from your videos. Thank you.
Most substances in aerosol spray cans (paint, glue, fixative, even deodorant or hairspray) will melt or weaken styrene or polystyrene due to the solvents used in to keep the material fluid, often xylene, toluene, or acetone. Not sure if the accelerator itself has the same capacity, but is it possible the aerosol can weakens the styrene because of another solvent in the formulation as opposed to the spritzer, which wouldn’t have such solvents present?
I first used this type of glue in 1977,my in law worked at a engineering firm, and gave me a no label 50ml bottle of the stuff , said it was worth a lot of money, told me to be very careful with it, I was using it for years on everything that broke, never seen it in any of the hardware stores , loving all the vids you do Adam, Many Thanks
I was under the impression that it is the moisture in your breath that kicks CA off rather than the CO2.
same idk
Moisture actually weakens the glue .
@@glenfisher728 but kicks it. And (as I just learned) kicker actually weakens the glue joint as well. Who knew? 😉
@@glenfisher728 CA glue will NOT bond effectively if at all in a totally moisture free environment. It REQUIRES water for bonding.
Had I known that baking soda tip back when I was building HO buildings, I could have strengthened those building corners! I love watching you doing your thing.
Flexible CA glue is being used fairly often for foam and balsa model airplanes. There are several types of control surface hinges, one is literally named 'CA hinge', essentially some type of absorbent synthetic cloth or fabric, works best with flexible CA glue.
As a finish carpenter in the 80s and 90s, I found that carrying a tube of medium CA in my pouches was very handy. For the crack in the trim piece with the last screw or nail, its very valuable in time and quality of your work product. Sometimes wood glue will do but it is never quick.
Adam: “This right here can change your...”
Me: “Life?”
Adam: “...O and HO and Z scale train modeling”
my life is HO train modeling....lol
I'm still waiting for Norm to show up and add in sixthscale too.
@@drewzdrew27 Tha Godfather
Adam's like the coolest dad, I always learn so many building and crafting things. Thanks dude.
👍😎👍
Adam. I love you. Your so passionate about stuff. Your ability to express complex things in an entertaining way is wonderful. Thank you for being you!! GOD BLESS
One thing that's worth knowing is that superglue sets off in its conventional way only in thin layers, so if you apply it to something you have to squeeze out most of it to get it to set off. Otherwise it will skin onto both surfaces and leave a liquid layer in between.
I’ve used the baking soda trick to repair the washer fluid reservoir in the mustang where along with cracks a little piece needed filling in. Worked fine and it can be filed too.
I’ve also used it to glue the arms back onto my glasses with a build up of it around the arms hinges when both had the spring inside of them break. I would put too much on first and then file it down and color it, to not look too much like a geek. It was good for a month or two and got me by till I finally replaced them.
Probably one of the best tips I have ever learned. Amazing. I have been using SuperGlue all this time and never knew about the Baking Soda until today!
Great video! I found a great use for the thin glue for knifemakers. I bought a bag of leather scraps online that turned out to thin for normal sheaths, so I took a strip of leather, made a wrap and used thin ca glue to hold it together, and it hardened the leather to a point that it lost all its flexability. Making an entire sheath this way uses quite a bit of glue, so yeah, it gets messy and the chemical reaction is exothermic so precautions are advised. The resulting material is though and light weight so I imagine there are probably a lot more applications for this.
Another good trick with the thin stuff is that you can take advantage of its wicking ability to strengthen porous materials like balsa wood and paper. I used to build a lot of rubber band powered airplanes and you can gusset spars and stuff with tissue paper, then use a drop of CA to turn the paper into the consistency of wood. You can also just butt two parts together and a touch of the thin stuff will wick between and bond them. The main backbone of my planes was usually a strongback made from two pieces of balsa flat stock bonded with thin CA. It felt about as strong as a pine dowel around the same size but was a lot lighter.
You didn’t mention assembling the parts then applying thin CA clue to the joint. I’ve built many a model this way and the results are fantastic. Another one is applying baking soda first, forming it the way you wish as a fillet of gap filler, then dripping thin CA glue onto the baking soda. This is another wonderful method.
Awesome video, I first saw the baking soda trick on RUclips, fishing lures to hold weights in lure, I've molded around broken plastic with tape, fill with baking soda, and add glue, molded plastic results, sand and paint, works very well, has saved many products from landfill. Even broken glasses, fishing rods, broken battery pack for drill (dropped to concrete and shattered) baking soda and CA glue- awesome. Thanks Adam, always interesting, stay inquisitive my friend, the ride to the answers are refreshing 😊
This is like a seminar on glue, love it. Thanks Adam
Thanks for the video; After using CA and Insta-Set for years, I’ve also found that Insta-Set (the first accelerator you used) kills any flying insects, including yellow jackets/wasps faster than any bug spray!
Try using trike (trichloroethane) on them, if you can still get it :)
@@snafu2350 Electric motor cleaner, it's pure ether.
I should mention; There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than an insect in the depths of an ether binge
Baking soda!!!!!! Thank you for the tip. You don't know how many times i had to wait for that glue to set and of course hope it doesn't break
Thanks for the tips Adam! I just got through my first round of super glue based repairs and i only glued my finger to the project once out of the 3 fixes. A broken off eye glass arm, a broken off mini stand figure leg, and a funko pop tail. The tail wouldn't have been possible without some baking soda being a better adhesive base and building up a custom and deeper socket for the tail to attach to!
@Adam Savage's tested you just proved to everybody that you can learn something new everyday ‼️
Hey Adam! Loctite makes CA glue in pretty small bottles. I've used the thick and thin stuff from them and the small package is great.
Talcum powder (baby powder) is also a great kicker that works the same as baking soda with the benefit of being able to get them in small bottles (roughly 1oz.), keeps your hands clean and prevents baking soda fingerprints when using thin CA.
Also if you use the baking soda/ talcum powder to built the gusset then drip thin CA on it, it builds a stronger joint. That's what guitar nuts are repaired with when they wear out.
Edited again, you can buy blunt syringe needle tips instead of the plastic tips for the thin CA. If they clog, just heat the tip with a lighter, one small puff and its good as new.
Don't breathe it in though! There was a huge lawsuit against Johnston and Johnston because it can cause various cancers.
Super useful vid Adam, thanks!! Funny story about the thin stuff.... I was recently repairing a gorgeous and detailed large die cast model of an old farm tractor for a friend for a Christmas surprise. His cat had knocked it off the shelf, and it exploded in pieces. He was heart-broken. Anyway, I was rebuilding the front end, and decided to use the thin stuff for the repair because that's all I had that was still useful (all the other thicknesses I had had dried out)... BAM!!! that was fast... my index finger tip was TOTALLY glued to the model in like 2 seconds... I mean, I was walking around my studio with the model hanging off my finger looking for the tiny bottle of removal solvent that came with the glue... finally found it, dribbled some on my finger, (the paint rapidly dissolved on the model -- touchup time), and finally, after a couple minutes, my finger broke free from the model... whew!! I was getting ready to cut my skin with an X-acto knife or go to an emergency clinic... by that time I was stressed and tired... end of story, delivered the repaired model to my friend, told him the story... (it's all about the stories, eh? ;-) he loved it.. Thanks for the tips. Love that baking soda thing too. Keep 'em coming, love your channel!!! P.S. bought your book, so love it too!
I used the baking soda method on a Yamaha DX100 synth. The plastic stanchions that hold the case together break or strip out easily. I was able to reconstruct the missing sections of the stanchions as well as fill in the stripped out ones and file/drill them out for screws.
Dollar stores often have CA glue in 2-4 gram tubes. They are the perfect size for most jobs. Flashing CA with baking soda is the best. It forms a very strong and tough bond that, in my experience, sticks better than straight CA in most applications, with the bonus treat of being a great filler by layering. What works very well in some applications is applying the baking soda first. I have a crappy old nylon bowl that split up the side. Nothing sticks to that...except CA cured with baking soda. The glue gets quite warm as it sets up with baking soda so I suspect there is some melty action going on that increases the bond.
Harbor freight (I know...) Has a big card with a bunch of metal ampules of it. They are more or less disposable and dirt cheap.
CA (thin) works great on the exposed edges of cardboard. It wicks into the card, sets instantly and gives the cardboard a plastic like quality. Watch out for the exothermic reaction which can make the cardboard warm to hot short term.
Thin CA has awesome wicking capabilities, by capillary action. As a piano technician, I use it often for hairline cracks in bridges. For slightly wider cracks, I like filling the cracks with the baking soda, brushing off the excess, then adding a drop or 2 of thin CA. Works great.
Awesome tips! I had some bad experience with a CA accelerant based on acetone - weakened everything I tried to use it with, and removed the grid markings from my self-healing mat. Definitely going to try the baking soda. Thanks!
@matt cigarette ash works good as a gap filler and aceelerant for smaller gaps.....it turns carbon hard but is still sand and fileable
You missed the best tip.
CA on one part, "kicker" on the other. Even more instant hold.
More instant but probably weaker joint. It would cure before it has a chance to make full contact with the other side.
I do this when I glue my 3D prints together. Really raises the stakes as you have to do it right the first time xD
The joint is much weaker if you use an accelerator
@@procatprocat9647 it's not like I'm gluing my hard hat to a steel beam and hanging from it while I swing my feet around.
Note you may have to be over 50 to get that reference. 🧓😉
Adam you are such a marketing force that I think you should contact the companies that make the CA glue and suggest they make it in smaller sizes. I think they would listen and have a market for that considering your influence in the industry!
After I cracked the Formica counter top, repairing sink, I fixed the delaminated formica using CA, Baking Soda filling up the gaps and sealing it so water doesn’t seep in. Works great as a permanent fix and It blends in well you don’t notice the repair at all…thanks Adam your Videos are inspiring, so many uses.
Cotton also kicks CA glue. Paraffin slows the kicking process down, allowing you to make a small puddle of it to dip in or draw from with a small needle or eye of the needle. Also using paraffin to guide the thin set CA from going to far is also useful.
I’ve also found that one of the bonus side effects to baking soda is that you can get a rough surface. If you use zip kicker it’s ALWAYS a smooth, almost glossy “weld”.
EDIT: Oh yeah, I love the thick Gorilla Glue in the green top bottle. It doesn’t move a millimeter from where you place it. Pure magic if the area is on even a slight vertical angle.
Are we talking using the thick Gorilla Glue in the green top bottle on its own that we’re loving or using it with an accelerant like said baking soda that we’re loving?
@@TangentTad I only use Zip Kicker if the pieces can’t stay together on their own or I want/need an exact angle. Baking soda I’ll occasionally use for the interior of resin or white metal models. It’s also a good way to rough up bases in areas where there won’t be static grass/rocks/rubble. Paints up looking much more like real dirt.
Nice, thanks man.