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…......................................... --- CA Glue ---

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I basically glue everything with CA now. 3D prints, wooden ties to rail on turnout builds, wooden ties under rail on the layout, etc..

Above is the thin and medium CA and activator I use. Those bottles are 3-4 years old and I haven't kept them in the fridge or freezer but the shop is always between 68-75F and the humidity low here in SD Utah.

I transfer the CA to the smaller bottles shown above. You can see 'thick' also above but I hardly ever use it so won't buy more. The thin/fast is good for tight fitting joints and I use the medium for wider gapped joints or if I don't want it to set up as fast. The fast/tin I'm using generally isn't like contact cement and gives you a bit of time to position the pieces vs. the contact cement.

I like using these little bottles as they are cheap (also use them for liquid resin when soldering). The tip helps to get the CA where you want it and if the CA in the little bottle hardens throw it away and it hasn't cost you much.

If you have problems with the glue hardening in the tips....

.... after use soak the cap & tip in Acetone. Usually a few hours will do it or overnight if it is older.

I don't try to remove the CA from the tip anymore. I remove the cap, throw it in the Acetone and put one of the extra caps on when I finish gluing. When I remove the cap from the Acetone I check the tip to see if it is open by running the wire on a resistor down through it and move it to the extra cap location.

Best to keep the acetone in a glass bottle but a plastic one with a '5' in the triangle (bottom of bottle) is suppose to be safe. The pill bottle is marked with a 5 on the bottom and I've had the acetone in it for a few weeks as I write this with no problems. I also keep it on the concrete floor of the shop in case it would leak but it hasn't. Don't use other plastic containers.

Lastly try not to glue your fingers together or to anything else!

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