Something "clicked" with me today, and I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me earlier.

I use Zap-A-Gap CA+ (green bottle) on all my builds, except for large sandwich folds. The drying time is very fast as it is, but I always noticed some variation in the time it took to set.

Sometimes, it would heat up right away, and I'd have to hope I had it aligned already. Other times, it would take quite a while (20-30 seconds is a long time for super glue! ). This was true for cardstock, or miniatures. With minis, I can use Kicker to lock everything down instantly, but it ruins cardstock.

So today, while I was gluing away, I had the piece close to my face while holding everything in place, and I let out a deep breath. The glue got hot and set instantly!

Turns out that moisture causes super glues to set. I tried it a bunch more to test it, and it works 95% of the time.

The trick is to breathe on the glue as if you were fogging up a window.

Just don't inhale the fumes; that stuff'll get ya!

*Blink* I thought that everyone did that. Perhaps it is just one of those things that spreads locally rather than globally.

The Auld Grump - asleep before midnight tonight?!!! We'll see...

How many of us use Superglue for Cardstock Creations?


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

When necessary, but UHU on a toothpick handles most problems for me. But if there is a major gap to fill, the gel type of Super Glue seems to go in good. I find mistakes with Super Glue a bit harder to fix though. Much easier to wet a finger and remove a bit of UHU.

Super glue's catalyst of reaction is water, so addition of water will change it from its liquid form to the stuck solid form. I know this sounds wierd, but you could use a spray bottle with regular water and get the same results as zap-a-gap. So if you exhale in such a way to expell lots of water, IE to fog the windows, you will dry the super glue faster.

--Chris

Quick Note: Zap-a-gap uses a quick evaporating oil that has a rather low water content, where a water bottle will possibly warp your model or make your inks run.