I have used it unseccessfully in the past to try to bond back together material of just about any material you can name. The problem is, that the bond is always very weak, and therefore temporary.
Is there a trick to getting the glue to grip really friekin’ hard, and stay strong enough not to break? I have heard that superglue is actually cryanocrylate (sp) which needs moisture to be activated.
Also, if I am trying to gue a piece that needs to flex or move in any way, is there a better product, especially for hard shiny plastics, such as on coffee cup lids and whatnot?
I’ve only rarely used it… the plastic grille on my van broke, and I super-glued the pieces back together. I applied glue to one surface, then pressed the two pieces together very tightly for 30-60 seconds. Worked fine.
On the other hand, I tried super-gluing my plastic cup holder together the same way, and it wouldn’t stick at all. I suspect it’s made of the same kind of plastic as the super glue bottle. 
This to That can probably recommend a better glue for your surfaces.
I’ve never gotten anything to repair hard plastics, even if it would not be taking steady stress, like simple broken battery doors on an alarm clock or TV remote. The fix just never takes.
I suspect they have to be heated, but even using a modest heat source, like a shrink wrap gun (similar to a hair dryer) has not helped.
I also have never gotten the putty-type epoxy glues to work (where you knead until the color is uniform). Only the two-tube liquids have worked for me.
the site Mr2001 has, which looks worth bookmarking.
One thing they point out there is “The manufacturer knows their glue better than the cashier at the hardware store. Reading the label thoroughly will help you know if a glue is appropriate for your needs. Also, many glues have a help line or a website.”
I’ve sometimes worked in hardware stores, and they have no special knowledge.
you have different types of Super Glue or Crazy Glue (or whatever) for different types of material. In addition, keeping the broken parts firmly pressed together, once glued, for reasonable length of time couldn’t hurt, I guess.
My daughter did a science project testing “super” glues and their hold strengths. Super glues can form extremely strong bonds but the limitations are that they are typically quite brittle and do not handle any kind or torsion stress well. Metal to metal bonds of a 3/8ths inch steel nut glued to a metal chisel bar held over 85 lbs before releasing. The surface has to be clean and the bond has to be tight. Less glue rather than more using the thinnest film possible resulted in the best metal to metal bonds.
Also, super glues typically don’t work well on porous surfaces like unfinished ceramics and wood, because they tend to absorb into the item and not stay on the surface. There are some new blends now that are much thicker, and they work really well.
I’ve built entire R/C models with nothing but a pile of wood and a bottle of CA glue. The joints are typically stronger than the wood around them, as you can see if you fly with me after the inevitable crash.
Super glue doesn’t work well at all if the items to be glued together have any gaps between them. So far, the best use of super glue that I’ve found is to glue artificial nails over your real nails. While this is important to some people, this is not a major issue in my life, as I find these nails, even the “sport length”, to be unwieldy at best and extremely unsanitary at worst.
Currently, I am experimenting with hot glue guns. But NOT for artificial fingernails! Jeez. There are LIMITS to what I’ll do in the name of Research. I’m hot gluing wood, plastic, etc. If I ever get all my data in some sort of shape, I’ll report on it.
Now that’s excellent! I really like to hear about children doing science projects like this, that have practicle applications in real life. Which type did she find worked best on shiny plastic, such as the infamous remote control battery compartment door?
My wife too used to use artificial nails, but hers never stayed on, and the chemicals and sanding made her nails thin, and weak. The fake nails also always left a noticable rise, so you could see they were fake. I told her that all she needed to wait for a month, and her own nails would begin to look very nice.
My God. I’ve just hijacked my own thread!
Ok, no more nail discussions. Thanks, to all who replied.
The whole point of super glue is that it works great when you form a really thin film of it between things it can bond. When it’s pressed into a film that is thinner than you can imagine, the molecules suddenly form polymer chains from one surface to the other. This process is frighteningly fast - the stuff will trap you fingers before you know what’s happening. But if you don’t get it into a vanishingly thin layer, it doesn’t do much. Also, it’s not that flexible, so a thin layer between two pieces of rubber that can stretch wouldn’t last long.
If you want something that forms really strong bonds to many substances regardless of whether you make it into a thin layer or leave it in globs, use epoxy. But epoxies don’t work well on many plastics, including polyethylene (which is the commonest plastic there is).
You get pretty strong bonds in thin layers or globs, and rapid results, with a mot-melt glue gun. This would have a better chance of sticking to polyethylene, too - in fact, hot melt glues usually are polyethylene or a mix of similar plastics.
What’s wrong with Super Glue is it sticks to my eyelid and not to my vase.
Before I get started i thought someone mught be able to tell me if Epoxy would be a good adhesive to use to stick a hanging wire to the back of a glazed ceramic plate.
Mama Maroon
Long ago, I watched a friend put together many RC cars and airplanes using cyano-“Super Glues”, and he always had incredible success. Here was his secret:
- The two parts must be fantastically clean and dry.
- The parts should have as smooth a surface as possible.
- Here is one part where people often mess up - like Napier says above, you need to use less, rather than more. These glues work best with an incredibly thin, consistant-thickness film. The less the better, so long as the whole surface gets coated.
- If possible, clamp the two pieces firmly.
- If possible, let the part sit for 24 hours before using, and finally…
- Heat. Placing the part in a warm place for the 24 hours can create a very strong bond.
Every time I could follow these meticulous steps, I was able to have excellent success. Almost always getting bonds that were stronger than the material.
No. We stuck to metal to metal bonds as superglued plastic bonds are typically quite poor and would likely fail before we could get a useful measure of yield strength. Superglues are great within certain limits but have been vastly oversold as an all purpose glue. I am sure there are terrific glues that would bond the remote door nicely (probably epoxy variant) or an industrial glue specific to the door plastic. The gel types glues were no better than the liquid at bonding metal to metal and were actually worse overall. The best strength bond of the all, oddly enough, came with the superglue formulated for glass.
I have recently been in an Instrument Building Phase and my two roommates are both avid arts and craft people. Hence, we have wood/epoxy/super glue to dam the Mississippi if needbe. In my experience, I’ve found Carbond and Glue-Rite to be the best superglues. I found them both at Home Depot, both for about a buck. The Carbond has been the best with metals and the Glue-Rite with plastics. Both are particularly suited for affixing fingers to other fingers, Carbond being the better of the two, as I had to take one of my roommates to the Emergency Room twice after he woke up and found two of his fingers glued together. On a side note, he also said not to heat superglue and water in a metal spoon using a lighter because you can ‘hear your brain cells…explode or something’.