Does Accelrator Weaken CA?

[HoratioHornblower]

I am wondering because it seems too, and I also seem to remember reading this somewhere. Maybe the thought that I read it makes me think its true and Im wrong, but I wanted to ask anyway! Thanks for the input!

David

 

[Xander]

My opinion is that anything you do to speed up the curing of any adhesive will make it somewhat weaker. Curing is a chemical reaction and to achieve full strength this reaction must be allowed to proceed 'natually'. CA cures by bonding with water molecules (simplified explaination). The only time I use an accelerator is with medium CA, but I always let it stand for 10-15 minutes, then I give a quick spritz and wipe it off before the next coat.

 

[Akula]

yes it will

 

[HoratioHornblower]

How much? Is it so drastic that its not worth using?

David

 

[Akula]

How much could be answered to those who seem to know everything LOL I don't know how much but know it will (google will also confirm what I believe). I don't use it for anything, found no reason to use it after trying a few times. But I still use BLO with CA on my finishes and many have moved on to other things or no BLO.

 

[Padre]

I think accelerator, misted, is much better than BLO when finishing a pen. I use one of Monty's refillable user pressurized bottles for this, and it works great. I have gotten away from the ca/paper towel/blo routine since craft foam and misted accelerator work so great. Use a lot less CA too.

 

[rossvh]

I've never considered this an issue, but it may explain some of my more noticeable finishing problems.

RossVH
"I would rather aim at the stars and miss, then shoot at a skunk and hit it."

 

[Lenny]

I had far more problems NOT using accelerator when I would try to add more CA glue only to discover the prior coat was still sticky!!! Nothing like trying to clean paper towel CA glued to an almost finished pen blank!!!

I would not worry about it weakening the CA, but that is just my opinion.

 

[SteveG]

IF...weaker, still plenty strong enough!

 

[dogcatcher]

According to Russ Fairfiled using accelerator makes it brittle.

 

[TerryDowning]

An issue for model builders who need structural integrity, possibly pen makers using CA for joining segments, not an issue for finishing pens.

 

[PenMan1]

An issue for model builders who need structural integrity, possibly pen makers using CA for joining segments, not an issue for finishing pens.

Exactly! I did notice some time ago that tubes glued in with CA tend to "debond" over time. In my experience, using accelerator (specifically thick CA and Accelerator) tends to cause some problems, especially when using it to secure segments.

For that reason, I have chosen to glue tubes with epoxy and finish with CA.

 

[TerryDowning]

I use CA for tube gluing and segmenting especially dissimilar materials (wood and metal for example), I just don't use accelerator, I'll wait until it dries some and then move on. Usually it's cured enough by the time I get to finishing so any accelerator used in the finishing process, becomes a non issue to the segmenting. At least I haven't had any problems with tubes or segments coming undone.

For wood to wood segments, I use regular wood glue so again not an issue for me.

 

[PenMan1]

I had a herringbone 360 that I worked on forever de laminate after 3 years. This was a warranty issue, so I used epoxy from then on out.

I DO suspect that if you don't use a bunch of Accelerator, and DO clean the coatings off of metals before gluing such segments, the CA bond would be permanent. BUT, after redoing a herringbone on a "warranty" will make you change to the much messier epoxy solution.

 

[HoratioHornblower]

Thanks for all the input everyone! I think that for most of my pens I will still use accelerator, but on the really high end pens I will not to give it that "extra" protection. In my experience it does make it brittle, but not enough to stop using on most pens.

David