CA Curing Time

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Tom Foster

Tom Foster

Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
Messages
15
Location
Montana
Recently I used thin CA glue to fill some voids and cracks in a pen blank. Hit it with accelerator and waited for a few minutes for it to harden. When I started to turn the blank again, after I turned the surface CA off, it started to sling CA glue around. It is, as if, only the top part of the CA hardened with the accelerator and the inside of the CA fill remained liquid like it remains in a capped bottle. Has anyone had this problem? My Monty's CA thin bottle is about 6 months old. It still works great for CA finishes on pens. Shop temp was around 65 degrees and low humidity. Would Medium CA work better? Is my Thin CA too old? Should I wait longer before turning?
 
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When filling a hole, you pretty much want to do that as you would apply a finish. Take some sawdust and press into the hole, it helps.
 
Even on clean breaks, I usually clamp if possible and wait a lot longer than is recommended..

I turned my first Inlace Acrylester recently, but cracked it marking the center on one end (really dumb move, I didn't realize just how brittle it was ...). I used an ample amount of thin CA, put the two pieces together, and clamped,but decided to let it sit a few hours, and it ended up not getting turned until the next day.

I took it really easy with a skew, and had no issues turning the blank, even over the area of the crack. When done, I could see the crack in certain light, if held at the proper angle (it was a dark purple blank), but the person I gave it to probably never noticed.
 
top part of the CA hardened

think of it like you just sealed the CA from the air, so the inside did not harden...that would take some time
 
Thanks for the replies. For larger voids, would a light fill with thin to fill the small crevices and later with medium or thick to fill the larger areas without using accelerator ensure the center of the fill getting hard. Would require a longer wait time, ie. over night. It seems the fast setting with accelerator just causes a hardened shell that keeps the center liquid. Other alternatives?
 
It will crust over, leaving uncured CA below. I usually wait 2-3 minutes before turning, if the thin CA starts slinging around, stop and hit it with accelerator again, that will usually take care of it.
 
I just had the same scenario.

Deep groove that needed filling ( I did not want to use dust wanted to still see the groove )

so, I used several coats of thin and a few medium. It took 3 or 4 applications until it was level with the surface.

I let each coat dry for a few minutes w/o accelerator and it worked fine.
 
Bandsaw

Gerry: Not wanting to crash your party, but just saw your name here and was wondering how that bandsaw was working out for you? Joe!

Chasper said:
It will crust over, leaving uncured CA below. I usually wait 2-3 minutes before turning, if the thin CA starts slinging around, stop and hit it with accelerator again, that will usually take care of it.
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