Pop_pop1

Does anyone know what CA glue excellerator is made of? I am out and need to complete making some pens. Normally I order it mail order, but this time I don't have time to wait on it.
On the bottle it says it contains Acetone, but that is all it says about the contents.
Thanks....Chuck

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reikimaster

Is there a hobby shop near you that handles radio controlled airplanes? If so, they'll have accellerator. I used it when building model planes and actually I use it for doing stone dust inlays on native american style flutes.

bobnsons

Careful with the Acetone, it's also used as CA remover.

It may be ubran legend but many years ago I rembering reading or hearing about using Alka Seltezer in a pinch. :-)

reikimaster

yeah you don't want to use acetone. Acetone dissolves CA. For a home-made accelerator try a tablespoon of baking soda in about 8 ounces of water. Spray it out of a fine mist sprayer, a pump sprayer, whatever you have that will mist it on as fine as possible. As always, try it on something a bit less important first, but this mixture is what I used to use when building model airplanes using CA before the "kickers" were readily available.

Accelerators work by enhancing the alkaline conditions during polymerization. (Which is why Alka-Seltzer works..but it has other stuff in it that can cloud the CA) You can actually put accelerator on one side of a joint and CA on the other and then put them together. That works well sometimes on materials that are difficult to bond.

Pop_pop1

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll try the baking soda and water, but I'll have to leave the Alka Seltzer alone. I get sick to my stomach if I smell it. Don't know why, but I've been like that all my life. Wierd Huh.........Chuck

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Pop_pop1

Hey Reikimaster, I mixed up a batch of the the baking soda and water and refilled the spray bottle that the commercial accelerator came in. I tried it on the medium CA and it worked. I was in kind of a hurry so I only used it once. Later I noticed the spot I put it on had turned dark in color. Is this normal? The spot might have been just dirty too. (Sanding dust) I don't actually know.
When I refilled the bottle I didn't wash it out first. It smelled strong of Aceatone. Will Aceatone mix with water? So far so good though, and I like the price!
Thanks for sharing that valuable tip.......Chuck

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reikimaster

HMmm... I've never seen it turn anything dark. I always used it on balsa, birch plywood, basswood, pine....trying to think what else.... all light colored woods though and never saw dark spots. It's *possible* that this is due to something left in the bottle, but I don't have any way of knowing.

GoonMan

Hello Chuck,

Acetone will not mix with Water, it will float on the top of water. You may have had some of it left in the Spout of the bottle.

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Pop_pop1

I've got some more feedback on the Accelerator I mixed up, (baking soda & water). I drilled some pen blanks last night and found a crack in a Ziricote blank. I used some thin CA and then clamped it in my bench vise and sprayed it with the accelerator. It cured the CA alright, but it turned the dark wood a chalky white. That will not be a problem on wood that will be turned away, but as a top coat or repairing a completed piece.

After I did that repair, in a seperate container I mixed a 50-50 mix of aceatone and the baking soda and water. It turned cloudy and had a persipitate in the bottom of the container. It also got sort of warm, but only warm enough to tell a temperature difference. I dribbled some of it on some CA gel, it did not cure the CA. It caused the CA to clump, kind of like skined over silicone caulk. The container smelled like old paint, not like the aceatone smell of the store bought accelerator. I dumped it out and run a drill bit through the pen blank to clean the hole. I think the white chalky material is only on the surface and can easily be removed.

I'm going to try it a few more times and decide whether or not to purchase the manufactured accelerator......Chuck

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reikimaster

the white, chalky-looking coating makes sense. The baking soda and water is alkaline. So what you're seeing is probably similar to salt stains that we see up here in winter. (Road salt...gets on shoes... they're wet and when they dry tou see white deposits). Should be just a surface coating if that's the case. You may want to mix up a slightly weaker batch of accelerator and see if that minimizes the residue. Also make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved in the water.