On Fri, 13 Sep 2013 22:48:06 -0400, Ed Huntress wrote:

On Fri, 13 Sep 2013 19:18:41 -0700, wrote:

I am trying to glue a red bakelite object. The break is fresh. So I put
superglue on the break and everything was jake until I dropped the damn
thing and it came apart and the glue set and there's **** stuck to the
break. I tried acetone and while it softens the glue I can't seem to get
it to dissolve completely into the acetone. Do I just need to soak the
parts for hours? I need to remove all the glue so I can start over. You
would think that after having years to get used to the nerve damage that
causes me to drop things but nooooo, I still drop things and I know
better. Crap.
Eric

The two easily available solvents for cyanoacrylate adhesives are
acetone and methylene chloride (paint remover). Neither one really
attacks it aggressively, although the paint remover probably is the more
aggressive of the two.

There are proprietary solvents made for the purpose; I don't know how
well they work.

Bakelite is pretty chemical-resistant, but I don't promise that a
solvent won't turn it into a lump of putty.

Personally, I hate superglue with a passion. It's never the best
solution for anything, it seems to me, except for a quick job of glueing
your fingers together and ripping off some skin. g

It's pretty popular in model airplane circles. Or at least real CA is --
"Superglue" is crap for building models. It's not the best for gluing
wood to wood, either, but when one of the woods is balsa or poplar it's
more than adequate for most joints.

People who race model airplanes swear by it as a quick way to hold sliced-
up flesh together when you forget proper propeller etiquette in the heat
of the moment.

It's also good for quick repairs to model airplanes. If you get a break
that lets you interdigitate the fibers of the break, applying CA to the
break will hold everything together as good as new.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com