Homemade CA Accelerator

[copperheadroads]

Seems like every time I turn around I'm out of Accelerator ..I use it a little more these days but I get the feeling it actually evaporates or some leaked out or whatever so I haven't seen it locally & instead of ordering some I've did some research on homemade recipes 1 part baking soda & 10 parts water in a spritz bottle .Has anyone tried this or maybe you have your own recipe ?
I know most of the Accelerators smell like Acetone so we know that it is not similar to the homebrew kicker .

[David King]

Anything that is basic, i.e. not acidic, and holds a bit of moisture will help CA kick. Putting water on a joint is a sure way to interfere with the bond however because the water soaks into the pores and prevents the CA from getting where it needs to go. You want to spritz, let that dry completely and then come in with your glue. You might as well wipe the solution on with a q-tip and only put it where you need it. You can also just rub the dry baking soda over the joint and dust off the excess before flooding in the CA. The soda makes a good gap filler or fillet material but it will react strongly with thin CA so look out for fumes and heat.

[tedmich]

Supposedly ammonia fumes work quite well, just hang the part over the household (plain) ammonia solution. Almost every commercial CA accelerator has N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine (CAS 99-97-8) and a mixture of evaporating solvents, often with an aromatic component to stabilize it.

N,N-dimethyl-p-toluidine (CAS 99-97-8, or DMPT) is a carcinogen, available at TCI America for $20 for 25mL, enough to make ~0.25-5L of spray

typical formulations:

Henkel
0.5% DMPT
75% butane
25% naptha

Dynatex
0.5% DMPT
70% heptane
30% acetone

Pacer Tech Zip Kicker
10% (!) DMPT
83% naptha
5% xylene
2% ethylbenzene


pretty nasty stuff, they use it internally for bone cements but I would avoid even breathing it.

I imagine an aquarium pump into a sparge stone at the bottom of a bottle of household (plain) ammonia then through a thin tube (maybe with a momentary switch) could make a spot accelerator unit for cheap.

[Joe Gwinn]

Anything that is basic, i.e. not acidic, and holds a bit of moisture will help CA kick. Putting water on a joint is a sure way to interfere with the bond however because the water soaks into the pores and prevents the CA from getting where it needs to go. You want to spritz, let that dry completely and then come in with your glue. You might as well wipe the solution on with a q-tip and only put it where you need it.

I've read that a quick way is simply to breathe on the joint before applying CA.

[salvarsan]

One article, "Synthesis and degradation behavior of poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate)", talks about hardening and degradation of CA polymers.

Sez they:

• The liquid monomer is reactive and, given time, hardens even dissolved in acetone.
• CA heats up while hardening. More catalyst means sooner heat not more heat.
• Hardened CA depolymerizes if heated enough around ~175C and up.
• Basic (as in 'alkaline') hot/boiling water degrades hardened CA.

Sez me:
A big jar with 1/2" of ammonia solution in the bottom sounds like a good CA kicker.
DEET mosquito repellent on a Q-tip is another candidate.

[ReWind]

The little spray/pump bottles that I see accelerator come in spray FAR too much in a single pump for most uses.

I just pull the entire pump head out and use the hanging straw inside as a "dropper" to put it where it should go. Lasts so much longer that way.

[jonson]

Not seen pump or spritz bottles in the UK as it tends to come in rattle cans although there are wide nibbed oversize felt tip pen type applicators available. they tend to last a long time as long as you don't leave the top off to dry them out. Ether works well although for some reason the day seems to pass quick and I lose track of time when I use it. If you are really stuck then just put a thin smear of CA on both sides of the joint and let it go off and then glue it together and it will grip quicker than just a single application.

[Mick Bailey]

I had some activator in a pump spray in an artificial nail kit. That stuff was the best I've come across in the UK for quite some time, but insanely expensive. I have some now that's used for assembling UPVC windows, though the label stresses "Inhalation causes irreversible lung damage". I can do without that, and in an aerosol it's just about the worst format for such a product.

Years ago I has some brush-on bright yellow aniline based product for bonding rubber using CA. It cured so hot the joint smoked, but the resulting joint was stronger than the rest of the material. I wonder if aniline dye sold for making up wood stain would work, maybe disolved in alcohol?

[salvarsan]

I wonder if aniline dye sold for making up wood stain would work, maybe disolved in alcohol?

probably, since the reaction is triggered by basic compounds like aniline derivatives, i.e., dyes, DMPT, ammonia gas. The chemical criteria is pKa, pKb, or proton affinity.

[tedmich]

amines do it! you could suspend part over a rotting mackerel... (better yet try the ammonia) Aniline dyes are quite chemically different than the NN-dialky aniline in CA accelerator patents, they may only work to the extent they have unreacted aniline. NN-dialky aniline are very toxic!

[salvarsan]

11 o'clock news:

For cyanoacrylate catalysts, aniline dyes are a crap shoot.

The original Perkin aniline dyes were free amines and emphatically basic. The prevalence of Perkin dyes 150 years ago led to conflation of all dye types with aniline dyes whether they were or not.

If the dye is actually an anilide, it has likely been pre-acidified for immediate use. You don't want that for a base-initiated polymerization. You need the free amine AKA "free base". Theoretically, free-based cocaine or meth vapors could work as well as N,N-dimethyl p-toluidine but are impractical (and red hot stupid).

Free bases are formed by removing the acid adduct from the amine with another base such as a solution of bicarbonate, or Drano, or ... ammonia. Oh, the irony.

If you shop the aniline wood dyes as liquids, not powders, they might tell you if they are pre-acidified or metallized. Ignore the latter since they aren't even aniline-derived.

98.5% pure "catalyst grade" DMPT is ~$50 for 100ml, about 3 shot glasses. Storing a pure carcinogen means special handling, for sure.

What to do? I'd use ammonia vapors or buy the DMPT solution that is made to purpose.

[big_teee]

Baking soda, makes CA instantly set, to a hard as a rock substance.
Works great on filling in a worn nut, refile after you're done.
Don't know what is in BS that makes it turn to a solid, but maybe something could be used to slow down the effect!
T

[tedmich]

according to an old paper (1966!) you can make a 15% solution of sodium bicabonate in 82% methanol and 3% water, it should evaporate quite well and not accelerate as much as 100% BA. Id probably try a 10/87/3 wt percent BA/MeOH/H2O so it'd clog sprayer a little less.

[copperheadroads]

according to an old paper (1966!) you can make a 15% solution of sodium bicabonate in 82% methanol and 3% water, it should evaporate quite well and not accelerate as much as 100% BA. Id probably try a 10/87/3 wt percent BA/MeOH/H2O so it'd clog sprayer a little less.

I will give this a try

[SonnyW]

I have used just plain denatured alcohol shellac thinner and it does work. I put mine in the empty stewmac sprayer bottle that originally had accelerator in it. I discovered it would work from trying to dye CA with some alcohol based tints. The CA does turn cloudy, but I had that also with the regular accelerator.