How to remove CA glue from balsa?

[atpgalaxy]

Hello,

I'm in the process of building my balsa wood kit when I lost focus and glued a piece upside down. So I was wondering how to remove CA glue (Super glue) from the basla wood. So far, nail polish remover with acetone in it has not worked. Thanks for any help people give!

 

[Freaky_1]

Never had much luck with nail polish remover, but a drop of straight acetone (hardware store) has always worked for me.
Apply a drop and wait for it to soak, then another drop till you see the ca free up.
A tiny bit of weight agaist the part to GENTLY push against it while you apply acetone with a toothpick tells you when it's ready to go.

Frank

 

[stay-fun]

You can also get official debonder at the LHS (but much more expensive obviously).

 

[atpgalaxy]

Thanks for your help! I'll try the first one first then if it doesn't work, I will try the second one.

 

[Balsa to Foam]

I also heard you could remove ca with cooking oil.

 

[atpgalaxy]

Haven't gone to the store yet but I tested the cooking oil on another piece I glued together and that didn't work. I'll post if the other two suggestions work or not.

 

[Stradawhovious]

I would be concerned with the cooking oil trick. Once removed, could you ever get anything to stick to oil soaked balsa again?

 

[rc@nyc]

removing ca

try sanding the ca off of the wood

 

[SpecialEd]

I bought a cheap Dremel and when I make a fail with CA/Balsa I just simply sand off my failure, and if need be I just reproduce the part from spare balsa.

I used to assemble with elmer's glue but CA is SOOO much faster/stronger/lighter but yeah the catch with it is that it really does instantly bond. What I've tried to do lately is assemble as much as I can without the glue, make sure its all correctly placed and then start to glue it up with the CA.

 

[Rogueraven]

I would be concerned with the person trying to use cooking oil to break down SuperGlue jokes aside..... Really?

Acetone can remove superglue like already mentioned it is not straight forward but can speed up the process.

Also sometimes the superglue you used can break down dried Superglue (Stops itself forming a skin layer inside the bottle) try it on scrap balsa first.

There are various Superglue removers there may be one for the brand of glue you used. there may not be but worth a shout looking or trying one with a high review.

Superglues weakness is cold stick the pieces you glued together in the freezer and freeze them overnight. See if you can gently break the join the next morning, scoring it with craft knife may help this process.

 

[Turbojoe]

I stopped buying CA debonders years ago. Now I keep a can of acetone on hand. The base acetone evaporates really fast so for small spots I usually stay with it and keep applying a drop or two as needed to keep the joint wet. On larger areas like a fuselage former I'll take a cotton ball and stretch it to fit snugly in the area and then drench it with CA. Usually softens the joint in a few minutes so I can pull the part free. It all depends on how much CA you may have used in the area as to how long it'll take to free the part.

I also keep a jar with about two inches of acetone in it to toss glue tips in when they get globs on the end or are plugged. They come out in brand new condition.

Joe

 

[SpecialEd]

I would be concerned with the person trying to use cooking oil to break down SuperGlue jokes aside..... Really?

Acetone can remove superglue like already mentioned it is not straight forward but can speed up the process.

Also sometimes the superglue you used can break down dried Superglue (Stops itself forming a skin layer inside the bottle) try it on scrap balsa first.

There are various Superglue removers there may be one for the brand of glue you used. there may not be but worth a shout looking or trying one with a high review.

Superglues weakness is cold stick the pieces you glued together in the freezer and freeze them overnight. See if you can gently break the join the next morning, scoring it with craft knife may help this process.

Just be sure not to use acetone if your dealing with foam as acetone dissolves foam to nearly nothing (which is a great way to get rid of those annoying shipping foam block btw).

I recently found this pretty good stuff called "Un-Cure", here is a link to it: https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__8458__Un_Cure_CA_Debonder_1_oz.html

Unfortunately though, just the other day I was working on my latest balsa model's motor ount when my phone rang and I placed the motor mount on my $250 Razer Deathstalker Ultimate Keyboard. Sure enough I got a good amount of Thick CA which conveniently dropped between my right shift key and my enter key.

I tried to use that Un-Cure stuff but there was so much of it the original thick CA that the un-cure stuff simply wasn't beneficial to me. I have however found that it works very well on removing dried ca glue from your fingers' skin.