General Instructions for CA glue from Satellite City Instant Glues

Getting Started

Bonding with Hot Stuff thin CA glue and UFO Odorless thin CA glue

Take full advantage of Hot Stuff's ultra low viscosity by assembling and aligning all the parts before the CA glue is applied. With the parts aligned and held firmly together, apply a small amount of Hot Stuff instant glue to the joint or crack. The size of the part and its porosity play an important role in knowing how much to apply. Hot Stuff's cure time is five seconds between tightly fitting non-porous parts. The benefit of this method is that you can take as much time as you need to get the parts perfectly in place. Hot Stuff thin CA glue is so thin that it easily wicks into hairline cracks, making it unnecessary to try to align the parts while they are coated with a rapidly hardening CA glue! With this method, you don't find yourself bonding pieces crookedly because you didn't have enough time to get them lined up before the CA glue cured.

It is important to use Hot Stuff CA glue only to bond materials which are non-porous and fit very tightly. Porous materials will absorb Hot Stuff, resulting in a weak bond. A poor fit will prevent a bond from forming because Hot Stuff instant glue is extremely thin and cannot fill gaps. In either of these cases, the proper glue would instead be Super T medium gap-filling CA glue or Special T thick ultra-gap-filling CA glue. For best results, use with NCF Quick accelerator. See below for instructions.

Bonding with Super T medium gap-filling CA glue

Apply Super T instant glue in a spiral pattern to one part. Assemble and align the parts, then hold firmly for 10 to 25 seconds. Super T CA glue works best for parts that fit well but not perfectly. This super glue can fill gaps, and it can also handle relatively porous materials. If the parts fit perfectly and are non-porous, use Hot Stuff thin CA glue instead. If there are very large gaps to fill, such as when pieces have broken off of the part you are working on, it is better to use Special T thick ultra-gap-filling CA glue For best results, use with NCF Quick accelerator. See below for instructions.

Bonding with Special T thick ultra-gap-filling CA glue and UFO Odorless thick CA glue

These are very thick glues with greater gap-filling capabilities and have a slower rate of cure than Super T making it possible to bond parts which fit very poorly (limited contact area). Because the rates of cure are so slow (50 - 60 seconds), many seconds of alignment time are possible after joining the parts. The amount of time varies, of course, with the material being bonded. Apply Special T thick CA glue or UFO Odorless thick CA glue in a spiral pattern to one part, assemble and align parts, then hold firmly for 50 to 60 seconds. For best results, use with NCF Quick accelerator. See below for instructions.

Storage and shelf life

CA glue shelf lives vary depending on bottle quantity as follows:

------------------- at Room Temperature -------------------

CA glue shelf life is adversely affected by storage in hot areas (above 80 degrees Fahrenheit).

Long term storage of CA glue to maximize shelf life

Our accelerators and Super Solvent debonder need no special storage except to avoid high temperatures and direct sunlight (Store below 80 degrees Fahrenheit and keep the original cap tightly screwed on).

Speeding up cure time and increasing adhesion with NCF Quick accelerator, NCF Hot, and NCF Stone

Use NCF Quick, NCF Hot, and NCF Stone accelerators with Hot Stuff thin CA glue, UFO Odorless thin CA glue, Super T medium gap-filling CA glue,Special T thick ultra-gap-filling CA glue, and UFO Odorless thick CA glue.

What is the difference between all these accelerators?

NCF Quick accelerator is our most popular accelerator for CA glue. This activator comes in an aerosol can, so it produces the finest mist while the user just holds down the button. This accelerator is generally the easiest to use, especially when you want to apply an even amount to a large surface, such as when finishing, soaking porous materials, etc. We recommend NCF Quick for nearly all customers and applications.

NCF Hot is very similar to NCF Quick, but it comes in non-pressurized spray-pump bottles. Some customers prefer spray pump bottles because they feel they have more control over how much spray comes out. These bottles are also better if you have an application where it is appropriate to brush on the accelerator or apply a tiny amount with a dropper or a toothpick. In that case, you can easily unscrew the spray pump. NCF Hot accelerator cures about as quickly as NCF Quick.

NCF Stone is designed to be used specifically with natural stone such as granite and marble, especially light-colored varieties of granite which are prone to discoloration when too much of our NCF Quick is used. We recommend using NCF Stone with all granite and marble, but especially with light-colored varieties. It is a more expensive product per ounce than NCF Quick, and it doesn't work as rapidly, but you do not have to worry about potential discoloration. There is no benefit to using this accelerator on stone types besides granite and marble, so we recommend using NCF Quick for other stone types.

All of our CA glue accelerators consist of a solvent and active ingredients. When sprayed on a surface or object, the solvent quickly evaporates (instantly for NCF Quick, very quickly for NCF Hot and Mild, and in about 50-60 seconds for Spray'N'Cure) leaving the active ingredients on the surface but no visible residue.

Do not spray too closely. Doing so will often cause the CA glue to turn white. Use a gentle mist from 8-10 inches away. You can sometimes spray more closely, but you have to be careful to use a very small amount if so. If you have problems with the glue turning white when you use accelerator, spray from further away and/or use less accelerator.

Do not soak the area or get it visibly wet. If the surface looks wet, you are spraying too much or too closely. Over-saturating a surface with CA glue accelerator can cause discoloration in some materials, especially granite and marble. Heavy spraying can also cause the CA glue to cure too rapidly, resulting in a weak bond that turns white and sometimes bubbles before hardening.

Now that you know what not to do, we'll tell you the right way to apply our accelerators! For brevity, we will use "NCF Quick" in these instructions to refer to all of our accelerators.

For tight-fitting, non-porous parts, spray NCF Quick lightly on one part, assemble parts and apply Hot Stuff thin CA glue or UFO Odorless thin CA glue to the crack or joint. Then spray NCF Quick wherever CA glue appears along the edges. NCF Quick makes curing very fast, so keep in mind that penetration of thin instant glue is lessened as cure speed gets faster. If you need the CA glue to penetrate a good distance, tilt the parts gently in the direction you want the instant glue to travel and wait a moment before spraying the edges. Be cautious when applying CA glue in this way, as it can easily come out a joint where you are not expecting it and drip down the side. To prevent this, you can temporarily tightly adhere some polyethylene plastic (the type used for plastic bags and plastic wrap) to one or multiple sides, as polyethylene is not bonded well by CA glue.

Porous materials and parts with large gaps or uneven fits are best bonded using Super T medium, Special T thick, or UFO Odorless Thick CA glue. First check the fit of parts to be bonded to see that they line up as you desire. This is important because bonding time is reduced. Spray NCF Quick on one part and set aside. NCF Quick (and our other accelerators) stay active on the part for 5-7 minutes. Apply Super T medium, Special T thick, or UFO Odorless Thick CA glue to the other part in a spiral pattern. The more porous the material, the tighter the pattern should be as some "soaking-in" may occur. Assemble and align the parts, then hold firmly for ten seconds. Never directly apply any of our CA glue to an area which has been sprayed with accelerator because curing will begin too quickly for a good bond to be made.

When working in temperatures below 50 F, in areas with very low humidity, and for hard-to-bond materials, use NCF with all our instant glues.

Never Mix CA glue and accelerator in the same container! The CA glue will cure rapidly while generating a considerable amount of heat and then burst out the side of the bottle. Do not attempt to mix anything else with CA glue in order to thin it. The only material that will effectively thin CA glue is a thinner CA glue- attempting to mix other chemicals can also result in the situation just described.

Debonding and removing CA glue with Super Solvent

Use Super Solvent as a solvent for Hot Stuff instant glues.

1) To open- puncture tip with safety pin
2) To remove glue from skin- Wet a soft cloth with solvent and apply to glue for 30 seconds. Wipe clean. Repeat as necessary. Wash with soap and water
3) To break existing bonds- Apply solvent directly to bond. Repeat at one-two minute intervals until bond can be separated with gentle force
. 4) To remove glue from surfaces or fabric- Apply solvent to glue. After one minute, apply again and rub gently with soft cloth. Repeat until glue is removed. Wash with soap and water.
Note: US-1 may discolor fabric or paint finishes. You should always test on a sample or inconspicuous area before usage.

See our Frequently Asked Questions page page for more tips.