UV Light Glue

I've used a few different brands, all seem to work fine. I use it for tacking PE rails in place. Put a little strip on a glass plate, dip the edge in the glue, put rail in place and expose to UV at one end, then move down the rail exposing it to the light as I align it. Seems to work better for me than white glues or CA, as I can move it until it is exposed to the light. EJ

ejhammer

I've used a few different brands, all seem to work fine. I use it for tacking PE rails in place. Put a little strip on a glass plate, dip the edge in the glue, put rail in place and expose to UV at one end, then move down the rail exposing it to the light as I align it. Seems to work better for me than white glues or CA, as I can move it until it is exposed to the light. EJ

 

I can see what you saying. For PE the stuff seems like a good fit.

The key to the UV adhesives---no snarkiness intended---is that the UV has to be able to get to pretty much all of the resin for it to cure properly. When it can do that, it's nice and strong. Great for p-e, and especially for clear parts.

I spent this afternoon installing windows in the fuselage of a Williams Bros. Boeing 247, and it made the job much easier. Once I got the pieces to fit to my liking, a little squeeze of "5-Second Fix" on the tiny flange edges, pop the piece in and squeeze it firmly into place---then wipe away any excess with a swipe of tissue before hitting it with the UV. It locks the pieces instantly in place, and is strong enough to resist incidental handling...which the PVA-type clear part adhesives are not.

I've also found it has about the same hardness as styrene when cured, and sands pretty cleanly. I've even fine-sanded/buffed/polished it to good clarity after sanding, just like clear styrene.

Very handy stuff!

gregbale

The key to the UV adhesives---no snarkiness intended---is that the UV has to be able to get to pretty much all of the resin for it to cure properly. When it can do that, it's nice and strong. Great for p-e, and especially for clear parts.

I spent this afternoon installing windows in the fuselage of a Williams Bros. Boeing 247, and it made the job much easier. Once I got the pieces to fit to my liking, a little squeeze of "5-Second Fix" on the tiny flange edges, pop the piece in and squeeze it firmly into place---then wipe away any excess with a swipe of tissue before hitting it with the UV. It locks the pieces instantly in place, and is strong enough to resist incidental handling...which the PVA-type clear part adhesives are not.

I've also found it has about the same hardness as styrene when cured, and sands pretty cleanly. I've even fine-sanded/buffed/polished it to good clarity after sanding, just like clear styrene.

Very handy stuff!

 

Thanks for the input. It seems that it has limited applications. Not that that is bad. Honestly, I think my glue kit is bad because the glue didn't make it anywhere near to the harndness of styrene, and, where it could be sanded. Where the glue was exposed to the light, or hidden, it did not seem to cure fully. Too bad that my experience is not a good one because my first impressions are tainted. The last thing that I want is another quirky tool that may or may not work when I need it to. We'll see. Maybe I will exchange for another...if the mood strikes me.

Thanks to all for the input.

You have to shine the light edge on to the bonding surfaces. If it really is UV, clear plastic will stop it. I am assuming it is an LED rather than a laser, and the broadness of the LED has both visible and UV in the beam.  That is nice, as you can see the beam for aiming.  However, it looks like the beam must not just go through the plastic to get to the bond region- it needs to illuminate the resin directly. So if the piece is recessed completely into surrounding plastic you have a problem. In those cases I place some blobs on the back side that touch the transparent piece and spread over the rest of the plastic so the blobs can be hardened.  Those blobs don't need to be very big, and if they are, for example, on the interior of a fuselage should not be too noticable.

 

Don Stauffer

You have to shine the light edge on to the bonding surfaces. If it really is UV, clear plastic will stop it. I am assuming it is an LED rather than a laser, and the broadness of the LED has both visible and UV in the beam.  That is nice, as you can see the beam for aiming.  However, it looks like the beam must not just go through the plastic to get to the bond region- it needs to illuminate the resin directly. So if the piece is recessed completely into surrounding plastic you have a problem. In those cases I place some blobs on the back side that touch the transparent piece and spread over the rest of the plastic so the blobs can be hardened.  Those blobs don't need to be very big, and if they are, for example, on the interior of a fuselage should not be too noticable.

 

 

Hey Don... thanks for that. I made up my mind to exchange it for another. It is possible that this kit was bad because when I opened up the package the exterior of the cap had a brownish gooey glue stuck to it. It was a mess. So, it looked like the pen leaked. I don't know why leakage might affect the glue reservoir, but, I am no chemist. All I can say is that in my testing, I shined the light directly on the glue glob for up to a minute, and the glob was not fully cured. And in this example, the glue was fully exposed, not buried by surrounding plastic. I will exchange it and try again. I will let you guys know what happens. And yes...this has both the visible and UV.

Well, I exchanged and tested the replacement. The replacement works; the glue cures as it should.

This glue pen had some leakage in the packaging too, and, a cracked cap. The first one had a cracked cap as well. In fact... all of the pens in the store seem to have the same malady. Time will tell if the pen holds up.

As for the strength of the bond? It is as others have said. It is not terribly strong, but, it is strong enough to handle jobs where there isn't continual stress on the connection. I can certainly see applications for this. Excellent examples are already mentioned by others here.

Do you have a Hobbytown anywhere nearby, Stevie?

I got one of these things at the tiny Hobbytown near me, I've used it a couple times  and it works fine (keeping in mind what was already mentioned about, the join needs to be visible to the little light). I can share the brand of mine if yes.

My guess was right, bad glue but I had no evidence so didn't say.

**To be frank, and IMHO, this makes the product virtually useless for most glueing needs. Ideal for canopies and clear styrene as mentioned above though, I'd think.

 

 

Greg

**To be frank, and IMHO, this makes the product virtually useless for most glueing needs. Ideal for canopies and clear styrene as mentioned above though, I'd think.

Greetings Greg. Are you enjoying the great Midwest tundra? Blasted! I hate winter.

Yeah I have a HobbyTown just two miles from the office. I love that because I can make a quick jaunt there over lunch, or right after work.

Last night I did another test with this glue. I took 2 flat pieces of styrene and ran a bead around all the edges. I cured the glue with the light and left it over night. This morning I pried up one corner. It didn't take much for it to begin separating. Then, in one lightning moment, the entire seam failed causing both pieces to come apart. The glue didn't gradually fail... it catastrophically failed at once. I was thinking about using this glue to install the window on my sub. After seeing this happen... NO WAY! If it would fail after closing it all up... I am hosed.

So to your point? I totally agree. Canopies and PE seems like a good fit. I have one other use that may make this stuff of some value to me. I will use it to tack a part into position and then hit the piece with a more reliable glue. I did that today with my sub. I positioned the decking, dabbed it with this glue, and hit it with the light. That held the part where I wanted it until I could slop some epoxy onto it.

 

 

 

 

 

I have only used UV glues on clear parts, and with good success.  I prefer it to other glues in this role, it seems to be a produce a stonger joint.  I have also layered it to fill gaps between the clear part matting surface.  Sands easily and takes paint well.  I've tried to use UV's in other situations with less success.

Dave

 

 

Interesting to hear of you actual experiences, Dave.

Steve, the more I think about UV glue, the less sense it makes. I mean not just for scale modelers but in general. The strength of any bond is at the mating surfaces, or what we like to call the "join", not at the exposed edge. So what's the point?

I used the stuff to build up the edge of something because I didn't want to mix epoxy and wait for it to cure, it worked great for that.

I can understand why you wouldn't have wanted to take a chance with it on the Seaview.

Greg

Interesting to hear of you actual experiences, Dave.

Steve, the more I think about UV glue, the less sense it makes. I mean not just for scale modelers but in general. The strength of any bond is at the mating surfaces, or what we like to call the "join", not at the exposed edge. So what's the point?

I used the stuff to build up the edge of something because I didn't want to mix epoxy and wait for it to cure, it worked great for that.

I can understand why you wouldn't have wanted to take a chance with it on the Seaview.

 

But with the edge exposed, the light can lightpipe into the area between the faces of the joint.  By insisting the edge be exposed, we do not mean that you apply the glue only to the edge.  You put the glue on the face of the joint, but then the joint cannot be hidden so that the curing light cannot enter the edge.

Say you glue a small piece of plastic on top of a larger sheet of plastic.  Then the edge is exposed, and it will harden.  However, say you are inserting a rod into a hole.  If you only put the glue on the bottom of the rod, the curing light cannot get to the joint after you insert the rod into place.  You must, instead, put glue on the circumference of the rod, and shine the light on that.  This glue would not work well on a large diameter rod inserted in a very shallow hole.

 

I see what you mean, Don.

Thanks for the enlightenment, and also for your excellent verbal descriptions.

I never thought of the light finding it's way down for some distance. "Lightpiping". New word for me. Interesting stuff, thanks again.

This type of glue I use for small detail wiring of aircraft engine and exterior small parts.the glue is not strong and can be messy.Lighting it up to harden could be tricky.I use a small needle to apply it.the glue stays wet until you light it up.The glue is also sticky.I gave it up myself.