electricfan

My Feedback: (1)

I have terrible nasal reactions with CA and accelerator so i got a respirator in the paint section at home depot. I think it is the "organic" grade. anyway, it has greatly helped my allergies, but my eyes still burn when i use the glue-i guess i need goggles. BTW, does anyone know what that smoke is that forms when CA and accelerator are put together?

The Ghost

I became hypersensitive to polyester and epoxy after many years(20) of constant use. The CA type glues made me sick when I used them, so I have gone back to using the good old white glues, and can use epoxy's now after 6 months of no use at all.

Cheers,

hookedonrc

For me, if I use a lot of CA, my eyes (usually the right one) will swell up to almost closed. I have taken steps to make sure I am in a well ventilated area and that I don't put my face right over the spot where I just glued. I have also started using the small eye dropper type applicators available at the LHS. It helps to keep spillage or the CA from running out of the container quickly like it sometimes does when using the bottle upside down.

RAMFlyer

My Feedback: (65)

Yep--CA really fires up my sinuses too. [sm=thumbup.gif]Best and most comfortable thing I do is use a small fan on top of the workbench to blow the stuff away from me while I use it. Got a small clip-on style two speed fan that I can put anywhere to create a light breeze over the area I am working on.

[X(]I also use a respirator and nitrile gloves when I mix epoxy.

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

I am also starting to get nasal and eye reactions to CA.

I now primarily use TiteBond (yellow wood glue) for my building and reserve CA for specialized uses. While using wood glue takes longer to build with due to clamping and drying, I have saved a BUNDLE on glue. A 8 oz bottle of TiteBond is about $4.00 and will do more planes than I care to think about. It is also lighter than CA when dry.

ballgunner

My Feedback: (1)

A model building buddy of mine had reaactions to CA. He tried some odorless and it seemed to cure his problem. The stuff is a bit more expensive. For him it worked. Might not for everyone.

the-plumber

If you search using "CA", you can find a number of threads describing the problems various modelers, including me, have had and continue to have with CA.

If then fumes bother your eyes, by all means get some ventillation going which will change the air in your building area at least 6 times an hour.

I still use CA, but only when nothing else will work, and the CA lives in a sealed jar with a bed of silica gel in the bottom, to keep moisture at bay. My adhesive du jour is Titebond original formula, and I buy it in gallon jugs from The BORG.

Tall Paul

I must use the "User Friendly Odorless" versions of CA. It does work, but is much more expensive.
And if the UFO CA is in the path of a Dremel sanding drum after it cures, it will out-gas that noxious crap.
I use a lot of aliphatic-resin instead, most of the time.

michpittsman

My Feedback: (11)

The odorless cures my reaction to CA glues; the only two problems being (1) the higher price and (2) the difficulty of finding fresh stock on the shelf at the LHS, since they sell much less of it than regular. I sort of solved both problems by buying 6 at a time (better price) and tossing it right in the freezer until needed. JIM

vasek

My Feedback: (4)

I have the same problem, can't use CA or epoxy....

just a note of caution for everyone, sanding dust from cured glue (CA or epoxy) is as lethal as the fumes [:'(]

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

I'm still at the 'runny nose' stage when using CA.....no tell'n how long that will last - but until then, I'll stick with it!

Jerry

the-plumber

Jer, old pal, get thee to the Titebond store soon.

I spent an agonizing week trying to _see_ after my allergy 'went critical'.

I had the runny nose thing going on for quite a while, and then after a longish building session one evening, my eyes itched and burned a bit.

The next day I couldn't open them. Took a couple of hours with warm water soaks to get my eyelids apart, and then I found I couldn't see much better than to tell light from dark.

After three or so days of having eyes that felt like my eyelids were full of sand (same feeling you get from the reflected light of an arc-welder too long), the _linings_ of my eyelids peeled out whole, looking almost exactly like onion skin paper.

After another couple days of just lousy vision, my eyes cleared up and I haven't had a recurrence.

And I won't, either.

Absolutely no more CA fumes for this old salt, nosiree !!!

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Fred, maybe you are just an old fart

Jerry

Tall Paul

Fred, I thought I'd come down with pneumonia when I discovered my CA allergy...
Different strokes.. oops bad word...

byop

I think only my fingers are allergic to the CA. They seem to really stick together after I use it.

the-plumber

That much is certain . . .

blvdbuzzard

I used to have (2) 4oz bottles of CA+ on my bench for many years. I would get ZAPPED, that when you get the fumes in your eyes and can't see through the tears. I would get these sinuds head aches and could not figure out why. I had to stop building for almost a year and then in the first day after starting to build again I got the head aches again. After that I started using the oderless types. I also cut way down on the amount I use. I now use Titebond, hot glue, and very little CA any more. I put a line of yellow glue on a part, press them together then put a couple of dots of hot glue to hold them in place and keep on working. I have built a bunch of planes out of just hot glue. IT works pretty well and is not as heavy as I first thought. I won't build big planes out of hot glue but the ones up tp 40-45 size have worked pretty well so far. I have 30 plus flights on a Taco that was built out of hot glue and a little epoxy for the plywood mount.

Dru.

aimmaintenance

It took a season of heavy building before my reactions started. Dry irritated sinuses and a headache the next morning.
Now like many others I just went back to regular old yellow carpenters glue, epoxy, and gorilla glue. I still keep a bottle of CA around but use it very sparingly.
Once my symptoms began I decided to lay off using CA alot before it got so bad that my head exploded and my feet fell off.

rclement

My Feedback: (1)

Well I used to have my wife's parakeet in my office/modeling room and would always keep one eye on it while I was building and glueing. Now she's moved it out of there so I don't know what I'm going to do......

the-plumber

Gotta watch those birds . . .

Here's an anecdote by Rich Emley in rec.models.rc.air, from a few years back. Good for a chuckle now and then . . .


" Got cockatiel from wife for anniversary..Size of Robin with 12"
plus wingspan.and very sharp hooked beak.( never seen a bird fly so fast
and in so many directions at same time). As he is only pet (not counting
grandchildren) he gets all the attention. Taught him to whistle theme
from Andy Griffith,( Huge Mistake)...Anyway goes down cellar with me
while working on latest creations F4U and Bf 109,( like
warbirds.).......He is fascinated with wires, small screws and foam,
gets excited when I say " want to go down stairs."Well, theres one thing
he likes better than life itself and thats the sound of his can-opener
beak going through stretched Monocote. Could not for the life of me
figure out what that "popping"sound was, was busy timing new
engine...........Grabbed bird ( Moofasa ) in left hand and battery
powered dremel w/sanding drum in right....
Still goes down cellar, ( can't say no )
but beak has 1/8 in. radius. He's happy and I'am happy, as he eats
granulated food he has no trouble but I can detect a lisp in(Andy)
now........Beak grows fast so watch closely...Cockatiels can live 15
years, good chance he'll be here after me so if you young rc'ers want a
pal to go every where you go and do what you do give my wife a call, I
know she'll throw in planes........"

JAkridge

Wow, I'm not the only one....I hate the fumes from the drumel more than anything. That gas fumes cloud can stop a stampeding rino. Has'nt stopped me from building yet , but the sinus deal and wet eye deal is getting worse. I guess if we would do it the proper way.. "USE ONLY IN WELL VENTILATED AREAS" we'd be better off.
The fan in the summer time pretty much do'es the trick, but now in the winter with the door and garage door shut the fumes just hang....
Sure hate to hear about this *&%#^ being really bad for us. I got a new kit comeing in the mail next week. It will be back to the Elmers when it gets worse..

Intruder38

Juzplane,

Be careful of "when it gets worse". Getting worse can mean asthmatic bronchitis (which I developed), asthma, or (according to the medical data sheet) cardiac arithmia, none of which are particularly pleasant. The fan blowing across the work area will work to a degree, but when you bend over to get a closer look at a CA joint in the fuselage you can get an unexpected whiff just the same. Hit it with kicker and the reaction seems to accelerate, as well. Sand down a CA joint and the dust is as allergenic as the straight CA, if no more so. I used CA for a long time without any problems, but once I got sensitaized, the reactions worsened very rapidly. Be cautious; using odorless CA or aliphatics may take you a little longer to build, but using regular CA may not give you as much time to build.

DustOffUH1

My Feedback: (2)

I didn't have any problems with CA until working on my latest project. Maybe its because I changed brands or maybe I'm just starting to get sensitive to it. Now I wake up with a nasty migraine (get migraines from other stuff too, have been for the past 5 years), and my left eye feels like its going to shoot out of a cannon. If I use a fan that helps a bit.
So my question is, if I start to go with wood glue, is there a fast way to dry it? Does a heat gun help? Someone needs to invent wood glue accelerator

Balsa Master

CA and some epoxies have gasses that are so caustic that the reaction to them is like a alergie, i get the same reaction you did from CA but i am not alergic to it. easy solution is to work in front of an open window and put a big box fan in it blowing out. let the neighbors smel lthe ca though i recomend only using tiny tiny amounts of CA jsut to tack things together and using yellow wood glue (i dont liek white glue because its water based and wil ldislove inthe rain) never had a problem with it and its only slightly heavier but much stronger and cheaper.... ah yes... cheaper

not sure on what the smoke is... though get me the chemical composition of CA and accelerator and ill probably be able to tell u, though u prolly d ont wanna no...

the-plumber

Learning to build with aliphatics versus CA is nothing more than learning to make decently-fitted joints and learning everything you can about clamps, including how to make the truly odd clamp now and then.

You don't build with aliphatics the same way you build with CA - with CA you can zap (no pun intended) two parts together and move on to zapping the next part in place.

Using aliphatics you glue and clamp the first joint, glue and clamp the second joint, and so on. About the time you get say, the last rib in a wing glued and clamped, the first joint will have passed the minimum clamp time and you can "easter-egg" that clamp to the next joint to be glued.

With a decent selection of clamps you can frame up a major structure about as fast using aliphatics as you can with CA, because the clamp time for aliphatics is only 30 minutes, after which the joint can be handled with reasonable care - it does not need to remain pinned to the building surface, for example.

The end result of learning to build with aliphatics versus zapping models together with CA is that you learn how to build better models, and absent the odd Figure 9 Maneuver now and then, the models 'live' longer because they are built better.

$0.02