UV curing glue for clear parts

[Giorgio N]

I'm currently testing a new potential solution to glue clear parts on models, the Lazer Bond UV curing glue

 

https://www.amazon.com/Lazer-Bond-Liquid-Resin-Seconds/dp/B01823WXP6

 

I've seen this and a similar product from another brand for sale at the local DIY store and I was very interested. I'm familiar with UV curing glues and resins for industrial use and I've known them for almost 30 years but until now I hadn't noticed similar products for home use so I grabbed the Lazer Bond with the idea of testing this on transparencies.

The glue has a distinct smell, not really the best... in any case it's easy enough to apply using the "pen", atlhough for some applications a more precise solution may be needed. I'll try to apply it using a toothpick, may work. Once the glue is in place, it needs to be "activated" using the UV source included in the same pen. The instructions mentions only a few seconds but I found that a bit more doesn't hurt... I tested the glue on the windscreen of a 1/72 Eduard Spitfire and the final result was pretty good, the glue is totally clear and any excess can be removed with a modelling knife or sanded. The bond seems pretty robust, although I'll only know for sure after applying and removing the masks.

I also tried to glue two generic bits of sprue and here I didn't have great results as the UV light can't reach under the surfaces... for this reason I would advice this glue for the transparencies only. As these are the parts where finding the right glue is more difficult, I'd say that til now I'm quite happy with this product. I'm also curious about the potential use on photo-etched instrument panels, as the glue remains perfectly clear it could allow me to glue the panel onto the instument film while also creating the effect of glass. I'll have to do a test on a spare panel

In terms of costs the blister was around €10, no idea how many canopies will this last for and what the shelf life is. As the glue doesn't cure until exposed to UV light, I'd expect that the product in the tube will survive for a long time.

Hope this info can be of use to someone here. If anyone has had experience with similar products I'd be happy to know

[bmwh548]

10 pounds? Around these parts it's roughly 5 euros. And if you shop around you'll find 2 for 1 bargains.

[tank152]

Yes the glue has loads of uses, been using it a while now. Paid around £3 for mine. Its great for nav lights, lenses ips etc.

[Mike]

That looks almost identical to the tube I've had for ages off eBay, although they've added some extra plastic fancy bits to make it look better I think mine was a few quid, but I bought an extra glue pack that slots into the barrel of the pen.  It's really quite good, but I'd not thought of using it for attaching canopies.  Maybe I'll give it a go, as the bond is pretty strong.

 

Does anyone else think the weird burned rubber smell it leaves behind is horrible?

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Giorgio N said:

I also tried to glue two generic bits of sprue and here I didn't have great results as the UV light can't reach under the surfaces...

My instructions said that if the UV can't get to it, the parts will slowly cure anyway over a period of 24 hours.

[Giorgio N]

35 minutes ago, bmwh548 said:

10 pounds? Around these parts it's roughly 5 euros. And if you shop around you'll find 2 for 1 bargains.

 

10 Euros, I'm sure they will come down in price at some point. Mind, I've not checked in the many Chinese owned shops, they may have similar products for much cheaper.

 

9 minutes ago, tank152 said:

Yes the glue has loads of uses, been using it a while now. Paid around £3 for mine. Its great for nav lights, lenses ips etc.

 

Good to know you've used it before and had good results !

 

4 minutes ago, Mike said:

That looks almost identical to the tube I've had for ages off eBay, although they've added some extra plastic fancy bits to make it look better I think mine was a few quid, but I bought an extra glue pack that slots into the barrel of the pen.  It's really quite good, but I'd not thought of using it for attaching canopies.  Maybe I'll give it a go, as the bond is pretty strong.

 

Does anyone else think the weird burned rubber smell it leaves behind is horrible?

 

Yes, same smell as mine, it's terrible !

 

2 minutes ago, Mike said:

My instructions said that if the UV can't get to it, the parts will slowly cure anyway over a period of 24 hours.

 

Good to know, I'll test this aspect too. Not that it's important as I'll use my usual glues for non clear parts, but useful if I want to use the glue to repair stuff 😁

[Mike]

2 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

Yes, same smell as mine, it's terrible !

It seems to linger around for quite a while too.  It's not gut-wrenchingly awful, but it really isn't very nice.  I just hope it's not bad for us

[colin]

Anyone tried it for PE stuff, especially the small stuff that sticks to everything apart from where you want it to using super glue. Is the glue very thin or would it hold small PE in place until you could zap it with the UV light

[Mike]

It's reasonably viscous, so could hold small parts in place.  You'd have to try it really

[thorfinn]

3 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

I also tried to glue two generic bits of sprue and here I didn't have great results as the UV light can't reach under the surfaces... for this reason I would advice this glue for the transparencies only.

Please be aware that although 'daylight' will pass through clear styrene. UV light will not: you'll still need an exposed 'edge' to catch that magical purple light, or the stuff beneath may go uncured for an annoyingly long period of time.

[I chased down the 'industrial' specs on the stuff when I started using it a year or so ago, hence that fun fact.]

 

That having been said, it's become a 'go-to' tool for building. Though the resin smell is annoying, it's not nearly so obnoxious as any of several other aromas associated with our hobby's pastes and potions. What I love is that the cured product is nearly the same strength and hardness as styrene, which makes it easy-ish to sand and 'feather in' for repairing minor surface defects. Best is that you can apply it...'wrangle' your parts until they're perfectly in position...then hit it all with the purple glow and lock everything in place.

 

The strength and clarity factors have made it my new standard for things like fuselage/cabin windows, and clear parts on those miniscule-framed 1/72 helicopters...all things which have vexed me over the years by occasionally 'popping out' in mid-project due to flexing or stress, and which are usually un-repairable once the fuselage in question is 'buttoned up.' It also smoothly fills gaps, which can even be sanded and buffed out; I've used in to fill in small windows and skylights, where it was easier to just run a blob in and sand it flush than to fiddle with making the ill-fitting kit part match. It polishes out every bit as well as clear styrene, with probably a stronger bond.

 

Cheers

Edited October 16, 2018 by thorfinn

[thorfinn]

1 hour ago, colin said:

Anyone tried it for PE stuff, especially the small stuff that sticks to everything apart from where you want it to using super glue. Is the glue very thin or would it hold small PE in place until you could zap it with the UV light

 

21 minutes ago, Mike said:

It's reasonably viscous, so could hold small parts in place.  You'd have to try it really

It's about the same viscosity as thin tube cement. It will hold PE together in place quite easily. it's just a question of getting enough of the UV light to the 'joint' to be able to properly cure it. Any little unexposed 'blob' on a hidden corner or rear surface will really help in that.

[lasermonkey]

1 hour ago, thorfinn said:

Please be aware that although 'daylight' will pass through clear styrene. UV light will not: you'll still need an exposed 'edge' to catch that magical purple light, or the stuff beneath may go uncured for an annoyingly long period of time.

[I chased down the 'industrial' specs on the stuff when I started using it a year or so ago, hence that fun fact.]

 

That having been said, it's become a 'go-to' tool for building. Though the resin smell is annoying, it's not nearly so obnoxious as any of several other aromas associated with our hobby's pastes and potions. What I love is that the cured product is nearly the same strength and hardness as styrene, which makes it easy-ish to sand and 'feather in' for repairing minor surface defects. Best is that you can apply it...'wrangle' your parts until they're perfectly in position...then hit it all with the purple glow and lock everything in place.

 

The strength and clarity factors have made it my new standard for things like fuselage/cabin windows, and clear parts on those miniscule-framed 1/72 helicopters...all things which have vexed me over the years by occasionally 'popping out' in mid-project due to flexing or stress, and which are usually un-repairable once the fuselage in question is 'buttoned up.' It also smoothly fills gaps, which can even be sanded and buffed out; I've used in to fill in small windows and skylights, where it was easier to just run a blob in and sand it flush than to fiddle with making the ill-fitting kit part match. It polishes out every bit as well as clear styrene, with probably a stronger bond.

 

Cheers

Several years ago, back when I was a laser engineer, I tried using optical-grade UV-curing epoxy on a vacformed canopy which was giving me no end of trouble. Even after a week under UV light, it still wouldn't cure, even though it would cure through 5mm thick, BK7 laser mirrors!

 

I never bothered with it again.

[Giorgio N]

20 hours ago, thorfinn said:

Please be aware that although 'daylight' will pass through clear styrene. UV light will not: you'll still need an exposed 'edge' to catch that magical purple light, or the stuff beneath may go uncured for an annoyingly long period of time.

[I chased down the 'industrial' specs on the stuff when I started using it a year or so ago, hence that fun fact.]

 

That having been said, it's become a 'go-to' tool for building. Though the resin smell is annoying, it's not nearly so obnoxious as any of several other aromas associated with our hobby's pastes and potions. What I love is that the cured product is nearly the same strength and hardness as styrene, which makes it easy-ish to sand and 'feather in' for repairing minor surface defects. Best is that you can apply it...'wrangle' your parts until they're perfectly in position...then hit it all with the purple glow and lock everything in place.

 

The strength and clarity factors have made it my new standard for things like fuselage/cabin windows, and clear parts on those miniscule-framed 1/72 helicopters...all things which have vexed me over the years by occasionally 'popping out' in mid-project due to flexing or stress, and which are usually un-repairable once the fuselage in question is 'buttoned up.' It also smoothly fills gaps, which can even be sanded and buffed out; I've used in to fill in small windows and skylights, where it was easier to just run a blob in and sand it flush than to fiddle with making the ill-fitting kit part match. It polishes out every bit as well as clear styrene, with probably a stronger bond.

 

Cheers

 

Glad to hear that this glue has worked well for you, personally I've never been happy with the glues used til now to fix transparencies, I hope this will sort the matter once and for all. The fact that retains optical clarity is a welcome plus

 

19 hours ago, lasermonkey said:

Several years ago, back when I was a laser engineer, I tried using optical-grade UV-curing epoxy on a vacformed canopy which was giving me no end of trouble. Even after a week under UV light, it still wouldn't cure, even though it would cure through 5mm thick, BK7 laser mirrors!

 

I never bothered with it again.

 

I will try this one on a vacuform canopy to see if works on these too. For some reason I never before tried the UV curing glue used in the optics industry, even if I've been working with lasers and fibers for the last 20 years so will not be able to tell if it's better or worse than that. I'll let you all know of the results of my test !

[lasermonkey]

@Giorgio N it was Norland optical adhesive that I tried, although I can't remember exactly which one. It's around four or five years since I last used it, which was to glue 45º mirrors into cells for mounting into an articulated arm on a Q-switched ruby laser. I used a different type of epoxy (a 2-part blue one, can't remember the make) to glue SMA connectors onto the end of fibre assemblies. Brilliant stuff, but took a good 24 hours to cure. I was the only one at work who could consistently make, polish and repair fibre assemblies. It requires a "certain touch" and lots of patience! The fibres were used on Nd:YAG and alexandrite (shudder) lasers.

 

I can't remember what adhesive I used on that Seafire canopy in the end, but I do remember spending ages washing the UV adhesive off with copious quantities of isopropanol!

 

 

[Giorgio N]

39 minutes ago, lasermonkey said:

@Giorgio N it was Norland optical adhesive that I tried, although I can't remember exactly which one. It's around four or five years since I last used it, which was to glue 45º mirrors into cells for mounting into an articulated arm on a Q-switched ruby laser. I used a different type of epoxy (a 2-part blue one, can't remember the make) to glue SMA connectors onto the end of fibre assemblies. Brilliant stuff, but took a good 24 hours to cure. I was the only one at work who could consistently make, polish and repair fibre assemblies. It requires a "certain touch" and lots of patience! The fibres were used on Nd:YAG and alexandrite (shudder) lasers.

 

I can't remember what adhesive I used on that Seafire canopy in the end, but I do remember spending ages washing the UV adhesive off with copious quantities of isopropanol!

 

 

 

All this brings back memories, a lot of memories !

I remember well the 2-part glue used for the connectors, ours needed at least 12 hours before working, with 24 being best. All followed by a good polishing of the ferrule with finer and finer abrasives. Thinking of it, I never "borrowed" any of those abrasive sheets, they could have been useful for the hobby.

You're right that it's a process tha requires a lot of patience but I still preferred it to splicing ! Now that was something I really hated. To be honest, I still hate splicing fibres, I'm glad I've never had to do it in the last 5 years. Sometimes I wonder how someone so hamfisted as me ever managed to do those jobs, then I realize that I build scale models so maybe there's something in common. I've also used a number of scale modelling tools during jobs in the field and they were great every time. Maybe there's some kind of link between our hobby and working in optics 😁

[lasermonkey]

I have to admit, I did keep a few sheets of lapping film from when I was making fibre assemblies in my garden workshop, although I haven't found a use for them as yet. I never had to splice fibres. The fibres we used were between 2 and 3 metres in length, 1mm dia. I remember attempting to train some apprentices to do the "donkey work" of fibre polishing, but the failure rate was too high and it just ended up being easier in the long run if I did everything myself. At least then I knew that when it came to setting up the launch stage, I wouldn't end up destroying the end of the fibre and probably damaging several hundred pounds worth of optics, plus the work in stripping everything down and reassembling. I had to do that one too many times!

 

When I was being interviewed for the job, one of the interviewers picked up on my hobbies, saying that model making was exactly the kind of skills needed. Like you, I found that certain tools have been useful in both work and with the hobby but maybe more than that, I learned how to make my own tools for some very niche tasks, especially for setting up lasers in the field.

[billn53]

I, too, have had good luck gluing canopies and other clear styrene parts with UV activated adhesive, but less so with clear vacuform canopies. My experience is that vacuform pieces flex too easily, which breaks the join between the UV adhesive and the vacuform plastic. 

[Black Knight]

Contrary me; I use the UV resin glue for vac canopies, and more

1. make sure the battery in your light is good. A weak battery will not give you sufficient UV light

2. Tack the canopy on in places; like spot welding, then run a seam to fix in between the spots

The most recent vac canopy was on this Shorts SC1

It was used not only to fix the canopy on but as a filler around the canopy edge, which over lapped the fuselage. When set it was sanded smooth. any uneveness was filled with it as it sticks to its self very well

 

I've also used it to fill wing root gaps, around poorly moulded or fitting glazing, to make light lenses

I get my UV resin glue thru ebay at £1.25 for a pen with a light. I recently bought a 20ml bottle for just a few ££