# Super Glue CA accelerator substitute



## Steamboat_Willie

I have been using the Titebond "Instant Bond" brand CA glue in gel form in my wood shop and find that it very much has its place for certain gluing tasks. Its quick bonding characteristics can be very helpful. However I've been searching for a cost-effective substitute CA accelerator that would be cheaper than using their $15 Titebond brand accelerator product in the aerosol can. A search on the internet says that baking soda, or chlorine would work for accelerating the CA. Unfortunately neither has worked for me with this brand CA product. I also called Titebond and was told by a tech support person who was knowledgeable with the chemistry of their brand-name accelerator product that "heptane" is the magic curing acceleration ingredient in the aerosol product. (listed on the product's MSDS) So I found and purchased a pint of liquid heptane which is sold as Bestine brand rubber cement thinner. Again, NG. Didn't work for accelerating the Titebond CA glue. Does anyone have any experience with using a cheaper substitute as a CA accelerator that works? Or am I doing something wrong? Thanks.
Ed


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## Finn

What has worked for many years is a spray of water from a mister. It is water that accelerates it. Even blowing on it helps. The moisture of your breath does it. I used it a lot when I was building model airplanes and never paid for an accelerator.


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## CharlesNeil

+1 on water mist, its also why it works on damp wood .


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## Jeff28078

I question the knowledgeability of the Titebond rep if he thinks heptane is an accelerant. Solvent, but not accelerant. Like the above two posters, it's water that reacts with the active ingredient.


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## Ted78

N,N-Dimethyl-p-toluidine I think the name of the stuff in CA accelerant. Looks like just a little bit in what is otherwise acetone. Don't know if that helps you but that's what is in the commercial accelerants.
Also any brand of CA accelerant I'm sure would work with any brand of CA glue I don't see any reason to match the two if one if priced better or has a better applicator, or comes in more convenient sized packaging etc.


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## Steamboat_Willie

Thanx for the replies & suggestions. I'll try lightly applying a small mist of water/moisture on one of the pieces of material to be bonded together and see what happens. Will also try the same with acetone.


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## Lazyman

I got curious so did a few quick google searches. Seems odd that many of the CA activators have acetone in them but I've also seen acetone recommended for removing super glue from surfaces. I suspect that the acetone is just a solvent for whatever the real accelerant is and may be used because it evaporates quickly. Toluidine (or something like that) seems to be a ingredient in several activators MSDSs but in small ratios so that might be the actual accelerant. Also, most CA adhesives that I have used recommend a clean, dry surface so it seems like water would not be the best choice. I will be interested to hear whether you have success with either one.


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## clin

Another vote for making sure the surfaces have moisture in them. This won't necessarily make it kick as fast as an accelerator, but moisture is needed for it to set. There's a reason it glues your fingers together so easily.



> I got curious so did a few quick google searches. Seems odd that many of the CA activators have acetone in them but I ve also seen acetone recommended for removing super glue from surfaces. I suspect that the acetone is just a solvent for whatever the real accelerant is and may be used because it evaporates quickly. Toluidine (or something like that) seems to be a ingredient in several activators MSDSs but in small ratios so that might be the actual accelerant. Also, most CA adhesives that I have used recommend a clean, dry surface so it seems like water would not be the best choice. I will be interested to hear whether you have success with either one.
> 
> - Lazyman


I'm no chemist, but I think Acetone is a form of alcohol and alcohols blend well with water and absorb water easily. Given that Acetone will dissolve CA, it could be the acetone acts as a carrier to pull water molecules into the CA.

Makes me wonder if things like rubbing alcohol, which has a lot of water in it would work. Or heck, just some cheap bourbon might work. I think I might need to do some experimenting.


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## Loren

Cyanoacrylate cures with absence of oxygen.
The water or other sprays may displace the o2.

Dunno. Spraying with Bloxygen might work.


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## torus

> ...
> I m no chemist, but I think Acetone is a form of alcohol
> ...
> - clin


C-OH - alcohol
C=O - acetone

Two very different types of chemicals.
Do not drink nail polish remover (acetone)!
Do drink burbone (alcohol), but do not drive


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## Lazyman

A little more research…
Wikipedia:
In general, cyanoacrylate is an acrylic resin that rapidly polymerises in the presence of water (specifically hydroxide ions), forming long, strong chains, joining the bonded surfaces together. Because the presence of moisture causes the glue to set, exposure to normal levels of humidity in the air causes a thin skin to start to form within seconds, which very greatly slows the reaction. Because of this cyanoacrylate is applied thinly, to ensure that the reaction proceeds rapidly for bonding

So simply breathing on it may be as effective as anything. Perhaps simply wiping the opposite side to be bonded with a barely damp rag or just run a humidifier in the shop when using it would work?


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## jonah

For what it's worth, the heptane-based accelerators last quite a long time. You only need a tiny bit for most gluing operations, so a can lasts seemingly forever unless you're super gluing every day. I've had the same can for ~4 years, for example, and it's still a third full. I don't mind paying $12 every four or five years.


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## clin

> ...
> I m no chemist, but I think Acetone is a form of alcohol
> ...
> - clin
> 
> C-OH - alcohol
> C=O - acetone
> 
> Two very different types of chemicals.
> Do not drink nail polish remover (acetone)!
> Do drink burbone (alcohol), but do not drive
> 
> - torus


Plenty of alcohols we shouldn't drink either! But, I got it, acetone is not a form of alcohol. Thanks for the clarification.

But it still "mixes" with water. So still wondering if it can aide in curing CA because of this.

The one CA accelerator I've used was sort of oily, though it dried without leaving a residue. No idea what it was.


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## RichT

I just spent some time in the shop playing around with some of these ideas. It wasn't my intent to do an in depth analysis of how they affected the cure rate. CA accelerator spray works in seconds - literally - and so I wanted to see if any of the ideas presented could come close. Spoiler alert… they didn't.

Water, acetone, bloxygen, breathing (lol)... Nope, sorry. While some of these may affect the cure rate, none even came close to the spray accelerator. Run a bead of glue on one surface, spray the other with accelerator, put them together and within literally seconds, it's rock solid. Also, if you run a bead of glue and spray it directly, you can watch the phase change. Within seconds, the surface is hard, yet there is some yield to pressure. That yield only lasts maybe a minute though before the entire mass is hard. None of the things I tested came even close.


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## John Smith_inFL

Rich - I made a 1/4 scale Piper J3 Cub a few years ago and used CA glue for the very first time
on balsa wood….. I found myself way out of my comfort zone of regular glue and straight pins.
upon applying CA glue to a joint then a puff of the commercial accelerator, I was very surprised
at the heat and smoke that resulted from that little joint…... I did not trust it - thinking my plane
would fall apart before I even got the fabric on the frame.
I was VERY impressed with the strength of the joints and also the accelerator. Knowing how it works,
and how cheap it is, I would not experiment with other methods of curing agents and stick with
the proven commercially designed CA specific accelerators. ALSO - keep a bottle of "Un-Cure" debonder 
close by (just in case you get something stuck to something that you don't want it stuck to).
I fully agree with your findings.

and, X2 with Jonah: "accelerators last quite a long time. You only need a tiny bit for most gluing operations, 
so a can lasts seemingly forever".


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## RichT

> I was VERY impressed with the strength of the joints and also the accelerator. Knowing how it works,
> and how cheap it is, I would not experiment with other methods of curing agents and stick with
> the proven commercial types. ALSO - keep a bottle of "Un-Cure" debonder close by
> (just in case you get something stuck to something that you don t want it stuck to).
> I fully agree with your findings.
> 
> - John Smith


I agree about sticking with the commercial product, John. For the record, when I checked this morning, all of the samples were rock solid, so while the water, etc didn't perform as well as the spray, they didn't inhibit final curing.


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## wormil

I just buy accelerator but I'm not using enough that I would save any significant amount by making my own.


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## gwilki

I use the Mitrebond accelerator in the pen form. It's like a wide sharpie. The beauty of it is that you don't waste over spraying and it seems to last a very long time.


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## John Smith_inFL

what happened to that product advertised on the TV InfoMercial several months ago
about putting the glue on the part then hitting it with a flash of Ultra Violet light ???
it cured instantly without any other source of accelerant. (musta been another "as seen on TV" flop).


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## 000

IDK about the TV product,

When I was a professional display manufacturer, (see how I did that) lol
I used UV glue to assemble my glass cases.
(UV glue sets in about 10 - 15 seconds or so, depends on the intensity of black light)
It will also attach wood or metal to glass, but the light has to be able to reach the joint.

Here is a case I made for Louis Vuitton


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## Lazyman

"Bondic" may be the UV cure system you saw advertised. These are really not new, just new marketing. Your dentist has probably been using them for years. If you search Amazon, there are several brands of this stuff but as jbay stated, most really only works well if you can get the UV light to the entire glue joint.


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## RichT

> "Bondic" may be the UV cure system you saw advertised. These are really not new, just new marketing. Your dentist has probably been using them for years. If you search Amazon, there are several brands of this stuff but as jbay stated, most really only works well if you can get the UV light to the entire glue joint.
> 
> - Lazyman


Bondic is excellent in some situations. It's not an adhesive, but more of a filler. The problem with it is that the single LED curing light they include is really weak. I found that the 51 LED UV flashlight I got on Amazon that inspired my ongoing UV in the shop blog series really cures it fast, and you don't have to be millimeters away for it to work.


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## CaptainKlutz

#1 - The aerosol cans are a very expensive way to buy/use cyanoacrylate accelerator. 
You can get 8 ounce (pints) of accelerator for ~$10, and refill a small spritz spray bottle to apply it. Have even seen quarts of it sell for <$25. 
Best sources are online hobby shops that sell to radio control airplane market (such as Aircarft Spruce & Specialty). Your hobby shop probably carries a private label of Insta-Set products as well, they just cost more.

#2 - CA cures in absence of oxygen. If your joint is not tight, then it does not cure well and suggest you need a different glue? 
If you need CA glue to fill a gap in glue joint, try this: Apply glue, join the surfaces together, wipe excess, then sand the joint with 100 grit sand paper. The dust will fill the visible gap, and seal out air; which allows the CA to cure as designed without accelerator. You can even place a drop of low viscosity CA onto a pile of saw dust in a crack/gap and it usually cures in seconds. This dust filled joint will not accept dye/stain, so use the dust fill technique sparingly.

#3 - Trick to accelerating CA cure is PH level, as the reaction expedites in alkaline environment. The Dimethyl-p-toluidine posted earlier is fast drying alkaline aromatic amine compound. Accelerators are nothing more than this amine dispersed into solvent. Different brands use different solvent carriers, depending on degree of flammability or VOC regulations, with Heptane/acetone most common.
Common internet suggestion to use baking soda dissolved in water works, but it is slow compared to commercial accelerator. There are more alkaline household chemicals that can be used, but they are dangerous. Pure chlorine beach, or lye are stronger alkaline materials, but I would not want them on my wood projects. In a bind, you can use human sweat or saliva as an accelerator, it just works slowly.

#4 - Accelerator application method tip: Aerosol or pump spray bottles are convenient way to apply accelerator. But many times you need 1 small drop placed on top of problematic joint gap, and do not need to spray coat a 3×3 area wasting a bunch of accelerator. You can buy small <1ml Disposable Plastic Pipettes and use them to place 1 drop where needed. They are inexpensive, a few cents each bought in bulk. But if you do not touch the CA surface with pipette, you can reuse them forever.

Best Luck.


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## jonah

My accelerator bottle is 7.5oz, cost $12, and I've been using the same bottle for four years. Obviously I don't use much of the stuff, but a tiny pulse of it doesn't feel like a waste of anything.

If you need to use the stuff all the time, by all means look for more economical solutions, but most people probably don't need to do that.


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## johne46

The best deal on a small bottle of CA accelerator seems to be at the local Hobby Lobby store.

They have "Extreme Power Accelerator" in a 2 oz spray bottle for $4.99.

That works out to $2.99 after you use Hobby Lobby's always-available 40% discount coupon.


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## pottz

i gotta agree with rich,john and jonah why bother with the substitutions,where talking about probably a couple bucks a year for most,not worth the effort.


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## moke

+1 with Pottz…...I have used warm water in a mister in a pinch, but I'm a firm believer in doing it right!


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## GR8HUNTER

if installing a 60k kitchen a 5.00 can of spray is nothing :<)))


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## SMP

> Rich - I made a 1/4 scale Piper J3 Cub a few years ago and used CA glue for the very first time
> on balsa wood….. I found myself way out of my comfort zone of regular glue and straight pins.
> upon applying CA glue to a joint then a puff of the commercial accelerator, I was very surprised
> at the heat and smoke that resulted from that little joint…... I did not trust it - thinking my plane
> would fall apart before I even got the fabric on the frame.
> I was VERY impressed with the strength of the joints and also the accelerator. Knowing how it works,
> and how cheap it is, I would not experiment with other methods of curing agents and stick with
> the proven commercially designed CA specific accelerators. ALSO - keep a bottle of "Un-Cure" debonder
> close by (just in case you get something stuck to something that you don t want it stuck to).
> I fully agree with your findings.
> 
> and, X2 with Jonah: "accelerators last quite a long time. You only need a tiny bit for most gluing operations,
> so a can lasts seemingly forever".
> 
> - John Smith


I was in the same boat, or plane. Used to build and fly R/C planes back when I was a teenager. As a cheap teenager, I tried different things but always ended up with Zap CA, ZAP-a-gap, and ZAP accelerator in my flight box. Especially in those days with all niCAD batteries, every second counted when making field repairs.


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## RichT

I got a great tip from Captain's post regarding the spritzer bottle with the screw on cap. It's cheaper to use because I can unscrew the cap and use a pipette for a small spot like he mentioned.


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## SMP

> #3 - Trick to accelerating CA cure is PH level, as the reaction expedites in alkaline environment. The Dimethyl-p-toluidine posted earlier is fast drying alkaline aromatic amine compound. Accelerators are nothing more than this amine dispersed into solvent. Different brands use different solvent carriers, depending on degree of flammability or VOC regulations, with Heptane/acetone most common.
> Common internet suggestion to use baking soda dissolved in water works, but it is slow compared to commercial accelerator. There are more alkaline household chemicals that can be used, but they are dangerous. Pure chlorine beach, or lye are stronger alkaline materials, but I would not want them on my wood projects. In a bind, you can use human sweat or saliva as an accelerator, it just works slowly.
> 
> - CaptainKlutz


Funny I had only heard about using CA and baking soda as a hard filler, mainly for guitar repairs etc. Like here,


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