How do you stop superglue drying out?

[Conium Maculatum]

I have a pot of superglue. It is still half full but the glue has started to go much more tacky than when I first bought it and I know from previous pots that it will eventually totally solidify, leaving me with half a pot of useless rubbish. Am I the only one who is afflicted by this problem and does anyone have any idea how to prevent it?

 

[StillLifeMiniatures]

I don't bother with it at home, but at work we keep our glues in the refrigerator. Also, always make sure the tip is cleaned out and top on tight. Sometimes the glue just gets old though.

 

[leopardpixie]

I don't bother with it at home, but at work we keep our glues in the refrigerator. Also, always make sure the tip is cleaned out and top on tight. Sometimes the glue just gets old though.

Surgical glue?

 

[Shawn R. L.]

The stuff drying out in the tube is why I don't use superglue anymore.

I do wonder if you were to keep the tube of glue submerged in a cup of water would stop the drying. Or would the water react with the superglue?

 

[PegaZus]

The stuff drying out in the tube is why I don't use superglue anymore.

I do wonder if you were to keep the tube of glue submerged in a cup of water would stop the drying. Or would the water react with the superglue?

Yup, it reacts with water. Could always try putting it in a good jar with some silica gel. But probably going too far with that. I just try to buy small bottles and tighten well.

 

[Hasdrubal]

Gelified superglue seems not to dry that easily, I've been using the same tube for more than a year. When needing liquid superglue, I'll buy the smallest tube I can find, and make sure to close it as best as I can.

 

[Einion]

Common problem this; I'm guessing that most superglue is lost to this, rather than actually being used to glue stuff together.

Tip cleanliness etc. will only take you so far IME, other than getting lucky with tubes that have a good natural seal (bought some super-cheap stuff recently that beats the pants off Loctite!) the only solution I've found is to seal around the cap with Parafilm-M. I suppose Teflon tape could work in a similar way, but I don't know if that's cost-effective.

Posted this and other superglue tips previously in a handy little hints thread.

Einion

 

[airhead]

The stuff drying out in the tube is why I don't use superglue anymore.

I do wonder if you were to keep the tube of glue submerged in a cup of water would stop the drying. Or would the water react with the superglue?

Shawn, water is what makes superglue set off.
It is the humidity that makes the opened tube go bad.

Solutions:
1. Buy smaller tubes.
2. Keep the tube somewhere with lower humidity.
3. Seal the tube better.

p.s. The model guys producing a movie that was partially shot in Greenland. They could not alter or repair their models in the field as there was not humidity in the sub-zero cold to make the superglue set off. They had to go indoors and spray water on the glue joints to get them to set.