Choosing the Right Glue
Posted on February 20th, 2005What you want to look for in glue:
- Drying time
- Price
- Weight
- Strength
CA Glue. This is a very common glue used for a variety of projects. It dries in seconds, like super glue. It is also widely available. Numbers of hobby stores and online companies sell it. However, it is not cheap. CA glue can be bought in three types: thin, medium, and thick. The thin stuff is very light, but not especially strong. The thicker stuff is heavier, but stronger. I have known people to build extremely efficient bridges using CA glue.
White Elmer’s glue. This glue can be bought anywhere, and is relatively cheap. It usually dries in 30 minutes, which is somewhat long for building bridges. Also, it is not very light or strong. I have come to the conclusion that white Elmer’s glue is not a good choice for model bridge building.
Titebond Wood Glue bonds balsa wood very well. It also can be found in most hardware stores. However, it is fairly heavy. Many people mix water with the glue to cut down on weight. It dries fairly quickly, less than 10 minutes in small amounts. Elmer’s wood glue also provides a strong joint. The reason I don’t use this glue is because I don’t think that it is the best. But it is still pretty good.
Other wood glues. There are many other wood glues out there. One of the major brands is Titbond. It acts very much like Elmer’s wood glue. It is strong, heavy, and widely available. All glues will dry faster when you use small amounts. Mixing it with water also makes it dry faster.
Epoxy. The first glue I ever used in building model bridges was 30-minute epoxy. I liked it because it was very strong and could be bought at many stores. Epoxy comes in several different “setting times”. You can get 90 second, 5 minute, 15 minute, 30 minute, and up to 4 hour epoxy. The bad thing about epoxy is that you have to mix it. I had trouble mixing it correctly in small amounts. I ended up wasting a lot of glue mixing a lot of it at once. Also, epoxy is not very light. An interesting feature about epoxy, it heats up when curing. Sometimes it can get quite hot.
Special Glues:
Probond. This is polyurethane based glue and is super strong. It is a cousin of Gorilla glue. It is not light, but you don’t have to use very much of it. However, the only place I know of that sells it is a local Ace Hardware store. It is also very expensive, which is why I don’t use it much anymore. It takes at least 4 hours to set, which is a really long time to wait. I still keep a bottle of it on hand, because it works for about anything.
Weldbond. This is the glue I have switched to, after seeing it at good ol’ Ace. It is lighter than Probond, almost as strong, and a whole lot cheaper. It looks a lot like white Elmer’s glue, but dries completely clear. It sets in no more than 30 minutes, but often in less than 10.
If the type of glue you use is not listed, shoot me an email telling me about it at webmaster@garrettsbridges.com
Chart Comparing Glues
| Wood Glues | CA Glue | Probond | Weldbond | Epoxy | White Elmer’s | |
| Strength | 3/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 |
| Price | 3/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 5/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 |
| Weight | 3/5 | 5/5 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| Drying Time | 3/5 | 5/5 | 1/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Average | 3/5 | 4/5 | 2.25/5 | 4.25/5 | 2.75/5 | 3.25/5 |
Obviously this chart is biased to my own experience with these glues. Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment.
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(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
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September 6th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Well for my science class we were given the option to do an experiment or build I a bridge I chose the latter of the two. I followed your instructions about buying sheets and cutting and I was able to set up a jig to cut the pieces i needed and everything was going great I had my sketches on graph paper and supplies next to me my hands were clean but when i went to to glue my first pieces together to build the frame of my K-Truss ( I used Welbonde but also I didn’t mix it with water because I am not sure how too) and i started to glue the first two joints and they didn’t work so i decided to wait 4 hours for it to bond. After Four hours i checked in it still hadn’t bonded so i decided to use some Elmer’s Carpenter glue. Same result as the previous. Then i tried plain old glue (paste). And after a that on the verge of losing it I pulled out extreme adhesive paste and Krazy glue. And surprisingly when i combined them it worked but not that well. Could you please give me some advice about glue also if it helps the requirement are as follows for:
2.38 mm balsa must weigh 16.0 grams or less base must be 45.0 cm horizontal opening must be centered and a with a width of 26 cm or more must have a central vertical opening 8 cm or higher and spanning the width of 26 cm or more the height of the bridge must be 13 to 25
and width of the bridge must be 11 to 12 cm at the base but there is no limit at the top.
-thank you very much for all the help-