[Steve Mehan]

I have been using the seam it brand of glue on a many projects and I ran into an issue recently with a glued edge.
I had run out of glue before  finishing the entire edge so I opened up a new cartridge purged and continued to apply the adhesive.
The color wasnt the same.
I should have stopped right then.
I waited around 1/2 hour and it just wasnt setting up right. Where the glues blended it wasnt drying right. It was sticky but not liquid.
Picture shows different colors

Well I was surprised to see the two cartridges side by side.
One is manufactured by Weld On and the other is manufactured by ITW.
????????????

Then looking at the contents they are different.
Not pleased with this at all. I decided to rout off the edge and what I found was the glue in the joint was not cured at all.

[Lenny E]

Which glue (if any) was the good one (cured and the right color)? Just wondering.

[Steve Mehan]

Posted By Lenny E on 13 Aug 2012 06:35 PM

Which glue (if any) was the good one (cured and the right color)? Just wondering.

Hi Lenny, The Weld On was the lighter color that I was used to using and it worked fine. It is also the one with only two  contents.  The ITW color was darker, it has more contents and it alone cured. But mixing the two I would not do it again. They did not cure when used together. 

I’ve used plenty of glue over the years and always purge the cartridge and apply 2-3 beads min. 

Im questioning the different contents and manufactures.What is the purpose of paraffin wax in glue. 

Wax and Glue???????????

[Chad Thomas]

Steve,
We tried to reach you today by phone-please give us a call in the am if you have time. We recently changed formulations to improve the glue performance (faster cure, better color matches) and did extensive testing on the new version before we started to offer it to customers.

The wax is actually present in both glue’s, as it is in most( if not all) acrylics used in our industry. Lenny could probably more eloquently explain the chemistry , but its basic function is to reduce the “skin over” effect during the cure as MMA evaporates from the liquid glue. This effectively extends the open time or working time of the adhesive and allows part assembly with optimum wetting out of the substrates while still giving a fast cure or follow through.

We have tested a mixture two formulations to try and replicate your result with no luck. A 50/50 mixture in the proper 10-1 ratio of adhesive/catalyst produced a fully cured bead within spec. (roughly 25 minutes)

 I wonder if you ran the first tube completely out and possibly there was a activator starved portion of the mix? At any rate, please give us a call when you can, we’d like to hear the details and see if we can determine the cause.

Chad Thomas

[Steve Mehan]

Hi Chad,
Yes, I ran out completely as you were wondering. And when I ran out it was very fliud not like adhesive normally is. I was making an island top and had completed 3 sides when I was on the fourth side I ran out half way along the edge. I opened a new tube and then ran 3 continous beads along the entire edge.
In the area where the two glues mixed was where they only became like a stiff sticky gel but never fully hardened.
The section that was completely the new glue hardened fine as did the previous three side with the origonal tube.

I was able to take a chisel and scrape off the adhesive that was not cured. Being concerned I then routed off the edge leaving a 1/16th thickness of the edge still attached. What I found was the glue was still sticky in the area where they mixed and I was able to then get my chisel between the edge and the deck completely removing the edge and then scrapeing off the uncured glue. I was not able to do this where the glues did not mix.

The picture of the glue was taken after I removed the spring clamps and it is squeeze out. Here both glues are cured but they are not mixed together. Its in this section between the joint where the glues mixed and were sticky not hard.

After I rerouted the edge and applied a new drop edge with the adhesive from the same tube it cured as expected and hardned just fine, no problems.
Your explanation of the starved activator and thinking about when I ran out it being very fluid makes sense. That was my reason for  running 3 beads I thought would have solved that problem but the ratio must have still be off just enough.

I understand now your explanation of the paraffin wax. I know that with Corian branded glue I would get a soft skin on the surface but just under that it was rock hard. I’am assuming that is what you mean.

Were gonna be on a job in the morning and when I get in later in the day I’ll give you a call.
Thanks for your response.

[Len Smith]

Glad you brought this up Steve. This could have been a problem for us as all of our projects are LEED projects, and we have to provide documentation as to the provenance of stuff, even adhesives. Also, we have to keep MSDS on the jobsite or we can be fined…we need the MSDS to match the product label. If you hadn’t pointed out the manufacturer switch, it could have caused us problems at the site.

[Chad Thomas]

Len,

The new MSDS, Greenguard and LEED certificates will be available on our site shortly.

The link is here:
Technical Information Page

I will also email them to you directly as soon as we have made the necessary adjustments.

[Author]

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