Cautionary tale: cyanoacrylate glue

[Brian Palmer]

I was getting my old wooden X-C skies out yesterday when I noticed that the hardwood edging at the tail was coming off for about an inch.

The area was a bit damp so I took a heat gun to warm it up and dry it off. I then took some Zap-A-Gap cyanoacrylate glue and applied it to the area. I was leaning over the work, with my face a couple feet above it.

Some EXTREMELY NASTY FUMES came off the glue hitting the warm wood and made it feel like I had two needles stuck in my eyes. I was wearing my glasses and I couldn't detect any spattering. The burning ceased as soon as I jerked my head away, but just to be safe I ran cold water over my eyes. Everything seems fine now, but it was certainly scary. I don't know if the moisture and heat combination had something to do with it.

I know some folks use heat to speed up epoxy drying, but the moral of the story is not to try that with cyanoacrylate glues!

-- Brian

[Yakhook]

Brian,

One of the many things for which I use Cyanoacrylates is "Whipping" Small Cord (Thread,Twine or Parachute sizes).

Oddly enough,in this case, the "Whipping" must be done before you make the Cut.

Slacken the twist at the cut point, add 1/2 drop of Superglue (you know why I said that don't you ?), Twist tightly for a long 20 count.

Works on natural fibers such as cotton or when you can't (or dare not) use a lighter or other flame on synthetics.

But , when you twist, Get your face out of the way !!! :eek: The fumes are instant and intense .

The "Cyano" in "cyano"acrylate is Cyanide. I don't know (and I've looked) if the Cyanide is freed in the reaction. I choose to act as if it were ;) .

Paul

[ 02-13-2006, 10:59 AM: Message edited by: Yakhook ]

[Garrett Lowell]

Cyanoacrylate in paint and glues is one of my migraine triggers. Nasty stuff.

[Nicholas Carey]

You do know that one way of getting good finger prints in difficult situations is to heat cyanoacrylate glue(superglue). The glue vapors react with stuff in the latent prints: <span style="font-family:serif;">Super glue reacts with the traces of amino acids, fatty acids, and proteins in the latent fingerprint and the moisture in the air to produce a visible, sticky white material that forms along the ridges of the fingerprint. The final result is an image of the entire latent fingerprint. This image can be photographed directly, or after further enhancement.

To enable such a reaction to take place, the cyanoacrylate must be in its gaseous form. The basic procedure to develop latent fingerprints using super glue takes this fact into account, but is still not overly complicated. The surfaces that are to be checked for latent fingerprints are placed in an airtight tank along with a small heater. A few drops of liquid super glue are placed into a tiny, open container, and the container is placed on top of the heater inside the tank. The tank is then carefully sealed, and the heater activated. According to Lee and Gaensslen, the boiling point for most super glue varies between forty-nine and sixty-five degrees celcius (roughly one-hundred twenty to one-hundred fifty degrees fahrenheit) depending upon its exact chemical composition1.

Once the super glue in the container reaches its boiling point, it will begin to boil away into the surrounding atmosphere, creating a concentration of gaseous cyanoacrylate. If any latent fingerprints exist anywhere inside the tank, they will eventually be exposed to the gaseous cyanoacrylate. This exposure and the natural humidity contained in the atmosphere are enough to trigger the reaction automatically. Thus, once everything has been set up, the investigator merely waits for the reaction to occur. The whole reaction can take over two hours, with the exact time determined by the size of the tank, the concentration of the gaseous cyanoacrylate in the air, the humidity of the air, and numerous other factors. Since it is in practice very difficult to calculate this amount of time in advance, the reaction must be monitored to insure that it is not allowed to continue for too long. If it runs unchecked, the latent fingerprints can overdevelop; the chemical images of the ridges will slowly grow wider until they overlap, obscuring vital detail. [more (http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/feneric/cyanoacrylate.html)]Gues what your eyeball has in it: amino acids, fatty acids and proteins. Not to mention moisture.