Covering adhesive

[Terence Lynock]

Reet our kid, just been experimenting with some stuff I bought on the off-chance it may be worth having from a craft seller on Ebay, its a type of PVA made by Impex and its in a bronze coloured 115ml bottle and called 'Fast Tack' adhesive and as it is in a bottle with a fine nozzle it is almost waste-free.
Just happened to notice on the bottle it could be used as a heat set adhesive for hemming and other fabric so thought I will it stick solarfilm? answer is YES and how, it is far more economical than Coverloc, works out about 3 quid cheaper and sticks like brown stuff to your bed cover,. The problem with Coverloc is it is in a jar and you end up losing quite a bit congealed around the inside of the jar and there is also the problem of thickening because it has far more chance for the driers to evaporate.
I just tried pulling a piece of Solartex off balsa after letting it go cold, no chance, the balsa gave way before the glue, it sticks solarfilm, solartex and even Mylar, I was paying £3.75+£2.50 P&P for Coverloc cause it was the cheapest but at £3.60 and free P&P I am using Impex stuff in future.

[i12fly]

Thanks for the heads up, I'm near the bottom of my Balsaloc bottle so I've ordered a bottle of this. Will add a comment when I receive it.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I've always suspected that Balsaloc is actually just watered down PVA!

BEB

[Terence Lynock]

Hi BEB,

it would be far more economical if they stuck Balsaloc in a plastic bottle with a nozzle, the amount of jars I have had to dump because it had turned to chewing gum in the bottom.

This Impex stuff appears to be pretty good, I made sure to have the irn the same temp as for Balsaloc and ironed it down well, left it to cool and then tried to pull it off, you can peel it from one end to remove it but a straight pull just wouldnt move it.

There is one seller on Ebay that lists the stuff at £3.60 post free, I have ordered another bottle of it so I have it in stock, thing is if you need wood glue you can use this stuff like normal PVA so it does two jobs for the price of one, Balsaloc is just too damned expensive to use for glueing wood.

[Spice Cat]

Something else I found with Balsaloc. It does exactly what it says on the tin; do not freeze.

Left mine in the shed and once frozit's useless. As for watered down PVA, I did think the opposite that it was thickened PVA..

I will look out for it though, thanks Terence.

[Richard Harris]

I have tired the 5 star stuff.....that went thick and I stored it in the house

[StarLoc FiveStar Adhesives]

Posted by Richard Harris on 05/01/2013 22:45:18:

I have tired the 5 star stuff.....that went thick and I stored it in the house

 

Its completely non reactive so can only thicken for 2 reasons

1/ if the water is lost from it by leaving lid loose

or

2/ if it gells leaving clear liquid it is because it has been frozen ( takes about -5C to freeze it) , but we say to store above 10C just to be sure as some people dont realise that a shed gets cold! , (our coverloc passes a test to survive freeze/thaw 5 times )

These are the only 2 things that can make it thicken , if it thickens while still liquid (not been frozen or dried out totaly ) just add a tiny bit of water 

Edited By StarLoc FiveStar Adhesives on 05/01/2013 22:56:07

[Rod Parsonage]

You can often buy Fastt Tack in haberdashers. I'm sure I've seen it in John Lewis and Singers as I accopany SWMBO on vital shopping expeditions. (To be fair she often comes with to the local model shop.)

Anyway I've just checked and she has a bottle, so I.ll give it a go. Good tip TL

[Terence Lynock]

Perhaps 5-Star could be persuaded to put Balsaloc and Coverloc in squeezy bottles with a small bore spout, unless you remember to put the lid on the jar between applying the stuff it is losing moisture.

OK so you get a bit too much on your finger so what do you do? wipe it off on the edge of the jar so it runs down into the jar congealing as it goes, this is all waste=money and I think plastic bottles would work out cheaper than glass with a metal lid.

The way I have found with the Impex stuff is to cut the fingers out of a latex glove and just use those on your finger to appy the glue, all you need do is apply a thin bead from the spout and just smear it along with your fingertip, couldnt be easier or cleaner in my view and it is actually faster with no clean up at the end.

[StarLoc FiveStar Adhesives]

I nearly filled some into bottles today! ,

But.....i started thinking about it and I couldnt decide if an aluminium tube, plastic squeezy tube or plastic bottle was best for it?

So i moved some machines around instead so i can get to the blow molding machine as well as the filling machines.

I like jars as its easier to dip into , but i can see people might like other packing methods like squeezy bottles, they are cheaper as well ( as i can mold plastic bottles )

I should manage to get some filled into bottles tomorrow while i remember, (after ive managed to tidy up a bit after the mess i made moving things today)

[Kevin Fairgrieve]

I always find it usefull if there is a link to said items.

I take it this is the stuff?

IMPEX

Or there are other suppliers.

MORE IMPEX

Added to my watch list.

 

Kev

 

Edited By Kevin Fairgrieve on 06/01/2013 17:15:38

[Terence Lynock]

I have only tried the stuff in the bronze coloured bottle, I know Impex do a whole range of craft glues even glitter filled glue if your that way inclined.., the beauty of a plastic bottle is you can have a fine nozzle or cut it shorter for a larger output if you want one, when the contents starts to run low you just turn the bottle upside down.

getting the last dregs out of a jar is awkward and can tend to be messy, even the empty bottles can be recycled and used for other stuff like white spirit or whatever, to me the less waste we generate the better.

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Five-Star....I'm sure some forum-ites would be more than willing to "road test" you new packaging should samples be forthcoming.....

Its a great tip Terence...I'm tempted to move this thread into the Money Savers section instead of the ebay one......what does everybody think??

[i12fly]

Received the Fast Tack very quickly from ebay's rubyscraft and have done some trials to compare with Balsaloc. All were done on the same piece of fresh 10mm balsa, side by side to get a decent comparison, and did a control with no added adhesive. The covering used was Solartex and applied with a temperature of 110degC

Test 1a Solartex on balsa. Test 1b Solartex on Solartex, no added adhesive

Test 2a Fast Tack on Balsa (10min dry) apply Solartex. Test 2b Fast Tack onto Solartex (10 min dry) apply Solartex on top

Test 3a as test 2a but using Balsaloc instead of Fast Tack. Test 3b as test 2b but using Balsaloc.

After cooling 30mins+ , the Solartex on Solartex, then Solartex on balsa were peeled off. Ok the strain gauges used were my uncalibrated finger and thumb so the results were empirical....

Results: Balsaloc and Fast Tack gave no noticeable difference between them, both were significantly better than the 'no added adhesive' control samples, particularly the 'tex on 'tex test.

I preferred the Fast Tack as it was in the squeezy container with fine nozzle and cap so should last a long time before evaporation becomes an issue.

Hope this is useful

Edited By i12fly on 12/01/2013 21:38:53

[Bill Brown 3]

Does`nt solarfilm have it`s own adhesive element when sujected to heat, i.e. an iron?

[Bob Cotsford]

in my experience the adhesive on film and tex can be very variable from one roll to the next, especially with Solar* products. I've not used Profilm/UYltracote or Toughlon for long enough to know whether quality control is better or not, but certainly over the years I've had both Solartex and Supershrink that didn't have much stick to it.

Balsaloc etc - are they fuelproof? I tend to use Clearcoat around engine bays and leading edges before fiming to improve the bond and seal the wood in case of the film lifting, but even that failed on my last project. One colour had barely the stength to hold itself on against gravity

[David Tweddle]

Posted by Terence Lynock on 05/01/2013 20:17:34:

I am using Impex stuff in future.

Thanks Terence, But I will stick with wet wipes.

Thanks for the tip david

Suitable for use on items to be hand washed - with care

OH...

[Peter Miller]

One of my friends bought a jar of Balsaloc from our local modelshop. IT was already solid.

Don'yt know how long it had been there but my opened jar of several years ago was still useable.

[Lazygit]

Not all PVA glue is the same. I have tried various to get something cheaper, B&Q does not work, Poundland Great Expressions doesn't work. Both will be ok for lots of general purpose gluing no doubt, but for covering film and irons, not. Any washable PVA is likely to be a failure too. Some of these are mentioned in the More Impex link above.