Zip Kicker

[Cato]

Yesterday I spilled most of my bottle of CA accelerator and the smell is really strong. Had to clean it with lacquer thinner just to disperse it.

Anyone know what chemical it is and what's a good substitute?

It works great but what else does??

[Mike Kucaba]

My bottle says 1 1 1 - Tricloroethane. This is an OLD bottle that went bad and actually I've had it sitting in my patio waiting for it to evaporate so i can throw out the bottle. I'm not a real fan of CA accelerator,but others use it and really amaze me what they do with CA and kicker. If I do use it I've gone over to the pump spray or the aerosol spritzer.

[Quick GMC]

Great Planes brand pump spray accelerator is what I use. Mild smell

[Cato]

Thanks to Mike for providing the chemical name (my bottle had no label) and I looked it up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,1,1-Trichloroethane

Good news-not very toxic in small usage.

Bad news-phased out since 1996.

So has anyone tried a substitute?

In a parallel search, I found that Heptane has similar properties and is available as the rubber cement solvent 'Bestine'. May try to find that.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Cato

[jbwelda]

that stuff even smells like cancer. I use it but am very wary of it...I apply it with the end of the nozzle, the end that sticks down in the bottle. just barely touch it to the joint and it will flow. I have actually just held it very near the joint and blown on it with my breath and it seemed to work, like even the vapors are active. but I always wash my hands and sometimes the joint itself with water and soap after using it...as I said I am wary of it because it just smells chemical.

jb

[Cato]

I apply it exactly as you do.

But if my wife's cooking hasn't killed me yet, this sure won't...

[Miatatom]

This is what I use. Works well and doesn't smell bad at all.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/hlc/hlc151.htm

[Cato]

This is what I use. Works well and doesn't smell bad at all.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/hlc/hlc151.htm

Thanks for all the answers guys. Tom, that's what I had but a very old bottle with the strong scent. Worked fine though.

[Art Anderson]

This is what I use. Works well and doesn't smell bad at all.

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/hlc/hlc151.htm

I've been using Bob Smith Industries (BSI) CA Accelerator for a good 25 yrs now (same stuff you pictured), and it's the best accelerator I have ever found.

Art

[Frank]

A simple kicker is water

[Swamp Dog]

I've been using Bob Smith Industries (BSI) CA Accelerator for a good 25 yrs now (same stuff you pictured), and it's the best accelerator I have ever found.

Art

same here...

[scalenut]

kicker ,,, never had a need for superglue to dry any faster that it already does, or is there a different reason it's needed ?

[Art Anderson]

kicker ,,, never had a need for superglue to dry any faster that it already does, or is there a different reason it's needed ?

In the decades since cyanoacylate glue was discovered at Eastman Kodak, many variants of the stuff have been developed: Thicker consistency grades, slow-setting varieties, even now "flexible CA glue".

Accelerators generally are used with the thicker viscosity CA's, which almost always tend to set slower. In addition, some of us like to use these thicker viscosity CA glues as fillers, meaning that they go on as open "puddles" of the stuff. Since CA glue does not "dry by evaporation" or by some sort of chemical reaction triggered by a catalyst, they would just sit in that "puddle" for extended periods of time--so these are all reasons for the development of accelerators by the mid-late 1980's (about 20 yrs after the introduction of Eastman 910.

Art

[jbwelda]

also, as superglue ages it seems (to me anyway) to take longer to set and cure. I have found that with both regular and thick style ( I mostly use Zap products), after I have had the bottle for awhile (a year maybe) it will take noticeably longer to cure than it used to. some people keep theirs in the fridge to combat this but I just compensate for it with accelerator. I avoid using it if I can, it can leave the joint kind of brittle versus letting it cure naturally, but when you want that very position its essential...if you can apply it without disturbing the pieces.

jb

[scalenut]

thanks Art and William.

[NOBLNG]

Does the CA or the accelerator ever go bad? Sometimes even with the kicker things don’t want to stick (mainly when I am glueing sprue onto items to be painted). I am wondering if the stuff I have is light sensitive since it’s in a brown bottle. I would like to transfer it into an empty Tamiya paint jar since I have tipped this bottle over once and nearly done it a couple other times.

[peteski]

I use the BSI brand accelerator and mine is at least 10 years old - works as well is it did on day one.  I prefer that brand because unlike Zip Kicker is not acetone-based, so it does not attack styrene and most paints.

You mentioned "sometimes"? Are you sure the parts you are gluing are really clean?   Also, the accelerator works the fastest on the thin CA, and slower the thicker the CA is.  With extra thick or gel type (slower setting stuff)  I have to actually mix the accelerator in to get the CA to fully cure (and it takes some time).  But the water-thin CA sets in seconds afteradding just a tiny bit of accelerator.