If you remember my introductory mail, I said I like bricolage (do-it-yourself) work.. well, this is still true, and to prove it, I bought just yesterday a mini multi-tool for grinding polishing and so on, as I needed something to try to renovate an “old” (ten years or so) ceramic money box I was given when I was a child. It fell and broke some years ago, and I had it glued together with the Italian brand of Super Glue (Super Attack), a cyanoacrylate glue (that’s the title of the blog, if you didn’t get it), but it left a yellow colour on the borders of the glued parts, and it also was rough to feel.
I tried cleaning it up with sandpaper, but it wasn’t easy because I didn’t want to ruin the drawings that were over it, and using a nail polishing kit wasn’t enough (it stopped too soon). Now, I was suggested to try with simple paper to remove the glue without damaging ceramic, but that didn’t help at all: even with a little grinding tool at the lowest speed, the ceramic gets off before the glue!
Now, when I have to glue something together, I use UHU instead, so when I seen the other day that there was a part of the money box that was still half broken, and I decided to fix it, that’s what I used.. to get rid of the extra glue that came out of the border, the polishing tool was just enough, it peeled off without breaking anything. So UHU beats Super Attack here.
Anyway, who has a suggestion on how to get rid of the super glue without ruining the ceramic? And if you have any idea, it would be nice if you had any suggestion on how to hide the cracks.
What you need is real Acetone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik… and not the very diluted stuff in nail polish kits. You can find acetone in drug stores.
I agree with the above statement. Acetone should dissolve cyanoacrylate. Just don’t sit with it for too long, the fumes are fairly unpleasant. (I think it smells rather nice, but I’m a chemist by trade and I’ve smelled worse things (or possibly, I’m just weird).) And don’t let it get into contact with your skin if you can avoid it.It shouldn’t do anything to the ceramic but be careful. Also, it’s highly flammable, but you probably knew that…
Next time, try using acetate based glues. They are very strong, wheigh/expand less than cyanoacrylics, and are usally cheaper. Also, if you add acetone, the glue joints melt.Acetone based glues take longer to set however. And always remeber, only use a little…