Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with glue

GlueFilter

yoyo_nyc — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:27:53 -0800

Looking for removeable glue I often see paper sheets of postcars in magazines glued with a removeable glue (picture).

* What is the name of this stuff and
* Where can I buy it?

How do I remove this strange glue from my previously carpeted hardwood?

bradn — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:37:36 -0800

How do I remove this strange glue from my previously carpeted hardwood? Here's a photo.

Just bought a house, tore out nasty carpet. Other rooms are fine, but in the living room, the outside perimeter of the carpet pad was glued to the floor with dots of this fibrous, brownish glue. "Oops" only makes it harder and doesn't seem to dissolve it at all. Same with laquer thinner. Tried a glue remover specifically meant for carpet glue on hardwood and that didn't work either. Fine sandpaper and steel wool don't take it off, we need something that will dissolve it.

We plan to refinish eventually, but the floor looks terrible with these glue dots all over and I'm not sure we can live with it like this for long. Anyone seen this type of glue before?

Can you paint over wallpaper glue/backing? And can you "seal" the paint?

adipocere — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:09:10 -0800

Can you paint over wallpaper glue/backing? And can you "seal" the paint? In the ongoing game of "I'll help you fix up your bathroom if you'll help me fix up mine" between a friend and I, wall surfaces have finally come to the fore.

I'm taking down ugly beige wallpaper older than I am, in a badly-added bathroom, and it's clear that the wallpaper was applied with some level of enthusiasm. The paper comes off, nice and easy (I could probably pull off all of the paper in about five minutes), but only about two-thirds of it (the top layer) - leaving a lightly furry thin layer of paper (backing?) plus what appears to be a walloping amount of glue. A steamer (granted, it was a crappy Steam Buddy) did not speed things along. Warm, soapy water did not go any faster. Nor did using hot water with fabric softener. It's about a minute to do a square inch. The prospect of trying to scrape all of this off (time-consuming, I'm guessing a couple of days) without taking off the surface of the drywall (which is not even greenboard!) has made me wonder if I can't simply paint over the fur/glue. I'd have to mud in a couple of areas (the seams), but otherwise, are there compelling reasons not to do mud, then a coat or two of primer, then paint? Some sites say it isn't an issue, others act as if death itself is on the line. Is it just one of those "this is going to take ridiculous amounts of time, and is one of the reason why, when you search on AskMe for previous related questions, you get about five times as many hits relating to desktop wallpaper images for computers?" kinds of jobs?

In this thread, it seems as if all of the glue and backing were already gone, and in this thread, it seems as if they're planning to take off the whole wall - which is way beyond my skill level.

My friend's bathroom has a different issue - he has painted his and he has a four year old boy. One of the reasons the military does not employ four year old boys as snipers is, aside from the naptimes, that they have really lousy aim. Consequently, the wall nearest the toilet has taken a somewhat *wince* yellowish haze. He does not actually hit it directly, from what I can tell, he just creates a fine urine mist. Can you somehow seal paint with a thin coat of something transparent, so it can be wiped down easily? I know the problem will get better at some point as the child grows up, but the question remains - can you "seal" paint in bathrooms for these purposes, and are there good points as to why you should not do so?

Recommend Industrial Hot Glue Guns

Murray M — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:04:18 -0800

Hot glue: I need a REALLY INDUSTRIAL hot glue gun. Something that puts the glue out like nobodies business. Something that won't make my fingers tired either if I'm doing it all day, if possible. I can spend up to $150. What works?

What's the surest way to repair the broken handle of my favorite mug?

Riverine — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:43:12 -0800

What's the surest way to repair the broken handle of my favorite mug? While dishwashing, the handle of my favorite cup broke into three pieces. MeFi, what suggests do you have for glues, gluing techniques, or other things I should keep in mind? Or do you feel that repaired handles will never be trustworthy again?

Is a glue stick technically food?

ben242 — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:34:12 -0800

How many calories are there in a glue stick? This question came up in a discussion with a chef about at what point edible things cease to be food. The chef felt that the substance must contain some kind of nutritional content. Is a glue stick food if it has calories? What about elmer's glue?

Superglue for food processor workbowl repair?

sirion — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:17:20 -0800

What glue can I repair my food processor work bowl with? Can I use super glue? I dropped my food processor work bowl and put a big crack through half of it. How do I repair it? Superglue would be the easiest, but I'd rather not have toxic chemicals leeching into my sauces. I'd need to use a thin liquid glue of some sort to get inside the crack.

Replacing the work bowl isn't a decent option, unfortunately. I'm in Austria, and bought a multifunction cheapie blender/food processor/mixer, and I might as well buy a whole new one if I need to replace it.

If you give glue brands, please give as much info on the chemicals as possible, as they won't have the same brands out here (also the labels will be in German, and my chemistry vocabulary isn't exactly great in German! :)

Safe way to remove dried super glue from lid of aluminum Macbook?

CharlieChu — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:03:56 -0800

Help! I had some super glue drip onto the lid of my Macbook Pro. Is acetone based nail remover a wildly dangerous thing to try to use on the aluminum surface of my precious laptop?

I like breathing formaldehyde as much as the next person, but...

misanthropicsarah — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:41:16 -0800

How do I get rid of that horrible new carpet smell? My office had new carpet put down in the hallways last Thursday through Tuesday. It's industrial carpet glued to concrete floor. The glue smell gives me horrible headaches. Plus, I'm sure it's toxic.

My coworkers (there's only 2 of them) don't grok that this smell is causing a serious problem for me; somehow they can't smell it or it doesn't bother them. I had the hall windows open yesterday, but it's all of 20° today and they'll whine about it being cold if I open the windows again.

So, how can I get this horrible smell to go away? I'd prefer to eliminate or neutralize it instead of covering it up with something (Febreze also not an option because that gives me headaches too).

Photo collages: the sticky and the permanent

lisa g — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:32:09 -0800

I'm starting a series of collages where I'm attaching bits of photos to other photos, and I'm curious about the best adhesives and sealants for archival purposes. The photos in question are C-prints, not inkjets. Some will be digital C-prints from a lab, and some might be from a darkroom -- but they'll all be on Fuji Crystal Archive paper.

My goal is to have the adhesive be as permanent as possible and for the sealant to dry clear and stay clear over the years (and not alter the colors of the photos).

I'm new to collage, so I'm learning as I go along. I've done some Googling and looked at various web forums (like this and this), but none seem to deal specifically with photos on photos. I guess I've got it easier than some collagists (sp?), as I'm dealing with relatively thick photos and not thin old newsprint, but of course photos have issues of their own.

I've done a few test runs with Crafter's Pick brand "Decoupage and Collage Gel," which says it's archival; it dries clear and seems fine. But I know there's a ton of stuff out there.

Bonus: If I mount these collages on wood or aluminum or cintra, what's the best permanent adhesive for that? I've previously had some C-prints professionally mounted on cintra, and a few are beginning to unstick at the corners after only a few years. Though maybe it was just a bad mounting job. I'm not sure what adhesive they used.

thanks for any help!

Adhering tissue paper in the very best way possible?

actionpact — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:01:00 -0800

I want to glue and layer tissue paper to bristol board. Help me pick out the right kind of adhesive! I got really inspired by Eric Carle this morning and now I really want to play around with gluing and overlaying painted tissue paper. But I haven't done this before and am a)impatient and b) on a bit of a budget and c) wanting to be as kind to the environment as I can in the process.

Reading about Eric Carle's process, he says he brushes on wallpaper paste. But I read that such paste is harmful for the environment. I'd like to get a glue that will glue flimsy papers down flat without being really harsh chemically if I can. I've used Yes! glue in school but no place around here carries it, and I don't think Elmer's or Mod Podge are going to do that well with it, though I could be wrong.

What are your ideas? Bonus points if they're things I can find easily at a chain store or art supply store (Home Depot/Lowe's are also good options) or are mixtures I could make myself using household ingredients. (wheatpaste? I'm clueless, so advice is appreciated.) I'd rather not blow a lot of money experimenting with glues I'll probably not use otherwise. Hoping I won't have to go ordering through the internet on this one!

Will gluing together a laptop's LCD screen panels work?

cog_nate — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:49:31 -0800

Will using superglue or gorilla glue to glue together the LCD screen case on a laptop computer work? I bought an old beater laptop for my wife to use for at least one month. The laptop works fine, LCD looks great, but the outer panel edges around the screen's case are a bit loose (and are currently being held together by not-very-confidence-inspiring tape). Can I use a few drops of super glue or gorilla glue to fasten the edges together? Or will it off-gas and/or turn solvent and somehow damage the plastics and/or electronics? (This is a Sony Vaio GRZ610, if that makes any difference.)

Thanks in advance.

make her bigger basket better

amtho — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:01:36 -0800

woodworkers and/or adhesive experts: Is there some way to "seal" a thin piece of cedar wood so that it won't split? I'm making my own bicycle baskets (after giving up on finding my ideal for sale). I've already finished one, and it's awesome. Basically, it's made of a top and bottom cedar frame connected by three dowels and a bunch of cane (cane as is found in chair seats).

The top and bottom frames are made by cutting roughly-rectangular shapes from a 3/4" cedar board, then cutting out the center of the shapes, so that what's left is about 3/4" wide edge. I drill holes in this to take the dowels and the cane.

It works pretty well, though, as I expected I did get some splitting. With the holes I'm making, the wood is pretty thin, and cedar seems pretty grainy in general. I was able to glue the splits I got successfully with wood glue, but it made me wonder if I could just apply a substance to the entire frame (soaking it?) to make the whole thing less likely to split.

I did stain the frames, and seal them, but this seems more designed to prevent moisture penetrating than to augment the existing bonds between the wood fibers -- I think this latter is what I really want.

I should add that I also thought of wrapping the whole thing with cane or something similar, but as this is for a bike, I want to keep things light, if possible. And the cane I have doesn't seem that well-suited to that use.

Soaking the whole thing in wood glue occurred to me, but I'm not sure it would work, I worry about warpage, and I'm pretty sure I'd like something waterproof. Bonus if it won't interfere with staining.

I chose cedar on the advice of a wood sculptor friend; it is nice and light -- I wouldn't want anything heavier -- and the first basket is reasonably successful. I'd just like to avoid future splitting, and it would be great if I could make the frame even lighter. I'm not using the traditional thin-slice-of-wood-looped-around approach because I wanted some small degree of structural support in case of the bike falling over (with, for instance, a laptop inside). It won't protect from a major collision, but I think it's the right degree of rigidity.

I tried a Google search for [seal wood split] without success.

[Also, if there's some great way to glue the cane ends to their terminal holes, I'd love to know about that too.]

mounting paper to wood

logic vs love — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:50:47 -0800

What is the best way to mount paper to wood? The paper would be either photo paper or canvas paper. It needs to be permanent and professional-looking, and hopefully not crazy-expensive.

Need REALLY STRONG glue to fix a chair

beammeup4 — Thu, 24 May 2007 10:40:59 -0800

Need something stronger than epoxy to fix a plastic office chair arm I've got an office chair consisting of rigid plastic armrests that are sort of rounded rectangle shape (the bottom and one side are bolted to the seat and back of the chair itself.

The armrest broke, so I put epoxy on it and wrapped a bungee cord around it so it would hold its shape. Unfortunately, the epoxy wasn't strong enough to withstand the pressure of its own shape and of me leaning back in the chair and promptly broke.

What do you recommend I use to fix this armrest that will be able to withstand the force of me leaning back on it. I'm surprised because the epoxy says it can withstand 1000+ lbs. of force

What are good adhesive to bond rubber/latex and cloth to aluminum?

h2 — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:46:44 -0800

What are good adhesives to bond rubber/latex and cloth to aluminum? I'm looking for good clean strong adhesives to bond latex or rubber and cloth to bare aluminum. The rubber/latex and cloth will not need to be bonded to eachother, only to the aluminum. The adhesive will have to endure traffic pulling on the latex/rubber with several pounds of force (~10lbs) over several years. Also, how do I go about finding (and contracting?) a factory or place of assembly to assemble the said materials?

Stuck on you.

mrmcsurly — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 18:21:09 -0800

A neighbourhood vandal has stuck a "glue trap" to the middle of my windshield. How do I get it off? (more inside) My fiancée was visiting friends for dinner in Toronto during our recent cold-snap. She parked on the street and returned to find a glue trap stuck to the middle of the windshield. For the unfamiliar, it's a sheet of heavy paper about 6" x 4" with "Exterminator's Glue Trap: Contains No Poison" on the back (and an adorable image of a brick of cheese) used mostly for catching rodents. The face-down side (face up for catching things, face down for vandalizing cars) of the trap features super-sticky epoxy-like glue.

Sadly, it features no instructions on how to remove it. We have no garage, so spending a long time outside will result in frostbite or worse. I've already ruined a perfectly good snow scraper and a pair of mittens. Help me before I stick myself to the window and have to call an ambulance.

Peel-off stretchy glue

donnagirl — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 09:08:37 -0800

I need to attach a promotional magnet to a paper flyer. I'd like to use that peel-off adhesive often used to attach samples in magazine ads. What is it? It's stretchy, clear, and doesn't leave sticky residue. I can't find anything like it from the standard office supply vendors, but I know it exists.

What kind of glue do I need?

szechuan — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 13:00:02 -0800

How can I glue a photo behind perspex? As a light-weight (for posting overseas) Christmas gift, I am considering copying an idea I have seen in stores where a photo is "mounted" behind perspex. There is no backing to the picture (i.e. nothing to sandwich the photo between), so an adhesive must have been used.

What would work to glue a picture to perspex without the picture being ruined by the glue? Or do I really need to seal it to the perspex with some sort of backing sheet?

Flies on my Mane

Schlimmbesserung — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:30:17 -0800

Here's a fun one. My hair got caught in flypaper. Now what? I managed to pry the paper off of my head (OW. Owowow) and pick out the flies (EWW. Ewewewew), but the glue has jammed my hair into a permanent, sticky Ace Ventura flip. The nastiest shampoo in the house won't put a dent in it. Any suggestions for how to ungoo my `do, or is it time to find an especially merciful hairdresser and buzz it all off?

Sniffing glue.

methylsalicylate — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 11:32:30 -0800

I have old magazines on very thin, cheap, disintegrating paper. How best to decoupage them to a wooden surface without the reverse side showing through? I have done decoupage in the past, with varying success. My previous experience with images on a similar paper (in an art piece) had the reverse print showing through after being varnished. That was the desired effect. But how to prepare and finish this piece so that doesn't happen in this project? How can I best prep the wood and more importantly, is there a layer I can put on the paper pre-varnishing that will prevent showthrough? There are many decoupage sites out there, but not too much in the way of answering this question that I can find.

I don't have easy access to a photocopier or scanner/printer, and would prefer to avoid that as the piece will be "found objects" and I'd lose the nice tattered edges of the source material!

remove old carpet pad glue from concrete floor?

spock — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 15:50:19 -0800

Anybody know how to remove old carpet padding glue from concrete basement floor? Remodeling the room, want to paint the concrete floor (more inside). I've got an 80 year-old house with a poured concrete foundation and a concrete basement floor. I'm remodeling a room in one corner where they previously had some shag carpet with a carpet pad underneath. Where the carpet pad seams were, there remains a reddish glue on the concrete floor. It runs right down the middle of the floor. It powders a bit when you use one of those big razor scrapers, but it doesn't all come off - just the top layer. I'd like to acid etch and paint the concrete floor (and just put a big area rug in there). Any ideas on how to remove this infernal glue?

Help me get the lint out of my hairbrush

shelleycat — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:27:46 -0800

Please help me get the lint and grossness out of my hairbrush. I've had this problem for several years now, my hair brush gets full of what looks like dryer lint. I'm assuming it's a combination of dust, cat hair and lint from my clothing. Actual hair isn't a problem, I can pull that out easily enough, but this stuff wraps around the bristles and gets stuck in there. Please help me clean it out because I'm sick of buying a new brush every six months. First, some photos so you can see what I'm talking about 1 2 3. As you can see, the lint warps around the bristle and, because of the knob on the end, it won't come off. I shudder to think what's in my hair to make it build up like that, particularly given my hair itself isn't noticeably linty and is regularly washed.

I've tried cleaning my brushes various ways but it never really works. Washing the brush in water and detergent keeps it hygienic (and is done often) but makes no difference to the build up. I pull the person hair out regularly (like every two days or so), so that's not really an issue. I've tried picking the lint out with tweezers or scissors, nothing happens. If I pull each nub of stuff it will eventually come off, but it takes the knob off with it and then my head gets scratched. The best method is vigorously rubbing my fingers sideways between the bristles (um, finger pointing straight into the bristles towards the flat bit they're attached too, rubbing along the lines between the bristles) but this gives me a sore finger and the bristles get bent, degrading the performance of the brush. Also it only gets some of the stuff out, those photos are taken after a good ten minutes of this treatment. I can't think of anything else to try that won't destroy the brush.

Changing hair brush type isn't an option. I have kind of odd hair (some curly, some straight, some thick, some fuzzy, some just weird) and this brush works really well for me. If I could only keep get it clean. Right now I wait til the build up gets bad (those photos are very close) and throw it out. But they aren't always easy to find and I'm a poor student so resent the cost. In case it matters I brush my hair wet and use styling products, so some of that gets in there too.

Please help me get this brush clean. Failing that, any ideas of how to stop this happening in the first place would be appreciated.

I'm not a generally dirty person, honest.

glue that will un-glue without damage

ra — Sat, 06 May 2006 08:31:00 -0800

Is there a glue that will un-glue without damage to the glued items? I need to glue an in-ear monitor (like a hearing aid) to the delicate connector which is connected to the wire that transmit's the sound. When it's not in my ear, (and sometimes even when it is) the ear mould can disconnect from the wire and fall off (or vica versa). I've alread lost two (@ $100 each!). I'd like to be able to fasten them so that they won't disconnect with regular use but will come apart with a good tug - leaving both pieces un-affected. Is there such a glue?

DIY metal toys on the cheap.

craniac — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 12:53:32 -0800

I love these retro assemblages. Is it plausible to create small metal assemblage sculptures using nothing but patience and industrial epoxy? and if so,

What epoxies would you recommend?
Are there sites that cheerfully discuss this sort of industrial craftiness? Thanks!