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I ask because I've had a bottle of superglue for a few years now. The cap is broken so it's been open to the air this whole time; and now, when I use it, my models seem to fall apart much more easily than usual. Am I being paranoid, or does glue lose its strength?

Well it'll certainly dry out, and one can only assume that a loss of stickiness in a glue is going to make it less...sticky.

I honestly don't think so...my bottle of super glue is almost a year old now, and it still glues my fingers together instantly =p

I've had this problem too. The glue only goes bad if you leave the cap off, but even after a day the bonding ability will have severely gone down. You probably need a new bottle of glue.

CA style superglues like Zap and friends cure by absorbing moisture (from the air, usually, but also your skin, which is why they bond fingers so quickly).

Over time, even if they're capped, they'll slowly absorb moisture, and every time you open a bottle to use some, a little more air with moisture will get into the bottle. So eventually some significant percentage of the glue in a bottle will be already cured before you put it on your models.

So yes, the glue does 'go bad' over time. If you have a decent bottle with a good cap seal on it, it might not before you use up the glue. If you leave it out uncapped for extended periods, or have a cap that doesn't seal, or a bottle made out of a more porous plastic, then the glue will be less strong in a much shorter period.

I used to buy the large 2 oz bottles, but I found that the vast majority of the time the tip would get crudded up, ruining the airtight seal, and the glue would thus go bad long before I used up the whole bottle. Now I buy the smallest bottles (1/4oz, I think they are) and I never really notice the glue becoming too cured to use before I use up the bottle.

If when you get a wiff of it your eyes sting & water then all is good.
If it doesn't throw it away.

I find that occasionally I have to replace mine, as it will stop working, regardless of whether the cap is on or not.

I just buy cheap packs for £1 from the pound store, they werk just as well, and for like 4 for £1 or even more if they're in the metal tubes, theyare quite disposable.

if it pulls a pistol out on you then you know it's gone bad. Unless it was in self defence ...

Wolfun wrote:I find that occasionally I have to replace mine, as it will stop working, regardless of whether the cap is on or not.

Trueeeef.

Eventually, the adhesive will be separated from the medium. The former will solidify at the bottom and you end just pouring medium on what you want to glue.

It will happend, no matter what, but you can delay it by keeping the glue in a cold place, like the fridge.

Note that this happends to all cyanoacrilates brands I've tried

bubber wrote:If when you get a wiff of it your eyes sting & water then all is good.
If it doesn't throw it away.

Im kinda glad im not the only person who determines if super glue is good like this. Thats how I generally tell if the nozzle is clogged or not too.

I did have some glue that the cap was off for a few days and made a layer of dried glue on top, I was able to pierce threw it with a paper clip and get at the good stuff.