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So I haven't used the plastic glue in question for possibly a year or even more. I used it to repair a broken sword recently. The next morning the sword was still bending around like when the plastic glue isn't set yet. THE NEXT MORNING! Could it be out of date? I thought I cleaned up the joint, but I may have left something there. Has anyone else experienced "out of date" plastic glue?

I suppose its possible. what brand?

If i left my pure solvent out it would pretty much disappear lol.

But i guess its possible for the solvents in a gel mix to dissipate and leave only the gel.

but if it was sealed i have no clue.

Yea it was done up tight. GW plastic glue.

If its old GW glue i recall they had a very bad batch.

as well GW Glue tends to be bad anyway.

Thin solvent cement plastic glue should not go bad. It should be pure (or nearly so) solvent which will remain more or less as it was the day it was bottled for a very long time. Granted, they are an organic compound - which do not tend to be the most stable of compounds - but still, in the relatively closed system they are in...you shouldn't have them go bad.

Thicker cements - the ones like Testors in the orange tube can end up going bad - or rather going hard. The solvent will migrate out of the plastic dissolved plastic that gives it it's body, and you end up with a chunky tube in a bit of time...granted it takes years under normal circumstances.

The more common issue is that you will open a bottle that you hadn't used in a while only to find it empty. Most the solvents evaporate quite readily, and if there is even the tiniest escape route for them - it won't take long at all for that new bottle to become an empty bottle.

If it was still bending around - I would guess you were messing with a thick plastic cement that the dissolved plastic had began migrating out of the solvent. Before it becomes fully hard it gets really gummy. This gummy compound can take days to become hard - and when it does become hard, it tends to be very brittle.

I've had a tube of the stuff coagulate into a rock solid mass. I think it was an ornage testors like Sean_OBrien was talking about.

I've had the red Testors tubes go 5+ years and still work. Never liked GW glue and disliked the price even more so don't know about that.

I have had superglue (CA glue) go bad. It seems to get thicker and thicker and lose it's bonding strength over a few years.

Thanks guys. Sounds like I need new glue.

I found a pot of humbrol liquid poly in an old box. I used it as a kid in making bike, car, plane models... The pot must be twenty to twenty-five years old. There are... Plastic debris (look like melted plastic file shavings) in the pot, but it still bonds plastic quite well. Better than then, but it's because I use less (kids can be... "enthusiastic" in applying glue )