Teflon Glue Pot

[whinewine]

I thought there was a previous post about teflon glue pots & what to coat them with on the inside, but I can't find anything about them (maybe I imagined it- who knows).

Anyway, I went to clean out the residue from mine & I'm having an awful time. It held PVA glue (tandy's leatherweld, or something similar) & there are clumps & lumps inside that I can't get out. I've used boiling water, soapy water, run it through the dishwasher... I thought teflon was the slipperiest substance on earth, but the glue just won't come off.

Could this be a defective pot?

More importantly, has anyone else had this problem?

Is there a solution?

Assuming the pot is NOT defective & I can scrape as much as I can out with my fingers, what can I use to coat the inside with to keep the new glue from sticking as much? (rubber cement? plastic dip{the kind you use to dip tool handles}?

[steveh]

the teflon coating in the glue pot is what keeps the glue from sticking, I believe they are designed for the contact type cements, as the glue gets exposed to atmosphere is sets up thick, and you can add thinner to bring it back to a workable form. I may be wrong but I dont think the glue pots work real well the white based glues.

[Bob]

I have a teflon glue pot, I've never used anything but a solvent based glue called weldwood contact cement. The teflon coating is only on the outside, it's black. When the outside gets at coating of dry glue. I simply use the fresh glue from inside the pot and brush the outside, then come back a few minutes later when it's half dry and rub it off.

To get the glue out from the inside, well thats a tough one. I think that only a solvent will soften the glue enough to dig it out from inside. I once had my glue pot dry out and thats what I did. Water won't work on solvent based glue. I think I just used a flat stick much like a ruler to dig it out from inside after using the solvent to soften the glue.

I hope this helps you out.

[bcurrier]

Glue pot? As in heated glue pot? You don't heat PVA glue. It's cold press. If the glue was cooked, even unintentionally (as in using an electric pot for convenience sake, then turning it on by mistake), I can understand why it's stuck in there.

If you just mean a container for cold glue - no, I've never had a problem with any kind of PVA glue like you're describing.

Bill

[Billy P]

A lady that is in the Leather Guild that I'm in uses an empty Dawn dish detergent bottle for her glue dispenser. She says that the glue doesn't stick and with the pop up top, she has pretty good control of how much comes out. I haven't used this personally, but have my wife saving me her last bottle as we speak. Cathy says that she doesn't know if other brand bottles work or not as she has only used the Dawn. I don't know, but there it is, hope it works and helps someone out. Like I said I'm gonna try it myself.

[Art]

Hi Whine,

Yes there is a solvent for PVA (polyvinylacetate) glues. The darned stuff sticks to everything, that's why it is used so much (you can buy it in tank car lots). So.....

GlycolEthers such as Butyl Cellosolve or Carbitol DE can be applied on the dried glue sparingly, let soak in for at least half an hour, and then wipe off the softened glue with a scrubber or something that won't take off the fluoropolymer (Teflon®-PTFE or FEP) coating. In other words, dump some Cellosolve in the pot, let it sit for a 1/2 hour or so and clean it out.

You can get 2-Butoxy ethanol (ETHYLENE GLYCOL MONOBUTYL ETHER), but everyone calls it Cellosolve, here in small quantities, a quart costs $10. This is another one that is sold by tank car lots mostly for industrial cleaning and as a solvent.

http://www.chemistrystore.com/butylcellosolve.htm

Glycol Ether must be handled with respect. Avoid contact with eyes and skin. You should read an MSDS first.

Art

I thought there was a previous post about teflon glue pots & what to coat them with on the inside, but I can't find anything about them (maybe I imagined it- who knows).

Anyway, I went to clean out the residue from mine & I'm having an awful time. It held PVA glue (tandy's leatherweld, or something similar) & there are clumps & lumps inside that I can't get out. I've used boiling water, soapy water, run it through the dishwasher... I thought teflon was the slipperiest substance on earth, but the glue just won't come off.

Could this be a defective pot?

More importantly, has anyone else had this problem?

Is there a solution?

Assuming the pot is NOT defective & I can scrape as much as I can out with my fingers, what can I use to coat the inside with to keep the new glue from sticking as much? (rubber cement? plastic dip{the kind you use to dip tool handles}?

[whinewine]

Glue pot? As in heated glue pot? You don't heat PVA glue. It's cold press. If the glue was cooked, even unintentionally (as in using an electric pot for convenience sake, then turning it on by mistake), I can understand why it's stuck in there.

If you just mean a container for cold glue - no, I've never had a problem with any kind of PVA glue like you're describing.

Bill

No, cold glue pot. I know not to heat PVA

Art: thank you for the solvent info. I will get some since there are various 'accidents' that do happen with glues

BTW, when I did my last pour of hot water in the pot, I discovered that there was a leak in the side of the pot. There was a discoloration & white crystals in that spot. When I scraped it off is when I noticed the leak. This had allowed the air to enter & caused the PVA inside to curdle. I don't know if the PVA had eaten from the inside out or whether or not this was a defect in the metal's coating, either inside or out, but nonetheless it is going to go back to tandy. Nothing in their literature states "do not use with PVA glue".

[bcurrier]

No, cold glue pot. I know not to heat PVA

About the boiling water, though - it would be well above heated glue pot temps. I probably would have tried the same thing, but if it didn't dissolve the glue, a couple of repeated slugs of the water probably did cook it pretty good.

Bill

[whinewine]

About the boiling water, though - it would be well above heated glue pot temps. I probably would have tried the same thing, but if it didn't dissolve the glue, a couple of repeated slugs of the water probably did cook it pretty good.

Bill

It was well curdled well before the boiling water & the dishwasher. The leak is what allowed oxygen/air to curdle it beforehand- (and this is before I knew it had a leak)- the curdling is why I had to try to clean it out in the first place. I started with cold water= very little to nothing; went to dishwasher= very little to nothing; & finally to boiling water= again, very little to nothing, but the boiling water did soften it up enough so that I could pry some of it out.

Anyway, it'll go back to tandy as a defective glue pot- even the glue didn't want to peel off the black (teflon-ed) outside, even before I began to use the various water baths.

[ArtS]

I use the old catsup bottles. The kind that the top is put facing down. The glue (Barge) sits on the bottom where the air might usually leak in so it seals it tight. The glue stays pretty fresh in there and pours easy with lots of control. I use a piece of felt to spread it with.

ArtS

[whinewine]

I took the glue pot back to tandy this morning: they looked at it, said 'wow, that's weird', took it back & exchanged it for a new one, no problem. The new one is coated on the non- teflon-ed part, both inside & outside with some sort of clear finish- the old one was not. This is why the glue ate its way through the metal, allowing air to enter & coagulate the glue inside.

However, I'm still going to coat both the inside and the outside with something for additional protection (probably the outside with spray rubberized coating, the inside???= maybe plastic tool dip, maybe rubber cement... don't know yet- anyone have any ideas?)

[howardb]

I took the glue pot back to tandy this morning: they looked at it, said 'wow, that's weird', took it back & exchanged it for a new one, no problem. The new one is coated on the non- teflon-ed part, both inside & outside with some sort of clear finish- the old one was not. This is why the glue ate its way through the metal, allowing air to enter & coagulate the glue inside.

However, I'm still going to coat both the inside and the outside with something for additional protection (probably the outside with spray rubberized coating, the inside???= maybe plastic tool dip, maybe rubber cement... don't know yet- anyone have any ideas?)

I wouldn't coat it with anything. Someone, hopefully a lot smarter 'n us, designed the thing. I heard two good suggestions for cleaning - one: use a little fresh glue to soften the old; and two: to use solvent to clean it up. I think your old can may have been defective, but trying to coat the new one will likely just make a mess. my 2 cents...

Brent

[whinewine]

I wouldn't coat it with anything. Someone, hopefully a lot smarter 'n us, designed the thing. I heard two good suggestions for cleaning - one: use a little fresh glue to soften the old; and two: to use solvent to clean it up. I think your old can may have been defective, but trying to coat the new one will likely just make a mess. my 2 cents...

Brent

The outside has been sprayed with a rubberized plastic coating (which will help keep it in one place nearby when I'm doing my pounding) & I've coated the inside with envirotex (food grade epoxy). So far, no problems.

As far as 'someone a lot smarter...' well, I don't generally buy that argument- many things today are designed to be obsolete, many things are designed to be 'fashionable' and 'cutsey' rather than functional, many things are designed to be cheap rather than to have quality. For example, while tool steels have evolved, many tools are made today with inferior steels compared to that used in tools of yesteryear= "it's a disposable world, so just throw it away & buy another" is the modern philosophy, unfortunately.

russ

[howardb]

The outside has been sprayed with a rubberized plastic coating (which will help keep it in one place nearby when I'm doing my pounding) & I've coated the inside with envirotex (food grade epoxy). So far, no problems.

As far as 'someone a lot smarter...' well, I don't generally buy that argument- many things today are designed to be obsolete, many things are designed to be 'fashionable' and 'cutsey' rather than functional, many things are designed to be cheap rather than to have quality. For example, while tool steels have evolved, many tools are made today with inferior steels compared to that used in tools of yesteryear= "it's a disposable world, so just throw it away & buy another" is the modern philosophy, unfortunately.

russ

Ah, Touche. I can't disagree too much as we were going through a VCR every 6 months for a while. Didn't seem to matter how much we spent, they all just died. I checked, and no peanut butter & jelly sandwiches had been stuffed in either. Just disposable junk.

I do like the idea of the rubbery stuff on the outside to keep it from wandering. And I guess if you were going to coat the inside with anything an epoxy is a good call. The rubber cement was the one I would avoid like a plague.

Have you tried any plastic ones? A friend of mine carries his contact cement in a plastic jar with the brush in the cap. I hadn't asked him about dried glue residue, but I will...

Brent

[whinewine]

Have you tried any plastic ones? A friend of mine carries his contact cement in a plastic jar with the brush in the cap. I hadn't asked him about dried glue residue, but I will...

Brent

Brent, yes, I did, in fact start with one (the one from tandy with the brush in the cap) for my pva glue. That glue stuck the cap & the bottle together & I always had a major problem with trying to get the cap off. That's when I went to the glue pot.

BTW, I still have the plastic bottle/metal cap combo. I keep my rubber cement in it now. It's still a bitch to open, but certainly is easier with the rubber cement than with the white glue.

russ