Using cyanoacrylate to glue PLA parts sometimes leaves a white residue or haze near the glue locations. Is there an easy way to remove it?
I've tried water and alcohol swabs but after drying the haze remains.
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$\begingroup$ Chemistry excursus: the white haze is not the PLA but the CA curing in a rough surface fashion and turning white. $\endgroup$– TrishCommented Apr 6, 2022 at 9:15
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$\begingroup$ Is this question a duplicate of the earlier question How to get superglue off PLA filament?..? I don't want to flag is as a duplicate myself, as I'll end up unilaterally closing this question and I may not be correct in my assumption... $\endgroup$– Greenonline ♦Commented Nov 17, 2023 at 13:51
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1$\begingroup$ @Greenonline I'd even say: merge the two. $\endgroup$– TrishCommented Nov 17, 2023 at 15:42
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3 Answers
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Doing a Google search turned up the article "How To Prevent/Remove White Superglue Residue" on MyCustomHotwheels.com.
According to the article, the haze is caused "by trace amounts of moisture on the substrate surfaces". Of course, the author does talk about how to prevent this haze beforehand by using quality Superglue.
Towards the bottom of the article, there are two solutions to removing the haze: a heat gun and petroleum jelly. Two YouTube videos provide live demonstrations of the removal of the haze (provided below).
The heat gun method uses 100 ° air. The narrator of the video does not specify Celsius or Fahrenheit but he does have an accent so I would guess that he's not American and therefore the temperature is probably Celsius.
The petroleum jelly is used in the second video. The narrator doesn't have great success at first until he cleans the plastic a second time.
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$\begingroup$ 100 °F would be the heat of a hand, not needing a heatgun at all. I use a heatgun to debubble Epoxy at times, while it is still wet. $\endgroup$– TrishCommented Apr 6, 2022 at 9:17
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$\begingroup$ I tried a heat gun with a digital temperature control, set at 100° C. It didn't touch the haze; no effect at all. I was reluctant to dial the heat any higher so gave up on that. I then went to Vaseline and was immediately successful. The white haze disappears instantly with no rubbing required. After wiping off all the Vaseline the surface remained perfectly clean. It couldn't have been easier. I'm marking this answer accepted. Thanks for the help. $\endgroup$– allardjdCommented Apr 6, 2022 at 13:42
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Incidentally, this whitish "haze" is exactly what I've found happens when objects printed with certain "PLA" filaments (likely containing additives other than PLA, since PLA isn't supposed to be affected by it) are exposed to acetone. CA glue is soluble in acetone and likely contains acetone or similar solvents, and it seems a plausible explanation is that the solvent is leeching whatever part of the material is soluble out of the part, then depositing it back on the surface after it dries. The pigments are likely not soluble and remain below.
I've had some success just rubbing the "haze" material off with a cloth while it's not entirely dry, but that's without the CA adhesive which would make rubbing it while wet... inadvisible.
If the part is amenable to sanding, sanding lightly once it's fully dry may be a good option.
For what it's worth, I don't get this effect using CA glue on PLA, but I always use the extremely low-viscosity, fast-drying type (Loctite 420 and other brand equivalents), so using one of these might be a solution for the future (although not for any part already affected).
answered Apr 6, 2022 at 11:14
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Acetone or alcohol hasn't worked at all for me, if anything it made it worse by stripping the PLA of the sheen its supposed to have. I have tried various types of Acetone as well, all with similar results.
I know this will sound crazy, but I have been doing this for about 6 months. I use Sesame Oil, applied generously with a Q-tip, and then I "rub it in/dry it off" with a paper towel. This has worked on various sheens of PLA and PLA+ and completely removes any evidence of super glue. I haven't seen the oil dry out yet either. At first I thought the oil would wear off or dry out, but it has not yet and its been 6 months since I've been doing this.
