Super Glue in Locks

[Gordy]

I've only had two of this type of job and wondered if anyone knew a better way of dealing with this problem other than using a small gas blow torch to melt the glue.
Thanks

[lostlink]

I've only had two of this type of job and wondered if anyone knew a better way of dealing with this problem other than using a small gas blow torch to melt the glue.
Thanks

I had the joy of clearing out 8 SFIC locks about 2 weeks ago......

I used a couple of different methods.....Some of the locks I was able to pull a bit of the globbed glue out then I followed up with some acetone solvent. Super glue does make a disolver that comes in a small tube. It has a thick creamy texture and takes a bit of time to disolve the glue.

Another trick would be go to your local hobby shop and buy a small bottle of cyanoacrylate glue (super glue) debonder. It usually has a little applicator brush in the bottle which may be quite handy to have......
Works great on model aircraft...........

Good luck!!

[maintenanceguy]

if it's really superglue (cyanoacrylate) the acetone will dissolve it. Bottles of nail polish remover or you can get acetone pure in quart cans from hardware stores.

Soak in acetone overnight and work the key in and out while it's submerged to flush all the stuff out. I work for a school district and have had to do this on more than one occasion.

Last year, we found ALL of the exterior doors at our high school were glued the morning of the first day of school. I had probably 40 cylinders that were glued with gorilla glue (urethane). Called the manufacturer who told me nothing would dissolve it once it was cured. I didn't believe them and tried everything I could think of and nothing worked. Ended up buying all new lock cylinders.

[WOT]

if it's really superglue (cyanoacrylate) the acetone will dissolve it. Bottles of nail polish remover or you can get acetone pure in quart cans from hardware stores.

Soak in acetone overnight and work the key in and out while it's submerged to flush all the stuff out. I work for a school district and have had to do this on more than one occasion.

Last year, we found ALL of the exterior doors at our high school were glued the morning of the first day of school. I had probably 40 cylinders that were glued with gorilla glue (urethane). Called the manufacturer who told me nothing would dissolve it once it was cured. I didn't believe them and tried everything I could think of and nothing worked. Ended up buying all new lock cylinders.

What about non-flammable paint strippers? They're methylene chloride based and dissolves just about everything polymer on the face of earth, even epoxy, if you soak over night.

[WOT]

Oh and super glue. Boil it, or use one of those steam cleaner thing.

I had good success cleaning tools that got super glue on them by boiling. The super glue peels off. The stuff is not really good at tolerating moist heat.

[raimundo]

hey maint, how did you figure out that it was Gorilla glue, did they leave the tube for you to read. and that thing about soaking something in acetone overnight, my experience with acetone has usually been that stuff will do its work near instantaneously. its super penetrating on all sorts of plastics.

[Stray]

Yeah I allways use it as a fall back solvent. If nothing else works well I'll go to that.

Had this stain on my floor that was almost as if black plastic had broken down and become soft. looked almost like grease but had a certain hardness to it.

Anyways tried everything and seeing as it didn't work i moved on to my acetone, and it did the job with almost no elbow grease.

[Eyes_Only]

hey maint, how did you figure out that it was Gorilla glue, did they leave the tube for you to read. and that thing about soaking something in acetone overnight, my experience with acetone has usually been that stuff will do its work near instantaneously. its super penetrating on all sorts of plastics.

Gorilla glue will kind of foam up and expand three times its size once its cured into a hard cream colored ooze. Thats an indicator they used Gorilla Glue.

[maintenanceguy]

hey maint, how did you figure out that it was Gorilla glue, did they leave the tube for you to read.

Working as a jack of all trades my whole life, I'm just familiar with how the stuff looks when it's cured. Orangy yellow, foamy, expanded out of the keyhole, hard as rock.

[zeke79]

That gorilla glue is some pretty good stuff!

[carloski]

as one of the previous post said we use clear nail varnish remover because of the high levels of acetone in it

[Gordy]

Cheers guys,
Just had another one only this time I nicked the girlfriends nail polish remover and it worked a treat.
Thanks again.