Can you pop loose hot glue?

If I glue a betel nut onto a guide board with hot melt glue, will I be able to later pop the nut off of the guide board?

I don’t think DS turner’s tape will hold adequately. I suspect the nut is a little oily and cleaning with alcohol isn’t enough. I barely managed to pass it through my table saw using the tape but I’d prefer a stronger hold for slicing.

Details:
I need to cut a thin slice of a betel nut. I plan to:

  • use the scroll saw with a makeshift fence AKA feather board
  • Attach the nut to a guide board
    ** I have already made a flat
  • Slice the nut very thin
    ** I will hand sand flat/thinner after it’s mounted to the project)
  • Remove the remaining nut from the guide board
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That shouldn’t be a problem. Hot melt glue come off non-pourus surfaces pretty easily.

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I believe Cary is right? It should pop off pretty easily.

A nut is organic matter just like wood. I’m not sure that it’s exactly non-porous.

I suppose worst case I just can’t get it off the board …

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The oiliness should help it come free. Alternatively, couldn’t you heat the glue back up to melty temps? That’s assuming that it doesn’t pop free easily.

When flattening slabs, e.g. walnut, through the planer, I hot glue them onto MDF sled. When done, a little prying and they pop right off. I have to assume it would be the same for you. My only concern is if the nut is so small you can’t get the leverage needed, which isn’t all that much, but still…?

Any way to test?

Just looked up melting temps for hot glue. Appears there are low temp 149F and higher temp 288F. If you can get the low temp use a hair dryer to loosen it. A piece of foil over the top would protect it. Heck hot water should loosen it.

Actually, it’s a very large nut (as nuts go). It’s just over an inch in diameter.

Not sure on wood and wood like materials, but for most hot glue to plastic bonding, isopropyl alcohol apparently will sneak under by capillary action and greatly reduce the bond strength to help release. Not sure of it will help here, or that your nut will be alcohol safe.

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I was just watching a video where a guy used hot glue to hold a piece of wood on the MDF spoilboard on his CNC router. It popped right off. Practice on some scrap.

Warning, not all hot melt glue is the same.

The Clearer blue tinted hot melt tends to be much more flexible and will typically peel off cleanly. The more opaque hot melt glues often have additives that trade flexibility for more adhesion strength typically. But, many will also likely still clean up ok. That all said, stay away from the yellow tinted opaque hot melt glues, some of those have enough bonding agent that they will tear up surfaces.

These are just rules of thumb I’ve learned while developing temporary holding solutions for fireworks displays. There are thousands of different hot melt glues on the market which have many different feature. There are even permanent hot melt glues that after you use them they no longer melt.

I would bet you would want a very translucent blue tented hot melt for your job. But apply it with a thin application, because a thicker application can allow the flexibility of the glue to allow your work piece to move. If you needed a firmer option with less flexibility you can move into the opaquer glues, the bonding agents in these tend to be somewhat temperature sensitive. So if they are not cleaning up like you want at room temp, putting the piece in a freezer can have a drastic effect on clean up. This hardens the carrier and makes the glue more brittle, while also contracting the glues physical size. given it is attached to a surface that likely moves far less with chilling, the glue can almost peel itself. This is less effective with the very translucent glues as they tend to have much more elasticity.

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Thanks for the detailed response. At what type of store do you buy this sort of thing?

For your needs most hobby store and some home improvement store carry the clear blue tented hot glue. But, some home improvement stores are switching to the yellow kind.

Walmart caries this brand,


It should be fine. You shouldn’t require anything all that special for your needs.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of hot melt with more specialized options, here is a site to scratch that itch.

There are other more specialized sources, but this site has some hot melt with interesting properties and is a good source to possibly inspire you.

Also, this is currently my favorite hot glue gun.

This is a common gun also sold under the brand Sure Bond and Infinity. I’m sure you can find it in other brands as well. I bet all are made by a common manufacturer. The key is 300watts and wide range of adjustable temperature. Temp can do a lot to hot glues. Some at the higher temps bubble after application. Some glues have drastically different surface tensions at different temps and many more effects. All this shouldn’t matter for your project just stuff to learn and play with if you ever have the chance.

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How about painters tape and CA glue ? Less chance of burning your finger tips

Can you use a standard adjustable kitchen mandolin?

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That’s a prescient response … because I’m making a miniature bowl back mandolin!

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