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Touch n' Flow help


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Bought one a few years ago and just now need it for thin styrene cement. But having no success.

Mine is a long skinny glass tube with a hypodermic needle on the end. I immerse it in a bottle of cement, put finger over the open end and - nothing happens. No liquid drawn up the tube or held in the needle.

I must be a dummy but can't figger how it works. Any advice appreciated.

 

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When these work, they're great, but they can be finicky.

If it's brand new, and the liquid cement you have is in a container that's deeper than the needle, don't cover the end of the tube. Just let capillary action fill it to the level of the fluid in the cement container. It may take a few minutes.

Some of these came with a little plastic squeeze-bottle with a fatter needle that will fit in the open end of the glass tube. Squeeze the air out of the bottle, put the tip of the needle in the tube (with the smaller needle of the tube immersed in your liquid cement) and release the pressure on the squeeze bottle. As it re-inflates, it should draw cement up into the tube.

The tips can get clogged very easily, as dissolved plastic may wick up into the needle as you use it. To keep the needle clear, you really need to keep the needle immersed in cement all the time. That also poses a spill hazard, and allows your cement to evaporate quickly. I made a special top for my cement bottle that seals against the glass tube when not in use, and put the whole thing in a larger container to avoid knocking it over.

If the needle DOES become clogged, it's usually close to the tip. Scoring it 1/8 or 1/4 inch back from the tip with a hard, sharp blade and snapping it off clean is the only way I've ever found to clear a needle.

If you fill the glass tube too high, it can also tend to drip cement on places you don't want it. Experimentation is key.

As I said, when these work properly, they're great...BUT, because they can be a real PITA, I've pretty well phased mine out with very fine insulin syringes. A friend of mine is diabetic, so I get them free, only used once. 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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When I got mine the guy from touch-n-flow told me that you had to put the non hypodermic end in the bottle of glue and let capillary action pull the glue up into the tube. then turn it over and let the glue flow down the glass tube to the hypodermic end. 

The plast-I-weld glue that comes with the touch and flow system I use for 90 percent of my glueing now. it is very very thin almost water like consistency and it actually melts the parts together for a permanent bond. if the hypodermic tip happens to clog with plastic (very common) I was told just put the hypodermic and in the glue for a couple of minutes and it will clear it. As Ace said some of them come with a little squeeze bottle to force air into the tube. that is also helpful for clearing a clogged tip.I have also found that sometimes when the glue gets down to the hypodermic end it does not want to flow easily out of the tip, I give it a slight flick with the end of my finger and that seems to get the glue down to the very tip.

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I have the one from Flexi-File, and use it just as one uses a simple pipette in Chemistry class.  I merely immerse mine into the bottle of liquid cement, and gently draw about half an inch of cement up into the glass tube by mouth, just as I learned to do in HS Chem class over 50 years ago.  To prevent clogging, after each use, I simply re-immerse the tip in the bottle of cement, and gently blow the unused cement back into the bottle, once bubbles appear, I know that it's empty, and clean.

 

Art

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