sikaflex, silicon - how do you stop the nozzle bunging up?

AngusMcDoon said:
I've heard that there's one case where it doesn't work, and that's when a tube owner's SWMBO finds something sticky nestling amongst the peas and vol-au-vent cases and lobs it back out into the shed. However, as I don't have a SWMBO, I have never tested this scenario. :)
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That certainly is a problem. For some reason SWMBO's think they own all of the freezer. I have to be sneaky. I wrap them up in a plastic bag and bury them in the bottom drawer. It helps if you include some household DIY silicone which you can triumphantly wave in front of their faces just before you fill a non-existent gap around the shower.
 
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I take off the nozzle, put a square of tin foil (usually from the sandwiches I brought for lunch!) over the end of the tube, then screw the nozzle back on. What's in the nozzle gets wasted, but the tube lasts for a month or two. With some products (especially silicone) you can pop the hardened cone out of the nozzle and reuse it, but with sikaflex the old nozzle gets thrown away and a new one fitted. A huge bag of them was a couple of quid on ebay.

Pete
 
Spirit of Glenans said:
Yes, AFAIK, it's cured by water vapour in the air. Cold air contains less.
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Yes cold air will contain less water vapour but in the freezer it is very dry as what little water there is condenses out and either forms the all too familiar ice in a normal freezer or is drained away in a frost free one.

That is why if you don't seal your food in the freezer and to a certain extent the fridge it all dries out!
 
When they are bunged up I stab them with a screwdriver and squirt out of that hole. That hole then sets so next time I stab them somewhere else. After half a dozen such repeats the look pretty silly.

This means you don't have a nozzle for applying the stuff. Finger, or a syringe. (By the way, it is far cheaper to buy medical syringes by the hundred than non-sterile ones from the chandler in 2s and 3s.)
 
With Sikaflex I buy the small foil tubes which do have a lid. Current ones are about a year and a half and still working fine with no setting so far. If I had a big job I'd get a big tube but I've never used more than a very small amount in one go so far and eventually realised I was wasting a couple of quid a tube by trying to save money buying in bulk.
 
When people say "thick polythene" I am confused. In Australia we have a kitchen product called "glad wrap" which we stretch over (say) a bowl of left-overs or wrap sandwiches for lunch. I empty the tip with a screw-driver, put several layers of "glad wrap" over the tube and screw the tip back on. I even showed a tradesman how to do that but I suppose they use their tubes constantly so it doesn't get a chance to harden.
 
coopec said:
When people say "thick polythene" I am confused. In Australia we have a kitchen product called "glad wrap" which we stretch over (say) a bowl of left-overs or wrap sandwiches for lunch. I empty the tip with a screw-driver, put several layers of "glad wrap" over the tube and screw the tip back on. I even showed a tradesman how to do that but I suppose they use their tubes constantly so it doesn't get a chance to harden.
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Your 'Glad wrap' is our Clingfilm. A few layers of that is OK. 'thick polythene' is something a bit more substantial from a polythene bag eg a supermarket carrier bag. I use whatever is to hand. Cooking foil is just as effective.
 
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