Case Study Overview

Site Domestic property
Location England
Repair Type Christmas decoration repair
Defect Wise man from nativity snapped in two

Repair Products

CAE1500 High Viscosity Superglue

Case Study PDF

Case Study Details

It is not all fixing pipelines and infrastructure at Sylmasta. Sometimes an application of real importance comes along – like the repair of a priceless Christmas decoration passed through generations of a family which had been accidentally snapped in two.

The ornament needing repair was a figure of one of the Three Wise Men from a Christmas nativity. He had become broken when being retrieved from the loft and was no longer able to join Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the wee donkey and the rest on display.

Christmas would not be Christmas without the full nativity set, and so the family desperately sought a means of repairing the wise man. Sylmasta CAE1500 High Viscosity Superglue was chosen for the application on account of its slightly longer cure time and versatility.

CAE1500 is a cyanoacrylate superglue which offers strong bonding between ceramic, porcelain, plastic, metal, wood, paper and some fabrics. Its thickness means that when used on non-absorbent surfaces, it has a bond time of between 10 and 45 seconds.

This allows a small window for parts being glued together to be adjusted to ensure that they are correctly fitted; something which becomes more difficult or even impossible with superglue which bonds instantly.

CAE1500 Superglue was carefully applied directly to the break on the bottom half of the wise man. Once this had been done, the two pieces of the Christmas decoration were pushed back together and held in place for around 20 seconds whilst CAE1500 worked its magic.

Excess superglue which had been squeezed out of the joints during bonding was wiped away before it had the opportunity to fully cure, leaving a wise man who had been perfectly healed with no visible glue or crack line.

The decoration repair had been a complete success and the wise man could be returned to the nativity scene, ready to play his part in celebrating Christmas for many years to come.

Products Used

CAE1500 Penetrating Superglue
High viscosity superglue with a 10 to 45 second bond time on non-absorbent materials

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