Hot Glue On A Pen Body

[Muncle]

I noticed a collage-style display at a nearby watering hole. In one corner, is a Shaffer Balance...

 

glued there with hot glue!!!!!

 

 

 

*gasp*

 

If one needed to, is there a way to remove hot glue from a pen body?

[graystranger]

It may be that the hot glue has a different thermal expansion coefficient than the plastic body of a Sheaffer Balance. If so, then placing the pen with glue in a freezer for a while could cause them to separate. This works quite well with most epoxy glues bonded to steel. Be careful, as the cold may make the plastic in the pen more brittle, but it will certainly make the hot glue very brittle and it might be tapped off gently or even come right off with gentile tugging.

 

Tossing the frozen pen and glue into tepid water will give the bond a thermal shock, warming it very fast. This might even be better if freezing alone does not work. Be sure the water is slightly warm, you don't want to soften the pen's body.

 

If the person who glued the pen to the display did not clean the surface of the pen thoroughly (fingerprints, skin oils, etc.) then the glue may not have taken a very good bond to the plastic surface anyway. Try freezing them, and let us know what works.

 

I would stay away from solvents, however a light oil (like WD-40) might seep into the glue's bond line and weaken it.

Edited November 13, 2016 by graystranger

[Muncle]

Wow, thank you graystranger! I was not expecting an actual method, I thought it was hopeless!

Now to figure out how to get it...

[eckiethump]

Hot Glue ! one of the few adhesive/solvent weld methods I have not experimented with ? for pen work, though I do have the gun and sticks. Very handy for decorative joinery work, kitchen unit cornices type of thing (but these are now a bit dated?)

 

No idea how easy it is to remove, but will now experiment with it, the idea of a collage type board of pens certainly appeals, should be ok with metal bodied ones at least.