3 Top Tips to keep Polyurethane (PU) Adhesive off your hands and tools
The best ways of removing PU adhesive
Inevitably when you’re working with glue, no matter how careful you are, you’re going to get some on you, or your tools, possibly both. Here are some of the best ways of removing PU adhesive from your hands and your stuff.
1. Remove it fast
Getting a bit of PU on your hands and/or equipment is all part of the job – a degree of overspill or squeeze out is very common after applying PU. It’s important to remove it quickly both from any surfaces you are working on and also from your skin and equipment – otherwise, it’s much harder to shift.
If polyurethane has cured on your skin it’s very difficult to get off. The only way is to allow it to naturally peel off or wash hands thoroughly using skin safe industrial hand cleaner. Once polyurethane glue has cured to surfaces it’s best to remove this with a tool or sand it off the surface. For general joinery construction including using PU for windows and doors, you can remove any foam out or overspill using a sharp tool such as a chisel.
2. Prevention is better than cure
To protect your skin it’s much easier simply to avoid getting it on you in the first place. Wearing disposable gloves will help you do this and protect your hands from any PU adhesive. If you do get any on you, wipe it off immediately otherwise you’ll be stuck with cured PU on your hands which can be painful to remove.
3. Solve the problem
As long as it’s uncured the best way to remove PU adhesive from surfaces is to use a solvent cleaner such as Solvent 4 – Acetone or Solvent 9 Dichloromethane (solvents available for sale offline, for industrial use only, call Adkwik on 01223 412373 for more details). All you need to do is apply the solvent to a rag or piece of sheeting and use it to remove the uncured PU adhesive. Make sure you wear the appropriate PPE and also be aware that solvent can damage some surfaces so always check before applying. Do not use solvent to clean your hands or skin.
*N.B. Always follow your Health and Safety protocols and read the MSDS before using any PU adhesive. The above blog is only suggestions. Adkwik t/as Adkwik Ltd takes no responsibilities for the actions you take to remove PU Adhesive.
The technical team at Adkwik are always on hand to discuss adhesives, however, it’s important to remember care needs to be taken when using adhesives and if PU has cured it’s almost impossible to remove, so act fast before it cures.
Adkwik have a great range of PU adhesives here are 3 of our best selling PU adhesives…
Tytex 30 Min D4 PU adhesive 1kg | Tytex Rapid 5 Min D4 PU adhesive 310ml |Timbond 5917 PU Adhesive 22kg
