Hot glue on Lego?

Mandalorian_Builder

Has anyone ever used hot glue to keep certain pieces in place? To be clear, the kind that people use for small crafts. Let me explain:

I have the Simpsons house, and there are lots of accessories/pieces of furniture that are held in by tiles that have a stud on top. This results in the bigger things (piano, tool chest in garage, etc) to pop off very frequently while handling it.

Hot glue seems like a good option because once it cools down, it makes things stick together, but you can usually easily flake the glue off when applied to two hard, non-porous surfaces. I was hoping this would be the case with Lego. That it would not melt it, and more importantly, I could cleanly remove it if I ever decide to change things up.

CCC

I wouldn't use glue on a model like that. If it is a persistent problem, why not try using a bit of double sided tape.

BrickDancer

Lego actually uses hot glue themselves. That's how the 2x2 plates for the 2011 & 2012 SDCC Superheroes are mounted onto the card. Comes off easily and as you expected, the glue just rubs right off. The plate showed no signs of melting or damage.

wagnerml2

What about small bits of museum clay? Hot glue just sounds to close to the "Kragle" for me :)

scrumper

I don't have the set but it sounds similar to some friends sets with items attached at angles to double jumper plates, could you adjust the angle if needed and replace them with 2x2 plates for a firmer fixing.

woony2

I've hot glued CMF stands to the wooden shelves in my Ikea picture frames without any damage to the pieces. But I'd still be cautious with an expensive set like the Simpson's house. You do end up with that annoying stringy bit of the glue everywhere if you aren't very careful.

BrickDancer

I'd suggest you try using the temporary or acid-free adhesive dots, found at your local crafts store in the scrap book area. They come in a roll and are little circles at 1/4" - 1/2" size. Very safe and easy to use for your purposes. I used these to mount the CMF plates to wooden shelves in a frame.

cody6268

Hot glue really wouldn't hurt I used it on a Noah's Ark and pioneer dioramas I did years ago, and the animals still came off.

dehnehsu

How about plain old Elmers white glue? Should hold things together with just enough strength, but will pop right off easily, and won't harm the LEGO plastic.

beegeedee

I'd imagine if you used hot glue with a glue gun set on a cool setting it should be fine. The stuff peels off without any effort once hardened and isn't exactly that strong.

LTCSZ

I use Elmer's all the time...Holds yet pops off with just a little effort...The residual glue peels off easily...I apply it with a toothpick to prevent overflow and assure accuracy...Just wipe a bit of glue with the edge of the toothpick on the sides of the stud and place the part on the stud...

akunthita

How aobut just some blu-tack. I use it with LEGO display models all the time. It won't damage LEGO at all, it make pieces stick really well, you can hide it well, and you can also remove it or reposition it at any time.

Bobflip

An extra tip for removal - a tiny spray of isopropyl alcohol makes hot glue come right off without any effort, and doesn't remove or damage printing. At least, it wouldn't when I tried to remove the printing from the Res-Q 30649 windscreen!

plasmodium

akunthita said:

How aobut just some blu-tack. I use it with LEGO display models all the time. It won't damage LEGO at all, it make pieces stick really well, you can hide it well, and you can also remove it or reposition it at any time.

+1 for the blue tack. I shudder at the thought of any glue on Lego unless it's for outdoor display!

rancorbait

plasmodium said:

akunthita said:

How aobut just some blu-tack. I use it with LEGO display models all the time. It won't damage LEGO at all, it make pieces stick really well, you can hide it well, and you can also remove it or reposition it at any time.

+1 for the blue tack. I shudder at the thought of any glue on Lego

Indeed. Look at it from the minifig's perspective. How would you like to be glued to a baseplate holding a sausage? ;o)

bobabricks

If you guys are so worried about print then put what ever sticky stuff your using on the back of the legs, there won't be any print there

TheLoneTensor

There are different grades of hot glue, two popular being craft level (translucent white) sticks and the more industrial (opaque yellow) sticks. The craft stuff is more than strong enough for most Lego stuff.

Also, gun temperature can make a difference. Even with the craft stuff, if it's too hot, you can permanently mark the plastic.

In any event, you should try it out on some sacrificial bricks first to see how it looks.

Briking

^ "sacrificial bricks" sounds like the beginning of a weird and sinister religion...

TheLoneTensor

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