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110 responses total.

My suggestion would be to glue the thing right *next to* the spot you've
been gluing it to...that would avoid all the buildup, and the extra inch
or so to one side shouldn't matter.
        Admittedly, this is a kludge, but at least you aren't risking
cracking the windshield by taking a chisel to that glue! :-)

OTOH, if the chip is big enough that you're worried about the windshield
cracking, it might be time to replace the windshield.

  You could go to a glass shop, Henderson comes to mind, but having never
dealt with them, I cannot say if they are good or bad. .

Valerie, first off, you need to make sure you get the special glue that
is designed specifically for attaching rear-view mirrors to windows, not
just generic superglues. I'm going to assume you got the right glue, it
sounds like it from your message.

Second, this glue is a type of superglue. It cures in an an-aerobic fashion,
the *thinner* the layer of glue, the better. Even a small spec left on the
glass or the metal piece will increase the glue layer thickness. You need
to make sure *all* the glue is off the window, *and* off the metal piece
that is being glued to the window.

Hacking at the old glue won't do it, becuase it will still leave small bits
behind. This glue does desolve in acetone. Get a bottle of that and a rag and 
scrub the window and soak the metal piece in a bowl of it for a few hours.
*DO THIS OUTSIDE* Acetone is highly flamable and has a high rate of
evaporation.

Also, most mirrors I've seen that mount this way, have a little flat piece of
metal at the end of the arm that is glued to the glass. The mirror assembly
then slips onto this piece of metal and is held by a set screw. If you can
avoid it, don't try to glue the whole mirror assembly to the window at once,

becuase you are then subjecting the uncured glue joint to added stress. Glue
just the little metal piece on and wait 6 hours. Then attach the rest of
the mirror.

Also, both the glass and the metal piece have to be *real* clean. No dirt,
skin oil, etc. The acetone will clean them up fine, but don't *touch* the
surfaces to be glued with your fingers or you'll leave skin oil and that
will weaken the joint.

Also, some of the adhesives used for this, come as 2 parts: The adhesive 
and an "activator" in a separate tube that is applied to both surfaces
before the adhesive. Look for a kit that uses this 2 part system.

By the way, acetone is also known as "Nail polish remover". It's very nasty.

Do not get acetone on any surfaces of your car, as it will likely mar them.

"Nail polish remover" also has all kinds of other crap mixed in with it,
you would not want to use it for this purpose. Acetone is an aromatic
hydrocarbon and will eat-into/dissolve alot of plastics. Polyethylenes and
polypropylenes are safe, but it will really go after polystyrenes.

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You can find pure acetone in most any hardware store. HQ and Builder's sqr
most definately, probably the ACE and Stadium hardware too. It will be in
the painting supplies. A 16oz can is ussually about $1.50 to $2.00.

Store it in your garage, not your house or basement.

Be sure to put the rear view mirror on the inside of the car.

Get everything super clean, hydrogen-peroxide and cotton balls. Look
around for different kits, the ones from the dealership are less of a 
pain than one from Murry's. A $1.95 kit has about 1 cc of stuff, a 
$3.95 has about 1.7 cc of stuff. You can use the same place twice.
For the truely frustrated, any place that does auto glass will have
the skill.

Meijers has acetone.

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 Nail Polish remover will work, and very well I might add.

You could also try trichlorethane-1,1,1 which is a non-flammable (but very
toxic) solvent.  You can buy it at Meijers as "Energine Cleaning Fluid", but
you could probably borrow mine and avoid bringing another 8 oz. of scary stuff
into the general public.  (It might not be available any more - OSHA hates
the stuff, it's terrible for the environment, etc.)  I've used it for all
sorts of nasty removal jobs.

Re #7: acetone is not an "aromatic hydrocarbon". It is either aromatic, nor
a hydrocarbon, for that matter. It is "dimethy ketone", (CH3)CO(CH3).
It is a good solvent for acryilic and styrene polymers - but not good
for poly-hydrocarbons. It is TOXIC and FLAMMABLE. It will also take the
oils out of your skin so fast they will hurt.

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Rane's right(caught me on that one :-) ), acetone isn't an "aromatic"
hydrocarbon. It would need to be based on the benzene ring to be "aromatic".
However, it is most definately a "hydrocarbon". Unless you're using some
definition for "hydrocarbon" that I've never heard of before.

I believe the term "hydrocarbon" refers to molecules which have a carbon
backbone and primarily hydrogen attached, which Acetone does. (However, I have
not consulted the text definition.)

Oops - Rane is right - Websters defines "Hydrocarbon" as having ONLY hydrogen
and carbon.

 This is all way above my head. All I know is, it works, and works well ;)

Yup. Like Rane said. It is a ketone. Ketones end in "one" like acetone.
They are not hydrocarbons because the "O" disqualifies them.
They are organic, though.

Yup. My chemistry is usually OK, but my typing stinks. They should have
been "neither aromatic...", "dimethyl ketone", and "acrylic". Nail polish
remover used to be mostly ethyl acetate. Acetone evaporates so quickly
that it is hard to catch the softened polish at just the right instant.
Mixed solvents are usually used anyway, as they can be tailored to be
better solvents for selected polymers than any single solvent. (I've
looked up an old polish remover formula, which is made from equal weights
of amyl acetate ("banana oil") and acetone.) Now, what was it we are
trying to remove?? 

We are trying to remove a cyano-acrylate based adhesive.

I just checked with 2 friends of mine who are chemists. They both say that
they've always considered acetone to be a hydrocarbon.

yes, a ketone ...
  
re #16 - there is another in that cholrine family, Ethylene Trichloride,
which might be banned also, but it is a tad bit better than the
trichlorethane - ethylene sted ethane - amazing stuff! I think it is
the active ingrediante (if not banned) in some carpet cleaners.

I did alittle more looking into this. Yes, acetone is a ketone, but it is
also a hydrocarbon. *All* ketones are hydrocarbons.
Saying that acetone is "not a hydrocarbon, it is a ketone", is about as
non-sensical as saying that copper is "not an element, it is a metal".
Just as the metals are a specific subset of the elements, ketones are just
a specific subset of hydrocarbons.

My dictionary:

"hydrocarbon n. any compound containing only hydrogen and carbon: benzene
and methane are hydrocarbons"

Handbook of Chemistry and Physics:

Pages C-1 to C-32 on the nomenclature of Hydrocarbons, *all* of which
are compounds solely of carbon and hydrogen.

Greg, I suggest that your "chemist" friends stay out of the laboratory.

How current is that handbook?

i once had a job where we worked extensively with
tri-chloroetheleyne <sp?>. we often burned it in an open room.
just how bad was that stuff.. i know i got horrible headaches.

I counted pages in a 1975-76 edition. However, the meaning of
"hydrocarbon" goes way back, and remains the same today - a compound of
only C and H.  Perhaps your "chemist" friends were thinking of
carbohydrates? (Though acetone isn't a carbohydrate either.)

Gak! Burning trichloroethylene will produce all sorts of noxious
compounds, including phosgene. Just breathing the unburnt substance will
give you a headache. You were lucky you only got a headache. 

This has been educational for me, I thought nail polish remover was mostly
acetone. Thanks.

Greg's friends must have been thinking of carbohydrates. I've seen many
people confuse carbohydrates and hydrocarbons. I can't think why.

Rane, The 2 friends I'm referring to hold degrees in chemistry, one
has 30+ years experience in the field and the other has 10+ years
experience as an organic chemist. They both agree that the current usage
of the term hydrocarbon is looser than what you describe.

Things change. For instance: Orriginally, for a compound to be considered
"organic" it had to contain C, H, O, and N. Later the requirement for N was
dropped, and then O. Now, as one of my friends put it: "Anything with a
carbon atom in it is up for grabs by the organic chemists". He explained it
thus: Organic chemistry was the "chemistry of living things"(CHNO), then it
was broadened to include things that had once been alive: Coal, crude oil, etc.
Then to plastics and other things made from those compounds(CH).
Organic chemistry is now considered to be simply the "chemistry of carbon"
with the exception of the oxides and certain metallic carbonates.

I suspect it's the same with hydrocarbons. Book definition vs common usage.

Srw slipped in at 32.
No, they wern't.

Then diamond and graphite are now organic?

Diamond is simply the crystaline form of carbon, specifically C4, it's not
a compound. I'm not sure about graphite. I don't remember what, exactly,
graphite *is*.

Both diamond and graphite are covalently bonded carbon, but with different
lattice structures. In particular, crystallographically, diamond is
isometric, and graphite is hexagonal in planar sheets. 

Your "chemist" friends have been sniffing too much acetone. "hydrocarbon"
remains today the scientific classification of compunds of C and H. There
is no *other* standard name for that large group of compounds (ask them!).
I gather from Greg's comments that he would like a current rather than a
historical reference. I will obtain such, for another quote (my current
chemistry books are at my office - I keep the old ones in my home
library). 

(Am I the only one who thinks this argument has transcended silliness
 and become just plain dumb?)

The last dozen or so responses have been quite interesting, but I doubt
they've been much help with Valerie's mirror. 8^}

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss