I had a big problem a few days ago, I knoced over a bottle of Plastic Weld and spilled roughly half the contents the outcome of which was an urgent need to extricate a set of DUKW wheels from the mess. The end result was damage to 2 wheels and part of the surface of my cutting mat being lifted. So, how to stop this happening again?

My answer is simple. You require a plastic food container, my local Indian takeaway provided a suitable one, a circle cutter and ruler.



Measure the diameter of the bottle, set the circle cutter to half this size and cut. My effort was a bit ham fisted but resulted in a nice, tight fit suitable for all bottles of 38mm diameter. Cut the hole in the base not the lid as you can use this without the lid fitted



Lesson learnt. Other glues and boxes are available

Good call, Mike. I've knocked over my extra thin cement more than once--not an easy task with that square bottle, but somehow I manage--frequently with disastrous results.

If you're quick maybe you can get this into the Build-A-Tool 3 campaign.

Great idea Mike! Perhaps there should be a feature on the Kit-maker network about workbench disasters and the subsequent solutions! I had a similar problem with bottles of cyanoacrylate zip-kicker that I continually knocked over on my bench, My father-in-law was a printer by trade, and he left me some tools-- one of which was a couple of round rubber suction cups designed to move heavy printers plates-- I cut the centers out of them matching the size of a zip-kicker bottle and dropped to bottle inside-- voila-- no more spills. My most serious disaster though was a bottle of Alclad black primer/pore-filler. They come with ball bearings in them now to ensure good mixing. I was shaking the bottle, (probably excessively), only to have all the ball bearings shoot through the shoulder of the bottle creating a neat hole in the glass and I had a stream of black primer paint on the car ( My bench is in the garage), wall, and all over the bench-- I was really scrambling to get the mess off the car, bench, wall and a nearly completed bare metal F-104. Now, if I shake a bottle by hand I drop it into an extra large latex glove which contains any spills. Thanks for your great hint-- you could even put multiple "spill-prone" bottles into the container!
VR, Russ

Blue-Tac is good...

I'll get my coat...

I actually just take the lid of a glass container (pasta sauce etc) that's substantially larger and glue it upside down to the bottom of the can/bottle/jar of whatever. gives it a wider base, doesn't take up too much room on the workbench.

Mike,
I think it's pretty safe to say that all of us have knocked over tall, skinny bottles of all sorts of modeling liquids. For me, I need to be able to move the bottles around (glues), as well as pick them up (paints), so they need to feel comfortable and secure in my hand, while not taking any additional storage space.

I've forced myself to replace the cap ASAP nearly all the time, but it's the few times I don't that I've had issues.

I now use a few pieces of dark gray packing foam that I've cut a large X in so that the bottle can easily be placed in it when I'm using that product, such as Micro Sol or Set, or Alcad paints. Everything else really comes in a wider then taller bottle. When I'm not using those products, I remove them from the foam.

Joel

Glad to see I've prompted some discussion and there are some ingenious solutions. The lesson here is plan before you have a problem. I do replace the cap but I forgot on this occasion and suffered as a result. In Health & Safety it is called Risk Assessment

Hi Mike

Neat idea (as are the other suggestions).

I once managed to tip a bottle of really aggressive adhesive over Review-Build! I won't name it, but it basically dissolved a lot of it. You can be sure I've been more careful ever since.

It was one of those moments you can almost see coming, but still happens regardless - and then the world just stops as you feel ice in your stomach and the full seriousness of what you've just done sinks in...

All the best

Rowan