Review: Dollar Store Poster Tack - Yellow (Blue Tac)

[rullywowr]

Anytime I find something that can help me build my pedals easier, I jump on it.  That goes double if I am at the Dollar Store.  I use Bluetac all the time to help hold components while soldering (great tip from the bean).  There are other brands in the US by Elmers, and Loctite as well that I used with good results.  They are all blue in color FWIW.

Any-who, I tried the 99c version of "Poster Tack" at the dollar store which was yellow in color.  Seemed to work fine at first, however it ended up melting into a gooey mess which resulted in fragments of it getting jammed in the leads of the resistors I was using it on.  Quite the pain in the ass to dig this crap out too.

The moral of the story is to make sure you only get the BLUE poster tack regardless of the brand (BluTac, Elmers, Loctite).  The yellow stuff makes a mess even though it is cheap.  Blue stuff holds together well and makes it a breeze to get those resistors flat on the board and stop you from burning your fingers.

[muddyfox]

interesting. i've been using yellow stuff (uhu brand) simply because there's nothing else to buy around here. i never even heard of the blue stuff until i started building pedals. no issues with the yellow stuff, though..

[jkokura]

Make sure you go with the sky blue stuff. I tried some cobalt blue, and some navy blue, and neither were as good plus they were more expensive.

Jacob

[rullywowr]

Yeah the sky blue has the best tone for sure

[pickdropper]

If they ever stop making Blu Tak, engineers across the land will riot.

[chromesphere]

I concur.  Don't know what I did before I started using it...oh wait I remember!  Wrestle with helping hands!

[jimilee]

That's pretty genius. Seemed silly til you turned the board vertical then the clouds all cleard and I had an aha moment. Nice I never had a problem with resistors and diodes but wires do sometimes pose an issue because that's what I do last and sometimes they do fall out. Thank you

[rullywowr]

Great video, CS.  This is how it's done.  Blu Tack is on of those things if you haven't used it before seems like a luxury/not really needed.  Once you use it however, you wonder how you ever lived without it.

[gordo]

Great video.  This whole time I've been thinking the Blutak is blue painters tape.  I've never seen the stuff (well I probably have but never gave it any mind).  I gotta dig this up!

[alanp]

Tweezers are also invaluable for wiring up enclosures, makes it a lot easier (for me, at least) to keep the wiring tidy. If you're not a hamfisted meatworker like me, YMMV