Conta Contact Adhesive Universal

Conta is the contact adhesive Henkel makes for this market, and the pack says so: conta — CONTACT ADHESIVE — Universal, with “QUALITY FROM Henkel” printed on the tin. The two things it leads on are worth reading. It is toluene free, and its n-hexane content is under 2% — the solvents that make cheap contact cement unpleasant and, in a closed room, dangerous. That matters more than any figure to the fundi who is going to use a whole litre of it laminating a kitchen with the windows shut.

Contact adhesive is the glue for laminate and formica onto board, veneer, plywood, MDF and blockboard, leather onto seat frames, rubber and cork, and shoe repair; the tube carton lists wood (mbao) and leather (ngozi) among its substrates. Both faces are coated, left to become tacky, then brought together and pressed. There is no second chance: the pack warns you to align the two pieces carefully, because moving them afterwards costs you the bond strength. Open time is 10 to 15 minutes, and the tin's icons give a service range of −5 °C to +80 °C and a flexible bond. Carpenters, kitchen fitters, upholsterers, cobblers and hardware retailers buy it by the carton.

Sold by the full carton in six sizes: 50 ml and 100 ml tubes for small work, and 250 g, 500 g, 1 litre and 4 litre tins. Being straight about what is not here: Henkel publishes no technical data sheet and no safety data sheet for Conta that we can find, so everything below is read off the pack, and there is no published coverage figure, cure time or chemistry. Ask us if you need the datasheet for a specification and we will request it from Henkel Kenya.

Printed on the pack

• Product name: conta Contact Adhesive Universal — “Quality from Henkel”
• Solvents: toluene free; n-hexane content under 2%
• Open time: 10 to 15 minutes
• Service temperature: −5 °C to +80 °C
• Bond: high heat resistance; excellent bond strength; flexible bond
• Storage: store in a cool, dry place
• Small packs: the 50 ml and 100 ml are tubes in a printed carton; the tube reads “Conta® CONTACT Adhesive” and the carton “conta CONTACT” with “Gundi” on the red panel
• Coverage, cure time and chemistry: not published by Henkel for this product

Where not to use it

The pack states: not suitable for bonding plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, Teflon, flexible PVC and polystyrene. Flexible PVC rules out the vinyl-coated upholstery cloth sold locally as rexine, and polystyrene rules out foam insulation and most foam trim, so check what you are actually gluing before you start.

Hazards

The carton carries an orange FLAMMABLE pictogram and a printed warning panel. Treat it as a flammable solvent adhesive: work in a ventilated space, keep it away from flame and sparks, and keep it off skin and eyes. Henkel publishes no safety data sheet for Conta that we can find, so we quote no classification beyond what the carton declares — read the warning panel on the pack itself before first use, and ask us for the data sheet if you need it on file.