Glue for Tubes in Fountain Pens

[Waltem]

Hello All,


I'm new to this forum. More often I'm following the doings at SMC.


Now to my question. I seem to remember reading somewhere (but can't be sure of my memory) that the tubes in fountain pens should not be glued in with CA but rather epoxy. IIRC, the statement was that the CA out-gases for some time and that's detrimental to the fountain pen kit. Anyone have an experience with this? I'm about to make my first two fountain pens (commissioned pens, one wood, the other acrylic), and I don't want something as simple as the glue I use to jeopardize the outcome.

TIA for your help............

 

[Displaced Canadian]

CA glue does out gas, Not sure how much of an issue it would be with a fountain pen. I have found that CA glue does not hold well with acrylic. I use epoxy or gorilla glue on acrylic. Don't forget to paint the tubes or inside of the blank on the acrylic.

 

[Smitty37]

CA Glue

I have frequently read and have some experience from my HO Gauge RR days that CA glue does not have very good shear bonding strength. Since shear strength is what you should be looking for when gluing tube I don't think it is the best medium to use.

 

[mredburn]

Ever have a tube stick half way in when the c/a grabs it and sets up. DAMHIKT.

I use 5min epoxy.

 

[David M]

as for the ca gasses , the glue is on the out side of the tube and the ink on the inside . dont thing the gasses would be near the ink , but I could be wrong.

 

[BSea]

Ever have a tube stick half way in when the c/a grabs it and sets up. DAMHIKT.

I use 5min epoxy.

+1

Nothing like putting a tube half way in a really nice burl blank. Yes, there are fixes, but just use epoxy, it's very forgiving.

 

[Jerryconn]

CA does out gas, if you assemble the pen then immediately cap it. The nib and other pen parts inside the cap will very likely have a cloudy appearance that cannot be removed. Most of the time this only happens if you use a drop of CA to hold pen parts in, i.e. loose CBs, etc.

5 min. epoxy is my choice for acrylics (after painting). I use CA (thick only) on nearly all pens made with wood except oily woods such as Cocobolo.

 

[Texatdurango]

CA dues outgas BUT..... only for a while! If you build a pen and an hour later put it all together then screw the cap on, odds are that the next day when you open the pen the nib and other metal parts will be clouded.

If you like using CA, knock your socks off but remember not to get in a hurry when assemblying. When I was using CA, I would leave the parts out at least overnight before assemblying and never had any problems.

Kinda counterintuitive isn't it, you use CA because you're in a hurry and it sets fast then have to let it set overnight to degas! That's why I switched to epoxy. I never use ca on pens anymore other than for finishes.

 

[paintspill]

i've done about a dozen fountain pens now. not alot by most standards. my current favorite thing to make. i have used ca on all of them. and only had trouble with one(i'll get back to that)
ca does off gas but from the time that you glue the tubes to the time that you assemble the pen i haven't had any issuses. i've done fountains in wood, acrylic, and deer antler. and not had a problem. the only issue i ever ran into was a real hack job i did on a crappy kit and did some gluing after assembly to tighten things up. this off gassed and clouded the black and chrome a bit. but it was a last ditch effort to fix an already crap pen. my others are flawless.

 

[Write Inc. Pens]

For some reason epoxy didn't work to well with me. I drilled out 2 of brooks' blanks, painted the tubes, then applied the mixed epoxy when tubes were dry. I put them on the lathe and started turning no problem. When I got to the depth of the bushing the blank exploded...both of them. I was using the woodchuck and applying medium to light pressure. I switched back to CA and did the same process and it turned out great... not sure what it is. I mixed (I thought) the resin and hardener 1:1. It might be the epoxy, it might be my woodchuck, might just be me...

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