Randy_
Member
Some time ago there was a thread...probably more than one...asking about the best glue to use when laminating pieces of Coke can into segmented pen blanks. The question was asked because someone had a blank come apart at a CC lamination and the type of glue was suspect.
As you might expect every glue had its proponents and a few were so bold as to suggest that glue type had nothing to do with the problem and that folks should be looking to the surface prep of the laminates and material conditions such as using particularly oily woods.
I decided a few tests of various types of glue might be in order to see if I could detect differences in the strength of a standard glue joint. The test was to be fairly simple. Cut some Coke cans into 1" wide strips, glue them together with only a 1" overlap and after the glue was dry, pull the joint apart while measuring the force required to destroy the joint.
Well, I got distracted from the experiment and it sat on the back of the workbench for a while. Several days ago I had my tubes of JB Weld out for a bicycle repair and decided to mix up a little extra and glue a couple of pieces of Coke can together. Now JB Weld is not the glue of choice of most segmented pen crafters; but it is really nothing more than a semi-specialized epoxy glue so I figured it would make an interesting data point for my little project.
I haven't worked out all of the details of measuring the force required to destroy the joint, yet, so the first test didn't prove too much. The joint did successfully support my 45 lb. tool box. I then decided to see if it would support me at about 5x the weight of the tool box. At this point the test failed. With an estimated 100 lbs. applied to the glued joint, it held just fine; but the metal strip of Coke can, itself, failed. I think the clamp that I was using to grip the metal strip damaged the strip and caused it to fail.
Guess I will have to redesign the test a little; but am looking forward to finding out if the glue is the issue here or if some other factors need to be addressed in using metallic layers in segmented pens.
As you might expect every glue had its proponents and a few were so bold as to suggest that glue type had nothing to do with the problem and that folks should be looking to the surface prep of the laminates and material conditions such as using particularly oily woods.
I decided a few tests of various types of glue might be in order to see if I could detect differences in the strength of a standard glue joint. The test was to be fairly simple. Cut some Coke cans into 1" wide strips, glue them together with only a 1" overlap and after the glue was dry, pull the joint apart while measuring the force required to destroy the joint.
Well, I got distracted from the experiment and it sat on the back of the workbench for a while. Several days ago I had my tubes of JB Weld out for a bicycle repair and decided to mix up a little extra and glue a couple of pieces of Coke can together. Now JB Weld is not the glue of choice of most segmented pen crafters; but it is really nothing more than a semi-specialized epoxy glue so I figured it would make an interesting data point for my little project.
I haven't worked out all of the details of measuring the force required to destroy the joint, yet, so the first test didn't prove too much. The joint did successfully support my 45 lb. tool box. I then decided to see if it would support me at about 5x the weight of the tool box. At this point the test failed. With an estimated 100 lbs. applied to the glued joint, it held just fine; but the metal strip of Coke can, itself, failed. I think the clamp that I was using to grip the metal strip damaged the strip and caused it to fail.
Guess I will have to redesign the test a little; but am looking forward to finding out if the glue is the issue here or if some other factors need to be addressed in using metallic layers in segmented pens.