Feeling stupid...who knew there were different silicones?

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angboy

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I'm working on making something and I bought some fancy small square tiles and needed to use something to glue them or affix them to some plexiglass. When I bought the tiles I asked the guys at the tile factory what would be the best thing to use and the guy told me that for the project I described, he'd recommend clear silicone. Well, wanting to be thrifty, I thought to myself, hey I have some of that at home, I used it in the bathroom when there was a leak in my shower... So I spent all last night carefully laying out these 36 tiles and positioning them just so on my silicone, and was so disappointed when I woke up this morning and they just moved right around on the plexiglass. So I decided to just try epoxy, which I know more about. Went to Lowe's and was in aisle where they sell that and couldn't find any 30" epoxy- I wanted to have plenty of time to position my tiles just right and so didn't want 5" or less epoxy. And what do I see? Silicone! It says it's like liquid nails and is used for gluing stuff together, NOT for fixing leaks in your shower... So I tried again. We'll see how this one turns out... So then I decided to google about different types of silicone and was seeing all these different uses for "silicone", even being reminded that it's used in breast implants, and decided that the silicone industry needs to be more specific and say things like "adhering silicone", "breast silicone", "leak silicone" etc., so I don't feel so stupid next time.
 
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I'm wonder if I could increase mold sales by claiming that the
Resinsavers are made out of breast silicone?
I know I could put Jerry down for a few more..
 
Once you use silicone to glue or caulk something if you need to try again regular liquid nails or fast grab won't adhere to silicone because of its water repeling charastics. You must use a similar silicone to make it stick. good luck Howard
 
Angela,
Hobby Town USA has a large supply of different epoxy and other adhesives. That's where I go for my glues. It means a drive across town but half the time I buy epoxy anywhere else the epoxy is dried out.
 
scroller99 said:
Once you use silicone to glue or caulk something if you need to try again regular liquid nails or fast grab won't adhere to silicone because of its water repeling charastics. You must use a similar silicone to make it stick. good luck Howard
Click to expand...

Oh no!!! That's not at all what I needed to hear!

Thanks for the tip Dave. I'll check them out.

And guys, I don't want to hear any confessions of increased purchases of molds or people sleeping with theirs...
 
Save time and money, simply purchase glue for ceramic tiles. you can use a colored grout afterwards to give your design additional flair. Purchase the glue from a store that sells ceramic tiles.
 
Well here's the actual project I was working on when I discovered that there were indeed different silicones. I'll post a pitcure of what this table started out looking like, and then how I made it more colorful and full of "bling"...
 

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Original implants were pretty much same as resinsavers but they were Dow brand. Then we learned about leakage..we all recall that I'm sure. Now if you think like me, you'd assume there must be liquid encased by silicone and the silicone breaks over time releasing the liquid. Sounds like a good guess, but not true. As I am learning through research and tests, there is oil in silicone and that leaks regardless if in use or not. This is why molds eventually go bad. New silicone implants are sealed in plastic film so oil can't slowly leak into body. So theoretically if casting molds are kept sealed like with a wax, they should also last...prob not forever but a darn good amount of use.
 
Hi Angela,
whenever I do a project along those lines I use 3M 5200 marine adhesive. The stuff is bomb proof once dried but stays flexible and has plenty of work time. Nice table by the way. My daughter / shop assistant has been collecting sea glass for a while and we were planning on making her a night stand with a sea glass mosiac top along those lines when she gets enough.
 
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