Putting it together.

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stonepecker

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Forget the drying times. Forget the brand names. Forget the vendors in this question.


When it comes to holding (for wood and acrylic blanks), which glue do you trust to hold the best?

Now, this is a two part question. I don't expect to see the same glue for both materials. However, I was just watching something that the presenter made the statement ..."The type of glue you use doesn't matter."
That just sounds wrong to me and everything I have learned so far. So, I am asking the experts
 
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stonepecker said:
Forget the drying times. Forget the brand names. Forget the vendors in this question.


When it comes to holding (for wood and acrylic blanks), which glue do you trust to hold the best?

Now, this is a two part question. I don't expect to see the same glue for both materials. However, I was just watching something that the presenter made the statement ..."The type of glue you use doesn't matter."
That just sounds wrong to me and everything I have learned so far. So, I am asking the experts
Click to expand...
The best glue I had found that works on both products is epoxy. But still not always 100% fail safe.

Lin.
 
Well, given that 90% of the glues out there are designed to work with both acrylics and woods equally well, his statement isn't too far off.


Most CA glues will work equally well for woods and acrylics, will cure fast, but will generally have a more fragile bond compared to epoxy.

Most epoxies have a fairly long cure time, and you'll usually have to leave the project sitting till the next day, but the bond is considered to be more superior than CA due to strength and durability (it flexes rather than breaking).

The advantages of either choice aren't exactly mutually exclusive, but you can see the general trend. The presenter isn't far off the track, however. Whatever glue you use doesn't matter, as long as it does the job it's intended for. You need something to hold the brass tube inside the pen barrel til it's finished turning, and then it just needs to hold it in place as the person using it is writing. Once it's done the hard part (turning on the lathe), the rest is a piece of cake.


As long as it did the job, you could use a sticky rice paste to glue in your tubes. (keep it away from ants and other insects, though ...)
 
I've done 5 min epoxy and CA for quite a while and had issues with both. I recently switched to gorilla plue (poly glue), and I'm liking it so far. A quick dunk of the blank in a water bath and insert the glue covered tube. Very easy and quick and so far no blowouts!

Cleaning up excess is very easy. I use base plate wax to keep the tubes clean while gluing.
 
stonepecker said:
Forget the drying times. Forget the brand names. Forget the vendors in this question.


When it comes to holding (for wood and acrylic blanks), which glue do you trust to hold the best?

Now, this is a two part question. I don't expect to see the same glue for both materials. However, I was just watching something that the presenter made the statement ..."The type of glue you use doesn't matter."
That just sounds wrong to me and everything I have learned so far. So, I am asking the experts
Click to expand...


Need to explain the question more. Are you talking about gluing in a tube, doing segmenting work, building a cabinet, Hanging wallpaper, and so on. :smile:
 
Well for glueing in the tube I find 2 part 5 minute epoxy to be superior. I have had failures on the lathe with CA but never with the epoxy, yet. Either way I usually cut, drill, and glue tubes in several tubes after work one night and start end prep and turning the next night so they have a day to cure. By stopping the tube ends with dental wax and pushing a bead of glue thru the blank with a spinning motion I find that the gaps are all filled and no glue gets inside the tube. I push half way from one end then reverse the tube and push it all the way into the other end to assure adequate glue distribution. I have refined many of the "previously believed as trivial" processes since I began this madness. This is just one of my meticulous methods that give me more of a warm fuzzy when it comes to success. I am sure most of the pen turners out there have refined many processes to make them more comfortable with their end results since they first started.
 
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