Which Epoxy?

Some years back I had a spectacular failure with 'Araldite' and after conversations with technical friends and aquaintances I aquired 'Devcon 2 ton' from Tilgear at cuffley. This was considerably cheaper than 'Araldite' and even I could see that it was a much superior product. I have used it exclusively since but have now run out and so am in the market for 'twin pack epoxy' to glue clock fusees to their arbors........

I was told that it was a generally bad idea to buy any "high street pack" of adhesive especially 'Araldite' becasue it comes out of a different tap to the industrial packs and is not subject to the same quality. This is apparently well known about the adhesives business which views small tubes as a profitable 'catchpenny' operation for fleecing Joe Public. In the case of 'Araldite' I found that the large industrial packs were made by Ciba-GIGY in Cambridge but the bubble packed tubes were indeed made somewhere else (Belgium if I recall?)

I see that 'Araldite' is now made by 'Huntsman' which is an American company with unknown manufacturing details. Devcon is also still available (also and American product) but is about three times the price for similar sized double syringe type pack.

Who here in the hive knows about epoxies?....I no longer have my above mentioned experts to chat to as they are mostly gone now. What do you use and why? Whats a good epoxy to aquire?....need the hard (24hr) stuff not the 5 min stuff.

Why not stick (?) to Devcon? eBay item 121376311098 at £13.99 (inc. p/p) for 250ml seems reasonably priced compared to other products.

Edited By Roger Provins 2 on 16/05/2016 09:01:52

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Agreed [although I might advise sticking with rather than sticking to]

This is an excellent product, and I think it's all the same spec. regardless of package size.

My previous experience with Araldite confirms that the industrial products are very good [but ...]

MichaelG.

ThisZAP Epoxy is what I use, and have never had a problem.

Andy

Edited By Andrew Holdaway on 16/05/2016 09:46:45

My mill has some cutter and drill marks in the table from a previous sloppy operator (Hidden by a vice when I bought the machine). I have just bought J B Weld to do a cosmetic repair, would I be better off using Devcon ? We used Devcon at my workplace in the 60s with good results.

I always found Devcon better than JB Weld. Thicker material makes it easier to get the right shape in the right place. JB Weld tends to be a bit runny as it sets. Downside of Devcon thickness is that it can be hard to mix. Or at least the ones I used were. Devcon has a range of filler material choices and, generally, seems to finish up harder. In general JB Weld seems to be up to ordinary jobs..

In my view Devcon is better but historically was much more difficult to get hold of than JB Weld and pack sizes are often too large. It took me over 20 years to use up the small pack of Aluminium loaded filler I "obtained" from work. Mr Boss said "OK get some from RS, fix that, then throw it away 'cos we aren't allowed to keep such chemicals." With over 90% left it was a no brainer to take a creative view on throwing away. Even the last bit set well and came out very hard but the older it got the harder it became to mix and longer it took to set.

Clive.

Edited By Clive Foster on 16/05/2016 10:11:01

To fix a clock fusee to its arbor I would use Loctite high strength retainer rather than epoxy. It is made for this sort of work and being thinner will cope better with the fine fit. It will even work with press fits which would tend to displace all the epoxy.

Russell.

Grateful thanks to all who responded,........I have ordered some more Devcon.

Russell,.........I shall take a look at the Loctite range (which I do already use for wheel collets/arbors very successfully) Previously I have machined 'glue grooves' in both arbor and fusee bore to allow the epoxy to get a good grip,...but I take your point!

I have used some of these products for demanding applications and they are worth a look **LINK**

Not easy to find in your local hardware store though.

* Danny M *