Glue

[+E Ticket]

When gluing camo like a rock or bottle top to a small plastic "evil" cache, what is the best glue to use. I have used Gorilla Glue but that did not last long at all.

[+kunarion]

When gluing camo like a rock or bottle top to a small plastic "evil" cache, what is the best glue to use. I have used Gorilla Glue but that did not last long at all.

If your container is polypropylene or polyethylene (such as a centrifuge tube), you likely will need to fuse items to it (or mechanically secure them), not glue it. At The Home Depot, there is a special super glue “for hard to glue plastics”, and it's a kit with primer and glue. It dissolves the plastic a little, and I've had some luck preparing the surface with that stuff, then using whatever epoxy I want.

 

You can rough up the surface, then Gorilla Glue may work better. Scratch the surface with course sandpaper, make some serious gouges that the glue can grip. Gorilla Glue tends to foam, and if all there is between parts is foam, it won't hold. The glues that are like Goop stay flexible, and that can help hold items of different materials in temperature changes. But with enough pressure in just the right direction, the glue pops right off the plastic. Cachers tend to use more than enough pressure.

 

Here's a page of PPE info:

http://www.eplastics.com/Plastic/Polyethylene-Adhesives-Glue

 

I'll try “4693h plastic adhesive” soon. “This adhesive is unique in its ability to bond hard-to-hold materials like polypropylene, polyethylene, and high-impact polystyrene.” Wish me luck!

Edited August 24, 2013 by kunarion

[+E Ticket]

Thanks for the info. I wonder what the "premade" caches use to make a tight weld? I will try scoring and using Goop.

[+ipodguy]

JB Weld will do the trick every time.

[+kunarion]

JB Weld will do the trick every time.

Do you mean it works with PPV and PPE? I have J-B Weld "Kwik Weld", and it doesn't work. The info specifically states that J-B Weld doesn't bond well to Polypropylene or Polyethylene. Same thing with their plastic epoxy. Do you use a particular J-B Weld product?

Edited August 25, 2013 by kunarion

[+ipodguy]

JB Weld will do the trick every time.

Do you mean it works with PPV and PPE? I have J-B Weld "Kwik Weld", and it doesn't work. The info specifically states that J-B Weld doesn't bond well to Polypropylene or Polyethylene. Same thing with their plastic epoxy. Do you use a particular J-B Weld product?

 

I just use the normal JB Weld that comes in two tubes and you mix together. It's great for gluing weird things together, such as a chunk of bark on a lock n lock. I always rough up the surface with sandpaper and I'm generous with the Weld. One thing I noticed with JB Weld and magnets - JB seems to be kind of a ferrofluid and will slowly crawl over a magnet when it's wet.

 

The OP asked how he would attach a bottle cap to what I would guess is a centrifuge tube. I'd rough up the lid of the centrifuge tube, fill the bottle cap with JB, press the lid only in and forget about it for 24 hours.

 

Gorilla Glue is my second choice. Rough up both surfaces, and follow the instructions on the bottle. It needs moisture to do its thing.

 

Edit: I also had a buddy who swore by a carpet adhesive called DA-14 or D-814 (can't remember). Some of his weird ideas are still out there and holding up nicely.

Edited August 25, 2013 by ipodguy

[+E Ticket]

I have a caching buddy that swears by GOOP (household). I think I do the scoring and maybe try that because it suppose to work on plastic. Will see. Thanks for the input.

[+kunarion]

I have a caching buddy that swears by GOOP (household). I think I do the scoring and maybe try that because it suppose to work on plastic. Will see.

Nope. Well, as good as most other craft glue. Today I popped the parts off all of the Goop glued containers cleanly and pulled all of it off the parts. It's not a structural glue on PPV and PPE plastics. It comes right off.

 

The J-B Weld worked well, on the roughed up areas -- I cracked the container trying to pull it off. It popped right off the areas not prepared.

 

My industrial plastic adhesive arrived today. It's used as a contact cement. Coat both parts, let them dry til tacky, press them together. I also glued a couple of things the usual way, to see if it's OK. It gets tacky in less than 10 minutes, so I wonder if the whole tube will dry out soon, once opened. I'd better get gluing.

Edited August 27, 2013 by kunarion

[+briansnat]

Shoe Goo, Marine Goop or 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200.

[+kunarion]

Shoe Goo, Marine Goop or 3M Marine Adhesive Sealant 5200.

I'll look those up. I have a couple of tough attachment ideas, and they must hold, or they aren't any good. Is there a required thickness? I wonder if I seriously "goop" on the Goop, let it cure for a couple of weeks, if it then won't pull off like a piece of masking tape.

 

I'm trying “Scotch-Weld 4693h Plastic Adhesive”, advertised to bond "polypropylene or polyethylene", and the tube specifies "polypropylene". It's similar to Goop in consistency. It peels right off, and seems way too flexible. Maybe I'm not giving it enough time it cure.

 

So far the best thing has been that special super glue “for hard to glue plastics”. It's super expensive in a tiny tube and tends to be sold completely solidified, dried out. After 1 or 2 applications, the tip's permanently clogged, so you get one last application -- by cutting it open and using the rest of it all at once. But it creates a surface that epoxy bonds to. Any decent epoxy. I haven't tested the force it takes to break the bond, since I had such a tiny amount of super glue to work with. But I glued soft plastic "insects" to polypropylene match tubes, using that special super glue and epoxy, and they seem to have bonded well. Using "Goop", or epoxy by itself, the insects popped right off once placed as caches (after I had tested them and was positive they were fine ).

 

But the only thing that's really held up, for containers with that slippery "lock & lock" kind of plastic, is mechanically attaching items, no glue.

Edited August 27, 2013 by kunarion