Workshops tools - Things we've lost, things we've gained

[Bucic]

What inspired this topic was a sad workshop market event of my all-time favorite 2-part epoxy glue being discontinued. This glue has been a part of my tinkering since before I became a tinkerer myself as my father used that glue to fix Atari 2600 console joysticks. Mind that Atari 2600 times in Poland are 1990's not 1970's The mere light yellow creme color after mixing has always been giving me a rush.

DISTAL

Libella - A Polish chemical company

Availability: 1980's - early 2020's

The only disadvantages:

- a bit thin, only thin coating allowed, not suitable for vertical or upside-down applications (could be taken advantage of - gravity filling of bigger cavities and hard to reach places!)

- long curing time: at least 12 hours for safe-to-handle, 24 hours for 90% strength, some 36 hours for 100% strength (Poxipol is 15 minutes safe to handle in comparison)

Advantages:

- perfect hardness/elasticity ratio! Imagine a glue elastic enough to resist cracking to a stellar degree while juuust be threadable/drillable, and easily at that! Grey Poxipol in comparison is far more gummy, while Clear Poxipol is far more brittle (too brittle)

- strenght and adhesiveness, even with not prepared surfaces, probably includes "difficult to glue" plastics

- low-cost!

- resistance to outdoor elements

- nice glassy ceramic yellow finish

- slow curing, now heat produced

 

Still haven't found a replacement. Maybe an "epoxy putty" be of some use in some of my applications.

 

Contenstant #2:

Dykem BLUE metalworking marking and layout fluid

I don't know what's happening but it seems the BLUE one is harder and harder to get. In Poland I can only get the RED one.

 

Scratchpad:

Awnings - technology connections

Edited August 25, 2024 by Bucic

[BitMaster]

Look for 2 part Epoxy bottles and then use some Thixotropy powder like this  https://www.r-g.de/art/210120.

You can also add cotton flakes, glass bubbles and many other materials to alter the consistency of your epoxy glue.

Whatever you add usually lowers the bonding strength but may give other benefits, like better sanding when dried etc...

In my ac tive R/C days I used all sorts of Epoxy, 5min, 30min, 12h and 24h curing time and if my best friend back then hadn't been a professional mold maker I would have never 

gotten into all those glues and when you use which one for best results. It's not complicated but you can have better results if you pick the right stuff.

Usually, all fast curing Epoxy remains some flexibility and the longer they need to cure the more glass hard like they become ( better for sanding/finish )

5min is a First Aid Epoxy with not the best strength  ( flows like Jam, stiff )

30min is an all around Epoxy, still hard to sand if needed but good strength ( more fluent then above )

12h strong bonding ( fluent, good sanding )

24h best bonding, almost glass hard, best for sanding and/or finishing fiberglass cloth, very thin liquid.

All but the 5min can be hardened by heat or the sun.  Always use a 0.1gr scale or a syringe to measure Epoxy before mixing, mix with a tool as mixing by hand usually does not result in the same quality of "mixed struff in your pot".  Wear googles when you mix the pot with a L-shaped hook on your Dremel ! It really matters

and you can see the result 2 weeks after when you "clean" the mixing pot for reuse. A good mix is 100% dry and cured, badly mixed epoxy stays sticky forever.

Edited August 24, 2024 by BitMaster

[No1sonuk]

The blue Dykem is still readily available in the UK as far as I can see.
e.g.
 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dykem-Steel-Layout-Fluid-Brush/dp/B00BXT3ZWW/
 https://waltersandwalters.co.uk/Dykem-Steel-Blue-Layout-Fluid-80600-80400

[Hempstead]

Drafting tables... rulers, pens, pencils, paper, erasers, etc. etc... spend many years in undergrad studies honing the drafting skills... and almost never touched them for over 3 decades... moved to CAD.

The only times I still use pen and paper is for concept arts, to put down ideas. Or, to do tracing in reverse engineering, then take a picture, import into CAD.

I remember when I published the first F-16 part 3D CAD model in SolidWorks... somebody even said it's useless, the pictures with annotated dimensions worked just fine, why bother with CAD models. I had to coax them by telling them they can get dimensions I did not measure out of the model, while with a drawing, or a picture with annotated dimensions, you can't. Plus, you can take the model and modify it anyway to fit the materials and manufacturing methods you choose on top of my model without having to start from scratch.

[Bucic]

@BitMaster

 

That's some good info but it's hard to beat the convenience of such glues. To put things into perspective, a set of Distal and Poxipol usually last for at least 6 months for me, if I'm not doing simpit stuff.

And I'm saying that having some experience in composites.

Edited August 28, 2024 by Bucic

[Bucic]

@Hempsted

Hi! Nice to have you here, I followed your Hempstick project!

Just when I started college our faculty were clearing the last bits of drafting stations from the last drafting class. The faculty was in the process of transferring technical drawings of the in-house (designed and made) PW-5 glider to UGS NX 3D models.

Edited August 28, 2024 by Bucic