Archive for the 'Adhesives' Category

Finds: Wonderlok Chair Glue

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007
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Though the Wonderlokking website may be difficult to find, Wonderlok Chair glue (thankfully) isn’t.  These little tubes of chair glue are pretty unassuming, but the big fixing power of its formula is a great weapon to have at hand.

Wonderlok is what it is because of how it works.  It’s not the strongest glue ever made to fix a piece of wooden furniture, but it’s preferred by craftsman because of its “ooze” factor.  Wonderlok’s great because you can apply it from the outside of a joint seam and it will penetrate (”ooze”) into the joint to form a solid bond throughout — which’ll hopefully hold your rickety chair or table firm without disassembly.

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Preview: Loctite Power Grab on a Roll

Sunday, February 25th, 2007
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Loctite’s Power Grab construction adhesives have been a staple for finishing work for some time.  Now they’ve introduced the same adhesive in a double-sided tape format to make attaching things like house numbers, coat hooks, and baseboards simpler.

Like the original Power Grab, the rolled version is waterproof, resistant to UV light, and stands up to temperatures from -40F to 248F.

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Finds: Threadlocker Stick

Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
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Why use thread-lock?  Let’s say, for grins, that you’d like your transmission bell housing bolts not to shake themselves out of the sockets.  Or perhaps you’d like the hyper-cool aftermarket steering wheel you just installed to actually stay connected to the vehicle – all good things, and all areas in which thread-lock can help. 

We used the Threadlocker Stick by Loctite a great deal on the Yukon project, both to secure bolts under the hood and to secure the aforementioned steering wheel replacement.  The stick works just like a glue stick from your school days; just twist the bottom and more sticky thread compound is pushed out the top.  This form factor is really helpful as you don’t get it all over yourself.

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Finds: Titebond III Woodglue

Saturday, January 6th, 2007
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Titebond calls Titebond III the “ultimate wood glue.”  (Is the third time the charm?)  It’s a waterproof wood glue that cleans up with water (before it dries, of course) and offers a one-year shelf life.  Titebond says it has a polymer-based formula that offers the “preferred performance attributes as defined by professional woodworkers.”

Titebond III sports excellent water-resistance and provides a stronger bond by optimizing for wood-to-wood applications.  It also doesn’t foam and requires less clamp time than polyurethane based adhesives.  Working with Titebond doesn’t require the use of gloves, either. 

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Finds: Gorilla Tape

Saturday, December 30th, 2006
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You’ve probably got a bottle of Gorilla Glue around the shop, but have you heard about Gorilla tape?  We selected this as one of PopSci’s Best of What’s New 2006 winners, and while I was researching it I became quite a fan.

Why’s it so cool?  By including a layer of adhesive twice as thick as standard duct tape, Gorilla Tape’s engineers endowed it with the ability to “mold” around imperfections on rough surfaces — letting you tape things like bricks and wood together.  They also doubled the thread count in the tape’s woven backing, but offset the second grid of fibers slightly to allow you to tear the higher-tensile strength tape by hand.

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Finds: J-B Stik

Friday, December 29th, 2006
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You’ve heard of J-B Weld?  Who hasn’t.  It’s famous.  (Infamous?)  But have you heard of J-B Stik?  It’s a “hand-kneadable, steel-reinforced epoxy putty/adhesive/sealant” designed to help plug holes and make permanent repairs on wet or dry surfaces.  And, like most other J-B products, it can be drilled, sanded, filed, tapped, machined, and painted.

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Finds: FastCap’s SpeedTape

Friday, December 29th, 2006
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FastCap makes some pretty decent adhesive for attaching laminates and veneers.  But what’s really interesting is that they offer it in a tape form as well.  It’s like double-sided tape; you just apply the tape to the substrate, peel off the backing, and apply your laminate or veneer.  The tape assures even and thorough coverage — with no overspray.

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Reader Find: JB Weld

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006
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Rob writes: “JB Weld is described as a ‘cold weld’ adhesive.  It’s a two part epoxy and it’s good for everything from engine repair to electronics.  Another plus is it can be machined once it’s cured (drilled, tapped, shaped) making it even more versatile.  I find it more useful than duct tape (blasphemous I know) and always keep some regular and qwik on hand.”

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Finds: DeWalt’s 18V Cordless Adhesive Dispenser

Saturday, December 9th, 2006
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We’ve written about a couple of cordless adhesive dispensers (read: caulk guns), but we thought the DeWalt bears mentioning as we know from email that a number of you already have some of the DeWalt 18V line and could share batteries.

This unit seems to have all the major standard features including a rotating cartridge holder for 29 OZ and quart-sized cartridges, a variable speed control, and an auto-reverse feature to prevent drips.

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Why I Love Super Glue, by Sean

Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
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It’s a glued up world.  Really!  There are tons of different types of adhesives on the market today, and I have personally used quite a few.  Epoxy resins and wood glues alike grace the shelves of your local home center, but the first line defense for me has always been good old-fashioned super glue.  The “super” in super glue comes from the ability of a 1-square-inch bond of the stuff to hold more than a ton.  (I kid you not.)  It’ll also glue your little brother’s fingers together in one heck of a hurry.  Read on past the jump for a lot more about a little topic.  (It’s worth it.)

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