5 Minute 'Waterproof' Epoxy

[Slats]

So, will CA work on parts getting wet or not?

Yes - I use it for minor bits of detail to be glued on and minor repairs. All of which is submerged. The most widespread application I have used CA for on details of a sub is the 1/72 Trenchant I built with some gazillion amount of tiles stuck on - see the build thread on this site or my album.

For major structural pieces without GRP cloth reinforcement I now use exclusively Titan Bond Plus. For all other structural adhesion I use epoxy.

[Kazzer]

I used to have Araldite as a customer in the UK. I remember that a number of the engineers had made coffee mugs cast out of Araldite. No coatings just product. It held up pretty well to hot coffee

Araldite is a GENERIC name belonging to CIBA GEIGY. Ciba are a major supplier of resins and make the base resins for THOUSANDS OF COMPANIES who add fillers, dyes, cabosil, sand, gravel, bead and goodness knows what to make their particular brand of Snake Oil.

[Kazzer]

For major structural pieces without GRP cloth reinforcement I now use exclusively Titan Bond Plus. For all other structural adhesion I use epoxy.

I have to ask John - what particular Snake Oil is Titan Bond Plus? Nice name- but what is it? Epoxy? Horse Hoof Melt-Down? Eye of Toad and Leg of Newt?

[Kazzer]

Hi,
As far as I know (I work with epoxies in paints -but the privciples should be the same), the main problem with these 5 minute epoxies is that they tend to have an accelerator added to the hardener.
The most common one (I won't tell you the name - it would fill half the line)

PLEASE tell us the name - even if no one else is interested, I am. Humor me!

[Albion]

Araldite is a GENERIC name belonging to CIBA GEIGY. Ciba are a major supplier of resins and make the base resins for THOUSANDS OF COMPANIES who add fillers, dyes, cabosil, sand, gravel, bead and goodness knows what to make their particular brand of Snake Oil.

This was the Ciba Geigy UK factory, its just outside Cambridge, near the air museum. Fantastic smell to the place, if you are into sniffing.

http://www.directpoolsupplies.com.au/prod790.htm

Looks useful, even sets underwater, maybe the Aussie cricketers could put some on their hands this week (sorry couldnt resist a poke)

[Kazzer]

So far we've established the resin is now BOSTIK Titan bond - Are we any further forward Lets see an MSDS

[Slats]

So far we've established the resin is now BOSTIK Titan bond - Are we any further forward Lets see an MSDS

Ta da...

You'll note that it actually works underwater - although obviously I haven't tried applying it underwater

http://www.transbond.com.au/pdfs/bostik/TitanBondPlus.pdf

[Kazzer]

Hi,
As far as I know (I work with epoxies in paints -but the privciples should be the same), the main problem with these 5 minute epoxies is that they tend to have an accelerator added to the hardener.
The most common one (I won't tell you the name - it would fill half the line) does two things - it makes the epoxy brittle and it is quite well soluble in water. So if you immerse it sime material will leach out and further weaken an already brittle bond. The good thing with that stuff is that if you have used slightly too much epoxy it helps to post-cure the resin in an oven (as long as your wife dosn't find out). judt stich it in at 80 - 100degC for an hour or so and the material should gain some strength.

I thought all 5 min epoxies used a mercaptin hardener, easily recognised by it's pungent garlic type smell.

I can't imagine that any model submarine bond would put this material under great stress unless there were other problems present.

1. The repair/bond was a poor choice to use this material as a repair (90% of the problem)
2. The surface prep cleaning was totally inadequate.
3. The surface wasn't sufficiently roughened up to provide sufficient surface area for the bond.

If all these factors were taken into consideration, then I'm sure you'd find that Mercaptin based epoxies(wrongly called '5 min Epoxy by the submarine gangs) would do the job they were intended to do. They would work 'under water' and do a good job.

[JBarche]

Hi
As requested: 2,3,4-Tris-((Dimethylamino)methyl)-phenol.
As for the mercaptane (garlic or sometimes worse), as far paints are concerned the workhorses for epoxies are still amines (more fishy or like ammonia). mercaptanes work as well (actually they are faster) but you may have some problems with the crosslink density (responsible for the hardness)
Jens