THE BEST METAL ADHESIVE??

R

riversidedan

H-M Supporter - Silver Member
H-M Supporter - Silver Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2021
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been shopping around for some metal adhesive for aluminum projects and noticed loctite seems to have a few good ones, whats your fav?
 
I've had excellent success with JB Weld, after giving both the mating surfaces a good sandblast with very fine grit. It's especially good when joining dissimilar metals (like aluminum to copper).
 
With a good stiff wire-brush cleaning, and a bit of don't-use-this-indoors
fluoride flux, the zinc-based aluminum solder works for me. The only problem, is the
working time is short; you gotta get the joint good and hot, flow the joint all at once, and aluminum
DOES wick that heat away. There's flux-less variants, that also work, I'm told...
 
I've used JB Weld for years modifying transmission housings. The only failure I've had is at one point I was just washing the used housings in my hot parts washer and sanding the insert I make on my lathe to make the parts look goof for my customers and I had two parts that the ATF leaked under the JB Weld. I had full coverage of the part, but the surface prep was the problem. I now bead blast the parts and so far that's done the trick for me.

I just recently started attaching a plastic speedometer gear that I've modified to a steel or aluminum sleeve I make. I was making the gears out of aluminum on my cnc lathe, but it's time consuming and costly. I'm hoping the JB Weld will hold. Time will tell.

JB Weld is a great product. I buy it from amazon in the industrial size packages 10 at a time. I'm currently paying $17.98 for the package. There are other palces that are slightly cheaper, but the delivery times are all over the place so I just stick with amazon.

 
Many(most) of my models are of ZAMAK, an alloy of zinc, aluminium, magnesium, and copper. Called "white metal" in the industry. It can be soldered, but is difficult under ideal conditions. Enough aluminium content to eliminate use of tin/lead solder. Most of my work is small where there's not a lot of stress on a joint.

There are "aluminium welding" alloys available. But they are actually an aluminium compatible solder. They will stick two pieces together but are no stronger than soft (tin/lead) solder. To my knowledge, there is nothing like hard solder(brazing) for aluminium. Beyond common "glues" there is nothing like TIG welding for larger work.

I usually use a thick type of ACC, alpha-cyanoacrylic, or "super glue". In the past, before ACC, I have used epoxy, contact cement, and "Goodyear Pliobond". There are other cements, some now obsolete, that are acetate(?) based. Those did well but after a few years they dry out and don't hold any more. JB Weld is just a metal filled epoxy. When used properly, it is no stronger than Wally World Hobbypoxy. But great for filling blemishes on machine cases. I have built machine parts from aluminium. In every case, they were fastened together with machine screws. Nothing I use will hold up as a repair to a "mag" wheel on an automobile. That would have to be welded.

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Not trying to hijack this thread, but since we are on the subject of adhesives............here is one of the things I'm using JB Weld for.

If anyone has a suggestion for a different product to bond the gear to the sleeve please let me know.
20221016_193845.jpg20221016_193408.jpg20221016_193419.jpg
 
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