Metal bonding epoxies

[chicane]

Does anyone have any experience with any particular brand names of metal on metal bonding epoxies? For certain non structural body panels, especially when metal warpage is an issue, I have seen really fantastic results from using these epoxies and would like to try this method on a few panels.

 

[nate379]

http://www.goferauto.com/41dumemepado.html

 

[Jack Olsen]

3M has a broad line -- get the right one, and you'll be amazed with the results. I made a wing for my race car out of aluminum flashing and it has maybe 20 different pieces with no fasteners in it at all -- just structural epoxy. It's 6 feet long and 10 inches wide, weighs about 4 pounds, and sustains loads in the 400 pound range.

 

[chicane]

3M has a broad line -- get the right one, and you'll be amazed with the results. I made a wing for my race car out of aluminum flashing and it has maybe 20 different pieces with no fasteners in it at all -- just structural epoxy. It's 6 feet long and 10 inches wide, weighs about 4 pounds, and sustains loads in the 400 pound range.

ONLY FOUR POUNDS? Whoa, I would have thought that much epoxy would add a lot more weight than that. Which 3M epoxy did you use?

 

[Jack Olsen]

My writing wasn't very clear. The wing is four pounds of aluminum, held together with a few ounces of epoxy (which is good, since the stuff costs about ten bucks an ounce). I used DP-460.

It's not very pretty:

But it unbolts quickly and fits inside the car for the drive to the track:

 

[rick danger]

I built this box for my bike out of aluminum. I didnt have any way to weld it so I got this two part urethane aluminum bonding adhesive. Worked great.

 

[rick danger]

 

[rick danger]

 

[rick danger]

Norton makes it

 

[e-tek]

VERY GOOD INFO BOYS - awesome photo's too! As an "old-school" restorer, I have resisted the use of bonding agents when I think panels should be welded. Obviously in cases such as above, the right decisions where made.

I'm gonna try it sometime - I'm sure in some cases it's cleaner and leaves a better end result without the heat affected metal.

 

[bimmer1980]

we buy large LED displays for work----10'x22' up to 20' by 60'. The cabinets are all aluminum and are held together by rivets and epoxy.

You do have to be careful that the joints are designed for the glue. Generally, the glue is best in shear. Tension loads have the tendiency to pull apart....

some joints are better off being welded. Other joints can utilized the benefits of glue.

I would probably not ever use the glue for edge joining two pieces of metal. If I could overlap them but an 1" or 2", then yes. In the later case, you have a huge amount of square area to accommodate the shear forces.

 

[Joelfke]

3M has a broad line -- get the right one, and you'll be amazed with the results. I made a wing for my race car out of aluminum flashing and it has maybe 20 different pieces with no fasteners in it at all -- just structural epoxy. It's 6 feet long and 10 inches wide, weighs about 4 pounds, and sustains loads in the 400 pound range.

X2 the 3M stuff is amazingly strong...i used it to glue quarters on to my 70 impala. i then took a 4" x 4" piece of scrap and a bigger piece of scrap laying around and ground them to bare metal and glued them together to see the strength of it. I came out the next morning and could NOT physically separate the pieces by hand.

amazing stuff. its usually two parts in one package and they give you two long tips for the stuff to mix together before it comes out to use. cost me about 35 bucks for the adhesive and got both quarters glued with half of the containers to spare. I believe the stuff i used was a 2:1 mix

 

[metal1313]

isnt the entire frame of a lotus bonded with epoxy? the stuff is incerdibly strong and now most autobody supply houses carry it

 

[Jack Olsen]

I don't know that there's much steel on the Lotus, but yes. Porsche's Carrera GT, too.

A lot of body shops are using the stuff instead of welding for things like flares.

In the case of my wing, the epoxy is significantly stronger than the aluminum it's holding together. The flutter/vibration issues of running that thin at 140 mph means it has to flex a lot and still hold together.

 

[galwaytt]

...in our plant, HERE all the bodies are bonded with SIKA Structural adhesive. Incredibly strong. Even the houses we build - all panels bonded.

There are some fantastic adhesives out there.

 

[K13]

For the home guy Evercoat makes a couple that can be used with a regular caulking gun rather than needing the specialized and expensive guns that 3M, Norton etc use.

http://www.evercoat.com/productDetail.aspx?pID=242

http://www.evercoat.com/productDetail.aspx?pID=270

 

[RPH]

Lord Adhesives makes the best one. We build the bonding machines for the car plants and pioneered the bonding buisness. I start and service these tools worldwide. I have seen the Lord 2 part stuff rip the metal apart before failing at the bondline.

 

[scopx]

Very Interesting thread.

E-tek. my background is somewhat similar to what you described about your father, but got into insurance later in life. Do you have a hold of something in the car, or does the car have a hold on you? (Avatar pic)

Olsen, very impressed with your design skills. Now know why you have all the clamps. Does wing allow for difference in braking point at end of straights?