Loctite and brass

[petertha]

I've always wondered.. is the woodworking shellac as suggested any different that what is sold under work holding shellac?

http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Orange-Flake-Shellac/118066?Pos=3

 

[Wizard69]

This is an incorrect and gross over generalization. The anaerobic thread lockers like 242 , 270, etc. love brass and will react rapidly. 680 is a methacrylate ester which is a different chemical. See http://www.henkel.com.au/aue/content_data/327273_UPGRADE680EN.pdf

Loctite makes hundreds of different adhesives of many different chemical compositions. You have to be selective if you want good performance.


WOB

I was going to say something to this effect but this is right on so I will just emphasis. Loctite thread lockers are known to have an affinity for brass. Given a clean surface you should be able to use the red thread locker to bond brass to just about anything.

 

[goldstar31]

Well, I'd never had any bother doing 4 division plates for a Thomas Dividing head- which I used a Thomas Universal Pillar Tool ( nowt like a successful designer).

Anyway, I',m farting about on plastic gutters and broken joints- we are having a series of thunderstorms.
One of my mates suggested something called Stix like **** which comes in a tube.
He's an old Coldstream Guardsman out of Blackadder and Whiteadder Country- and is like me- an Atkinson. So will let you know - if I can get out of the blanket( Armed Forces joke)


Cheers


N

 

[Tin Falcon]

I've always wondered.. is the woodworking shellac as suggested any different that what is sold under work holding shellac?

http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Ora...c/118066?Pos=3

I am sure there are minor differences. when in doubt get the right tool for the job. and the price seems cheaper on the workholding stuff. thanks for the link.
But if you have a woodworking supply store in your block and the the nearest jewelry supply store is 500 miles away. I would try what is available.

Tin

 

[barnesrickw]

I'm going to guess its the same as woodworking shellac but mixed much more concentrated. Great thing about shellac is a little alcohol cleans it right up.

 

[goldstar31]

I'm going to guess its the same as woodworking shellac but mixed much more concentrated. Great thing about shellac is a little alcohol cleans it right up.

Oddly, the history of shellac seems to lost. It's a beetle- it's what a female lac beetle does. In our usage, it is French polish, it is resin, it is sticky stuff and the basis of paints and varnishes and many plastics. It is a hard gloss when dissolved in alcohol and more sensibly is generally too hard and brittle for as it arrives in flakes.

As far as an earlier generation is concerned, it was generally modified for all sorts of reasons but it was added with things to soften it. One was yet another natural product- beeswax and rubber. I've still got my couple of rubber plants but I have largely forgotten making and modifying 'resins'
I was reading Bill Bryson's book 'At Home'. He's the guy that came from Des Moines as somebody had to. His bit about the little lac beetle is worth another read and so is his history of 'a short history of Everything Else.

Today, man can reduce the variables from natural products- you know this quality control lark. I gave it up with snowflakes of thallic anhydride from boiling these beetle things and the other bits that go into 'pot' - and let someone else poison his life.

But that's shellac- been around since Stradivarius varnished his violins and cellos-- and we still haven't worked out precisely how he made the stuff.

Read it up, it's fun because we are returning to other natural products like- pissing on our steels. Apparently, the urine of virgin little boys was highly prized.
Me, I'm not surprised!

Cheers

 

[kiwi2]

Probably not the right site to talk about shellac as a wood varnish - but I'm a real fan.
For years I used polyurethane on wood. It was OK but once the can got less than 2/3 full it formed a skin and needed to be strained before use. And of course the brush needed cleaning afterwards as well. Then someone put me on to shellac and I gave it a go. It is brilliant. I make up about 500 ml at a time in an airtight plastic honey pot and it sits permanently on my bench without degrading or going off. I apply it using paper kitchen towels as rubbers so there are no brushes to clean when the job is done. Admittedly you have to apply a lot of coats to build up a nice finish but you can apply them at hourly intervals while doing something else.
I sometimes use 5mm fibre board if I'm making a prototype of something and I find a couple of coats of shellac makes it a lot harder and more stable.
The only thing I worry about is the poor old Lac beetles - if everyone realised how good shellac is, they could go extinct.
I was an industrial chemist but I have to admit that this is one case where the old natural product is in some respects better than the modern synthetic varnishes.
Regards,
Alan C.

 

[kelvin2164]

SUCCESS
I think I've finally found the right product. Loctite 480. They call it 'ruberised' CA, and I think this helps absorb the impacts of machining. I've turned it in the lathe, drilled it, milled it and so far nothing has fallen off.

 

[goldstar31]

I've just stuck a brass sheet under the lathe tool holder on my little Kennet tool and cutter grinder. It was one of those jobs which was put off and put off but I always had to Eye in to get the angle repeatable.

I found a bit of 1/16th brass- cleaned the paint and gunge over it and removed the grease etc from the cast iron. Mixed a bit of two part epoxy from a 'Pound Store'. Yours will probably be a Dollar one. I left it for a day- it is supposed to be 5 minute stuff! This AM rough cut the excess with the 6 x 4 bandsaw( no fretwork table) and then used the cheap Chinese grinder/belt sander thing to smooth it all. Nothing has moved.

No wonder I'm a millionaire- he joked.

Norman