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Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

(OP)
I have a pair of these break-down chopsticks. Because they're cool.

http://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?cat_id=12...

Actually, it's my second pair, and they have just suffered the same failure as the first.

The eating end is made from ebony.

The holding end from anodized aluminum.

The joint is also anodized aluminum, glued to the ebony.

The joint fails. The adhesive doesn't appear to bond well to the anodized finish.

Any suggestions for what to use for repair?

RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

Epoxy.

RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

If you can control its application and get the excess removed this stuff produces a phenomenally strong bond to a lot of awkward materials. There are probably similar adhesives available in your locality.

RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

Might also want to look into surface preparation aspects, there may be both mechanical and chemical approaches.

Also consider what is causing the failure in your adhesive selection, i.e. how are the chopsticks being cleaned etc. and could this be attacking the adhesive.

(Being a smart guy you probably thought about the above already.)

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

(OP)
It's pretty obvious that the manufacturer did no surface prep of the anodized aluminum surface, which is why whatever adhesive they used didn't bond well. Nicely colored and sealed anodize is a difficult surface to bond to.

Further, I'll need a miniscule amount of whatever. Hard to justify buying $40-50 dollars of G-Flex in a 4 ounce size with no other immediate need.

RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

It seems to me that the bit of aluminum joined to the ebony is redundant and unnecessary. Can the ebony sticks simply be shaped with a slight taper on the ends that fit into the socket firmly enough to remain attached while in use? Think of a morse taper for a lathe tailstock accessory. Ebony is an oily wood and will not only present difficulty in the initial glue-up, but the longevity of the joint is basically a crap shoot. The oils are going to attack and soften whatever adhesive is used. Soaking the area to be glued in acetone for an hour or so to leach out the oils and then a wicking grade of cyanoacrylate might do the trick. The adhesive needs to get into the fiber of the wood vacated by the oil. A surface-only adhesion is a guaranteed failure point.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

"The eating end is made from ebony."

Ebony wood (of any of the listed varieties) is listed as an irritant. Seems like a funny thing to use on the mouth end of an eating utensil.


RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

You can Glex for less than that, see for example: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/pr...

West Marine stores sell thse kits for about US $25 as well.

I suspect that surface prep is probably more important than the exact adhesive :)

Regards,

MIke

RE: Adhesive - Ebony to Aluminum

I use Monkey Glue for metal to wood all the time, should work well.

Just make sure to sand both ends smooth & wet both surfaces prior to adhesion, then use large elastic bands to keep the joint tight for 24hrs. They say 2 hours but it more won't hurt it.

5 bucks at any hardware store.

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