Best glue, cement or epoxy for brass to styrene

[Psychographic]

I'm building some hinges for a 48 Ford Woody and need to glue brass to styrene. As there is not a lot of gluing surface, what will give me the strongest bond?

[Deathgoblin]

Probably 2 part epoxy.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Epoxy will definitely be your best bet.

Just an FYI....ALL true epoxy is "2 part"....resin and hardener (epoxy hardener is NOT a catalyst like the MEKP you use with polyester resin).

Another FYI.....the lomger it takes for a particular epoxy to set-up, the stronger it is, in general. My structural 1:1 aircraft stuff from Germany's MGS ( which takes 24 hours for a partial cure, and then 160 deg. elevated temperature post-cure for 18 hours) is probably 100 times stronger than the 5-minute stuff. Stronger epoxies will also require MUCH MORE CAREFUL MEASURING than the 5-minute or hardware store junk.

I'd recommend an epoxy meant for flying model-airplane use if you want strength, and don't disturb it while it sets up. At all. Use the one that takes the longest to set up. Leave it alone for as long as you can, because the little molecules joining together won't do as good a job if they're disturbed. Honest. Also, ALL epoxies benefit strength-wise from slightly elevated temperature post-curing. After it's FULLY set up, put it in the sun for a few hours.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Ace-Garageguy

[Art Anderson]

Of all the epoxies I have used in model building, JB Weld has done the best job by far with metal-to-metal, and metal-to-plastic.

Art

[blunc]

I second the JB-Weld suggestion.

[southpier]

JB is great stuff. i like to clean both surfaces with a swab dipped in denatured alcohol first.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Yeah, I have to agree.....for easy-to-find and use, JB Weld is about the best. MUCH better than the other hardware-store garbage.

[FASTBACK340]

Going off in a different direction.... I rarely use epoxy for this stuff. What I use is 3/4 oz. fiberglass matting (R/C air plane stuff) and Zap-Gap. I use it to trap the brass between the F'glas and plastic. You can cut thin strips, wrap over the hinge tube, and glue to the plastic. The fiberglass cloth dries hard and solidly bonded to the plastic.

Try it....

[VW Dave]

On the brass roof rack I made for my '56 Beetle, I used 5-minute epoxy aplied with a small disposable 'Microbrush' from my LHS:

Wax paper under the rack ensures that the epoxy doesn't go anywhere you don't want it to; dried epoxy pops right off the wax paper.

[FASTBACK340]

Saran Wrap plastic cling will work too, but it's easier to use as a mask.

BTW: Nice rack.....

[crowe-t]

I'm working on a project and need to glue small, 4 mm, nuts onto styrene so I can attached parts with screws. The nuts are brass with nickel coating and the screws are hardened steel with nickel coating.

I tried using 5 minute Devcon 2 parts Epoxy with mixed results. One of the small nuts stayed in place but the other one broke free after I tightened the screw on a couple of times. I had to remove the part and when I tightened the screw the nut broke loose.

Is JB-Weld better for gluing the small nut to the styrene?

There is regular JB-Weld and KwikWeld.

I assume the regular JB-Weld is the better choice and the nut will never break free.

Any advice is appreciated.

Edited February 16, 2015 by crowe-t

[southpier]

is there a possibility of making a recess to hold the nut prior to adhesive?

are you cleaning your nuts?

manufacturing can leave an oil residue; this might contribute to a weak bond.

know JB is black, not clear. you can use belt & suspenders; tack with ACC and then surround your nuts with epoxy for the full monty.

don't let the screw bottom out when installing; you may be leveraging the nut right off the surface.

that's all i've got.

[afx]

You might try flooding the styrene area where you want the captured nut to be with liquid cement thus softening the plastic. Then press the nut into the soften plastic and it should make a recessed formed around the nut which when dried would keep it from turning.

[crowe-t]

The nut is in an area that is surrounded on 2 sides. I'll add a piece of styrene to the 3rd side however it's on an edge so I can't completely box it in.

The color of the JB-Weld doesn't make a difference.

southpier - I drilled holes under the screws so they definitely don't bottom out.

afx - I like your idea of flooding the area with liquid cement to make a recess. I'll try that.

Is it safe to assume JB-Weld is much stronger the Devcon 5 Minute Epoxy?

Should I use regular JB-Weld instead of JB KwikWeld?

Edited February 17, 2015 by crowe-t