G'day All,

I have an idea for a butt assembly that I would like to construct but it will involve joining some pieces of aluminium tube and machined aluminium inserts together.

In order to make those joins, what do you think the most appropriate bonding agent would be, epoxy or one of the stronger anaerobic monomers like Loctite 680? I am leaning towards epoxy as it is also gap filling and will keep water out of the assembly. I understand that aluminium requires good preparation to bond well and have read some of the information around this.

The other issue is that I may want to anodise these parts. Should I bond first and then anodise or will that affect the bonds? I'm guessing it will so if I bond afterwards, do I have to remove the anodising from the areas to be bonded for the bond to be strong? Or just scuff to provide a water break free surface and bond as usual?

Thankyou in advance for any help you can provide.

Cheers

Jason

Can you weld the parts together than anodise ? anodise gets down in the pours of the alumiun and the epoxy might not give a good bond , when they anodise they first put the part in a cleaner that is heated up then it goes into the anodise tank that is also hot. epoxy before hand might not hold because of the heat..

Most if not all aluminum reel seats areanodized and epoxy works well with them. Anodoze first. Just properly prepare the surfaces as you would with any material and go with that which has a long history of working properly for this type project: epoxy.

michael danek good point about reels seats i stand corrected .

I would lean towards epoxy. The loctite product is more about preventing parts (with very tight tolerances) from working loose (it is intended that you should be able to break them loose though). Or that is how I read the data sheet.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Russell, there are many grades of loctite, this one is described as high strength, but I'm not sure how high that is. Since the area will be large it probably willl work as long as it can cure (cures in lack of oxygen, so if clearances are too great, it won't cure), but I think your reservations on it for this use is warranted when the alternative is so solidly proven (epoxy).

G'day Guys,

Thanks for your input. It's epoxy all the way then!

FWIW 680 Loctite is very strong. I have used it a fair bit and whilst it can be disassembled you need a fair amount of heat to do so, probably in the order of 150 degrees C. Or a very, very big hammer.

Cheers

Jason

that is why it is called Loc- tite LOL

Bill - willierods.com

U-40's Rod Bond is designed for fishing rod component assembly. Works great. No need to search for other options, it's right there for your needs.

Now I would guess that you should anodize first, then scuff, then assemble.

eric
fresno, ca.

Bill :-)

Eric, thanks and that what what I was thinking about doing.

Cheers

Jason