So I just received my first package of Sugru! I already know what my first project will be: repair/remake broken parts off my iPad holder…
So any Dopers ever used it? Any cautions or tips I should know before plunging in? Any brilliant ideas for using it?
I can’t answer your questions, but I gotta say, that stuff looks cool. I saw it a couple weeks ago on some email thread. Let us know how it works!
Store it in the fridge and it will last much longer.
Their website has pages and pages of ideas and hacks.
So far the best thing I’ve done with it is repair an old but wonderful carbon-steel chef knife. The wooden handle had broken off after 30+ years, leaving just the metal tang. The sugru I put on it is very comfortable and shaped to my hand.
I’ve only ordered it directly from sugru.com in the past, but amazon now has a few colors and sizes too.
I’ve only used it for one thing so far, a broken knob on my KitchenAid mixer, and it worked beautifully!
I’m going to order some and do some repairs. Very cool.
That is some cool looking stuff!
It is VERY cool stuff. I have an ipad holder made of plastic that for the most part I like the design of. I had snapped off two of the “http://imgur.com/a/jDokD”]holding" bits and tried gluing them back on with no success. So I just molded (badly…) new ones from the Sugru. That page has three images, showing the remaining working parts that I was trying to replicate, the Sugru replacements and my iPad being held by them.
They look like stupid gum, but that’s just my ineptitude, not the fault of the product. Someone less of a dolt with their hands than I am would do much better.
I will say it was tricky, because to make sure I had the right placement and shape I kept placing my iPad and trying to mold around it, but as you see in the photo I keep it in a case and the Sugru would stick to it, so I’d get the shape just right, but when I pulled the IPad away, it would get messed up. (An I had to pull away because I don’t want to keep my ipad in that holder all the time so I had to mold them and let them cure separately).
It feels exactly like Play-dough when it’s in the fresh, moldable state. it pulls apart and leaves traces just like Playdough. (I’m spelling that wrong…) But the “cured” (leave it for 24 hours) stuff feels like a cross between hard plastic and silicone rubber.
The only thing that kinda bugs me is the cost. I understand they want to make back development costs andmake a profit, but it’s hard to imagine that the actual ingredients and production really justify that price. I think they would sell even more if they could cut it in half, at least. Because I’m starting to think of lots of things, and lots of people hae already come up with a bunch of amazingly clever and useful things to do with it.
My next challenge is to create some kind of holder for my iPhone for picture-taking… I had a cheapshitfromchina one that broke almost immediately, but having it (and a shutter release on a cable, which I can’t find now) was / is terrific. HUGE difference in my pictures for Ebay and the like. I have so many iPhone cases and doohickies I’m thinking I can Sugru my way to something handy and workable… it’s the sort of product that should definitely become a verb…
I got a bunch of it for Christmas. So far I’ve done the iPhone charger wire fix, and I’ve used it to patch up a few holes in my Grundens rain gear (I work on commercial fishing vessels in Alaska) and to make the tab on a few zippers bigger and easier to manipulate while wearing gloves.
It’s really useful stuff, but I agree with Stoid that it should be cheaper. My hope is that as they start selling more of it they’ll recoup their initial investment quickly and lower the price. One thing that struck me is the superfluous quality of the packaging: the silver packets are contained in a slick-looking, cleverly designed envelope made of thick stock. Lots of pictures, intuitive instructional graphics, glossy print job, etc. Very well thought out and no doubt excellent for selling their product, but definitely not the most cost-effective packaging.
I’ve never heard of it, but thanks so much for mentioning it! I just took care of someone’s Valentine’s gift!
I gave some to both kids and my husband for Christmas and there are now various colours dotting our house. Ichargers were a big hit, the spot where the cord breaks all the damn time are now safely enclosed in smooth bits of Sugru. My husbands favorite computer screwdriver now has a new handle and we’ve still got lots left. It’s fun to just mold too instead of being functional, my daughter used a few bits for one of her art projects for her senior project.
Too cool! Just ordered some yesterday!
I did something like that with HDPE from recycled bottle tops (link)
Someone sent me a couple of little trial sachets of Sugru, but I’ve yet to find a specific use for them.
I use plumber’s epoxy for this sort of repair, but it dries hard rather than flexible. And heat shrink tubing to make cable repairs. I can buy quite a lot of both for the price of some tiny packets of Sugru.
Going through the gallery has helped me realize that it is perfect for solving some issues I have. One of the major things I am going to tryto do is create some kind of holder on my bike helmet for my high-powered headlamp. I can secure it in ways that work perfectly but also make it semi-permanent, bause it involves cable tie and intricate wrapping and looping.i use the lamp all the time for other tasks, so that is a drag. If i could pop it on and off the helmet quickly…
The promise of generality is what captured my attention (and order). I can make all these specific repairs with other specific stuff as well, the promise of this product is that I no longer have to keep on hand supplies of all those specific products. This one promised to replace many.
Is $20 expensive for ~1.5 ounces of this stuff? That depends on what I can do/repair with it.
My order should ship today. I already have a few ideas in mind. I’ll post results.
They have a new kit with high-powered magnets that is perfect for this application. There’s a picture there of making a light-to-handlebar mount that might be relevant. You can get the magnets elewhere too. This is my next area of tinkering, as I have tons of magnets and just enough sugru in the fridge to mount them somewhere.