Is there a good alternative to Gorilla Glue that is colorless? I want a general-use strong glue that works on many surfaces and, preferably, does not expand like GG does.
Epoxy, many silicone based adhesives, plenty of others. Glues work best when specific for the material. Crazy Glue type products work well on smooth surfaces. Plain old white glue dries clear and is plenty strong for wood and paper type products. It just depends on what you are gluing. Even with Gorilla Glue, if you apply and clamp properly, the glue should be very thing and almost unnoticed.
Or, you could try Gorilla Glue.
I’ve become a big fan of “Goop” - it’s clear, flexible, strong, and adheres to most surfaces.
There’s no magic one-size-fits-all glue.
Gorilla glue is great for porous surfaces, but needs clamping and expands.
Wood glue is great for general purpose stuff and is easy to use, but not generally as strong.
Liquid superglue is super strong, but only works on nonporous surfaces. Gel superglue also works on porous surfaces and is easy to work with, but isn’t usually as strong.
Goop and Liquid Nails are both really hit or miss in my experience; sometimes it’s perfect, sometimes it’s a really weak join. Depends on the material, I think.
Epoxy is nearly perfect – great hold, easy to apply, clearish, non-expanding, and can either be quick-curing or clamped. The downside, of course, is having to mix it every time.
If somebody ever invents a perfect epoxy applicator (some sort of auto-mixing, auto-cleaning nozzle), I’m pretty sure they’d be my hero for life.
If somebody ever invents a perfect epoxy applicator (some sort of auto-mixing, auto-cleaning nozzle), I’m pretty sure they’d be my hero for life.
[/QUOTE]
There’s a cool epoxy applicator gizmo just out on one of the tool sites that seems to have promise. You chuck your drill to the end and spin and the epoxy comes out of it’s 2 separate reservoirs, gets mixed and applied out a long nozzle. Not sure how you clean/store things, but it didn’t look like a “one-shot and throw away” like the earthquake bolt kits.
I’ll have to look. I wouldn’t mind the one-use automixing tops, except they never work for me. I wind up with poorly mixed epoxy and always have to resort to mixing with a toothpick anyways.
In my mind, I’ve always pictured a three-reservoir epoxy tube with two plungers, one plunger pushes A & B through some sort of mixing tube, then the other plunger flushes the system with some sort of cleaning fluid.
Are you using good mixing tips? Cheap ones don’t mix well. 3M makes a line of mixing tips that work perfectly but, of course, they are single-use units. I was a pro model maker and we used 3M DP-190 which has a working life in the applicator of around 2 hours (if it’s not too hot out.) Trouble is that they run about $2 in small lots.
As to the OP: if you don’t mind a long (9+ hours) cure time then 3M DP-190, which comes in translucent form, is amazing stuff.
Cool. I’ll get some and give that a try.
I found it and bought some - but wow, that is expensive stuff! I bought a small kit for $25.