"Decent" epoxy putty testimonial

[GreshamH]

Rich's method, er, a long standing method many others have used besides Rich, is what I do as well.

 

[Mr. Ugly]

When I use the g e g method directly to rock in the tank the glue films on the water surface going in and does not then hold the epoxy. How are you all getting this sandwich to work under water?

Use extra IC gel so that you can mush it around under water to break the skin.

Also, on the epoxy, be careful of attaching a frag to a huge wad of freshly made epoxy.

People have cooked their frags with the heat released by the curing epoxy.

 

[Eight]

I think the heat effect only happens with some types of epoxies. Apoxie Sculpt doesn't create any... at least it hasn't been noticeable at all to me.

 

[badbread]

Is it safe to say the more heat generated by mixing the 2 parts the quicker the cure?

I say that because with the D&D epoxy, it barely warms up and that stuff cures super slow.

With the 2 little fishies it gets noticeably warmer, almost hot and it cures in minutes.

 

[tuberider]

Is it safe to say the more heat generated by mixing the 2 parts the quicker the cure?

Yes, I have an 8 minute epoxy for surfboard glassing that if not treated properly catches on fire . The hotter it gets the faster it kicks, in fact you see microwaves in glassing shops to heat up the resin if you want a thick hot coat.

 

[A_Lee]

I also use the GEG method ... prior to this IC gel just wouldn't hold the frag strongly enough in most cases. The water movement in the tank would eventually get the better of the frag. Even a large enough snail would knock over the frags.

 

[Thales]

Rich's method, er, a long standing method many others have used besides Rich, is what I do as well.

If your frags are popping off, you are doing it wrong.

Not that I care about credit, but I never heard boo about priming the surface with glue before I wrote about it. There are lots of people who do the smear technique - blob of glue on the frag and smear that blob around until some sticks - but I didn't see anyone putting glue on their finger and smearing it around on the rockwork, then putting glue on the frag and gluing the glue to glue. Smearing doesn't work nearly as well as actually priming and you get things falling off. Priming allows you to glue really big things and surprisingly heavy things to your rockwork. Truthfully I glue the frag to rubble and glue the rubble to a primed place on the rock so it looks like nothing has been glued at all.

When I talked to you about priming, you told me you smeared and it was the same effect, but it ain't.

There is prolly stuff about it here, but I don't remember what I wrote:
http://www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com/archives/vol_1/issue_3/pages/rhm_vol1_iss3_f.htm.

 

[Eight]

I've used the priming method before and it does work well. It also makes a difference to use your finger rather than just smearing.

However, I don't use this method very often because it requires gloves or those little finger condoms.

 

[Thales]

The glue comes off a naked finger pretty easily.

 

[seminolecpa]

Just make sure you don't get glue in you beard. Not that that has ever happened to me before.

 

[tuberider]

All of this talk reminds me of when Ricky had a rag glued to his nose and a model truck glued to his hand in the Conkey episode, Bubbles points out that model cement is almost impossible to get off of ya' citing the time he glued the wing of a model airplane to his bird by accident

 

[Eight]

There's also the super glue episode from American Pie. Ouch.

 

[GreshamH]

Rich's method, er, a long standing method many others have used besides Rich, is what I do as well.

If your frags are popping off, you are doing it wrong.

Not that I care about credit, but I never heard boo about priming the surface with glue before I wrote about it. There are lots of people who do the smear technique - blob of glue on the frag and smear that blob around until some sticks - but I didn't see anyone putting glue on their finger and smearing it around on the rockwork, then putting glue on the frag and gluing the glue to glue. Smearing doesn't work nearly as well as actually priming and you get things falling off. Priming allows you to glue really big things and surprisingly heavy things to your rockwork. Truthfully I glue the frag to rubble and glue the rubble to a primed place on the rock so it looks like nothing has been glued at all.

When I talked to you about priming, you told me you smeared and it was the same effect, but it ain't.

There is prolly stuff about it here, but I don't remember what I wrote:
http://www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com/archives/vol_1/issue_3/pages/rhm_vol1_iss3_f.htm.

I think your memory is a bit faulty Rich. I get down and dirty and get the crap under my nails (take for ever sometimes to get it off my finger nails I don't do that method when fragging and that is when I have the problem of frags popping off. I don't have a DT like you so 99% of my gluing is to plug Very few get glued to my rock and when they do, I apply to finger and frag I do smear when gluing to my tank walls though. Priming that is always a b*tch IME.

 

[GreshamH]

I should add that the frag (with IC Gel) pops off the glue leaving non on the frag. The glue sticks fine to the rock/plug.