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Old 20th Nov 2021, 2:13 am   #17
Bruce
Tetrode
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Bangkok, Thailand.
Posts: 85
Default Re: Colouring Araldite

Well.......after spring rains and a lot of back-breaking garden digging and planting I've managed to get back to this project.

I used standard "24 hour to full-strength araldite" and the remnants of some black enamel paint that I've had for at least 40 years. I mixed the araldite and paint in three batches, being particularly unscientific about how many drops went into the mix each time. The outcome is fantastic, at about 18 hours now it is solid as a rock, and regardless of the amount of colouring added to each mix all have set solid. The choice of long set araldite rather than 5 mins was the right choice, I couldn't have done this job in 5 mins.

The job involved inserting the araldite into a 12 mil deep x 4mil slot in strips of timber. I did this by decanting the araldite directly into a suitably sized syringe, dripping the black paint from a screwdriver into the syringe and mixing it in with a bit of thin wire on which I'd bent a bit of a tab so it would "grab" a bit as it mixed. I really liked this way of applying the araldite (or any other glue), it gives a lot of control over how much glue is applied and allows a bit of "suck back" if it has gone on too thickly in an places.

BTW the gluing project was the final stages in the renovation of a Lenco GL-75 where I'd revived and strengthened the well-worn original plinth through building a heavy-weight plinth inside the original, and added a SME3009 tone arm. The SME arm necessitating lifting up the perspex cover a little for clearance. I did this by adding a wooden strip (black to match the bottom of the plinth) around the bottom edge of the cover. I'd routered a 4 mil slot and the job was to attach the wooden strip to the perspex - I thought about silastic which would have given a fairly solid attachment but in the end opted for araldite to get a more solid attachment that would add support to the perspex cover.

Bruce
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