Valve question

Any recommendations for adhesive to use to bond the valve base to the glass. I have a couple that are a bit loose.

Stronzetto is your man for glue recs

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There was a proper cement for this but I can’t recall what it was called. Graeme may know. I use araldite applied on the end of a cocktail stick. It doesn’t take much.

I was hoping there might be something that is more on the liquid side that would slide down the extremely small space between the glass and base.

Shellac diluted with white spirit.

I’ve been advised not to use superglue as it can make the glass crack. Not sure if that’s true.

I’ve used clear silicone (i.e. bathroom sealant) in the past. It’s flexible and temperature resistant, but it ends up looking messy.

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Shellac. That explains why I saw nail polish recommended somewhere.

Yep, that should work. Just dilute a bit.

From wiki:

Mixed with other resins, barium sulfate, calcium carbonate, zinc sulfide, aluminium oxide and/or cuprous carbonate (malachite), shellac forms a component of heat-cured capping cement used to fasten the caps or bases to the bulbs of electric lamps.

:+1:

That would have been me. 1 part clear nail varnish diluted with 2 parts acetone to make it really runny. Acetone is sold on eBay as nail varnish remover. The little nail varnish brush is a handy way to bleed drops of the solution into the crack between base and valve. I start out by putting a strong elastic band vertically round the whole lot to hold the two parts together. The joint mustn’t flex at all for 24 hours as it will crack otherwise. It may crack anyway the first time, but if it does put the band back on and do the glueing again. It hardly ever cracks after a second attempt. And it really does seem to need 24 hours to set. I’ve tried 12 hours and it often cracks.

Try not to spill/dribble the glue on anything else. Acetone is a wonderful paint and plastic destroyer (but the valve base will be fine). You can wipe dribbles off the base with a tissue and pure acetone but this does seem to encourage glue joint cracking.

Epoxy can work well and make a very strong joint but it will show. If you’re going to use epoxies that claim to be metal-loaded then make sure they don’t dribble down inside the base and come into contact with the valve pins or wires.

Also make sure that the area is ventilated. Acetone is a bit bad for your health and very, very flammable.

VB

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I love the smell of acetone in the morning!

You should take your nail varnish off before you go to bed (so Adam told me) :grinning:

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Cheers Graeme