drilled hole strength

Laurie Young · Post by **Laurie Young** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 4:27 am

Help! I have just finished some work that I would like to display hanging straight down from the ceiling but 10 or 12 inches away from the wall. The pieces are about 18 inches X20 and about 1 1/2 inches thick and weigh about 20 lbs. Does anyone have any ideas on how to do this? I thought that I could drill a hole on two points on the top, angleing towards the center to provide more strength, but through the thickness of the glass. I mean into the body of the piece from the top going downwards, not through the back of the piece like you would hang a painting. Does this make sense? Then putting steel pins with little eyeloops into the holes, and attaching crimped wire to suspend the piece. I am thinking about using arlydite unless anyone knows of a stronger glue. Does anyone have any experience in this area, or know if this is even feasible? I have no idea how much strain the glue will hold. It is terribly important to me that they do not come crashing down in the middle of the show![/b]

John · Post by **John** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 7:04 am

Laurie,
Go to your local boat shop that sell s/s rigging. talk to them about what they can offer. some of that gear is amazing, the wieght it can take. Also it is not to expensive for s/s wire.
If you put a "U" bolt through the hole just put a plastic sleave over the pin to stop metal to glass contact.
Also try shopfitting suppliers one place in Melb is Mei & Picchi
03 9417 4066. They have awesome gear.
http://www.meipicchi.com.au
hope it helps

John

Laurie Young · Post by **Laurie Young** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 7:26 pm

Thanks John,
I will check out both ideas- I had talked to some people who do shower screen installations and industrial work and they use some UV cured stuff, but it needs to be airless to cure, which wont work in a drilled situation. I am using crimped steel wire to suspend the piece- it has a rating of 80 kilos or something, so my main concern is the glue, and whether the pressure exerted on the steel pins will cause the glass to shear away around the hole.
thanks for your help,
ta,
Laurie

Amy Schleif-Mohr · Post by **Amy Schleif-Mohr** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 9:03 pm

There is some epoxy out there used for anchoring systems. You know the concrete barriers used in road construction, some of them are held in place by epoxy set anchors. You could check with a metal working shop to try to find them.

Amy

John · Post by **John** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 2:29 am

How thick is the piece? What is the distance from the hole to the edge?
loctite sell a U.V glue its number is, 358 UV curing. I use all the time on glass to gass and glass to metal contact. It dries super clear but it is not a glue that bridges between two surfaces. Also you need a black uv light to let it cure. Curing takes about 30 secs with the light.
3mm s/s wire from the boat shop has a breaking strain of 2000 kgs. not that dear neither.
John

Laurie Young · Post by **Laurie Young** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 2:42 am

Its sorta hard to describe properly... it is a cast aloha shirt, ( hi Brock!)around 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, but I am drilling into the middle of that thickness lenghwise (from top to bottom), not into the back. So the distance from the hole to the edge is about 3/4ths inch on either side. So if you can imagine something hanging on a clothsline I am drilling where the pegs would be, so it is suspended straight up from the shoulders. The problem that I forsee is that the pins will puill staight out which is why I angled the drill hole towards the center, which should prevent this from happening, in theory at least. I thought of drilling through the back as you would to hang a painting, but thought it would cause the piece to slant forward when hung, as I want it to be free hanging, not against a wall. But the piece will only be as strong as the glue that holds it, which is why I am interested in the marine glue. The stuff I have used on my test piece is two part epoxy called Bostik, which is supposed to be stronger than aryldite, and can actually be used to glue underwater, so it may be some sort of marine glue, although I just bought it at miter 10, not a specialty shop.

John · Post by **John** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:00 am

Okay I've a picture,
If you have drilled right through I'd go a "U" bolt type set up one either side then loop your wire through that.Just remember to put plastic tube over the part that goes through the glass.(like fish tank air tube) No chance of coming apart. No real need for the glue. its own weight will keep it steady. If you keep the wires straight down from the ceiling they will both take half of the total weight. So each hole only has about 10lbs of strain on it.
let us know how you go.
John

Laurie Young · Post by **Laurie Young** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:03 pm

thanks John,
is the plastic important as a cushion to prevent stress fractures, or is it to do with expansion like in a dynabolt? Or flexibility for expansion and contraction like silicon? My problemis that it would entail drilling a much bigger hole, and I havent got much thickness to play with, as well as it terrifies me to drill into the piece.

John · Post by **John** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 1:46 am

Yes, it is to cushion against "glass to metal contact". If you go to the boat shop, sailing shop they have neat little "u" bolts that are about 40mm high from the bolt to the top of the shackle. And also they are in a 6mm thickness. They may have taller ones too. I have used them on my kiln and they have a breaking strain of about, 2000kgs.

John

Clifford Ross · Post by **Clifford Ross** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 12:05 am

Laurie- use inserts for door pull screws. They can be inserted the way you mention and glued with most any glue or silicone. Your angle idea will do the trick nicely..