WarmGlass.com

Hi, I've looked though past posts on the topic of excellent adhesive for gluing findings to fused glass jewelry, but don't see recommendations beyond epoxy and E6000. I've used both Epoxy 330 and E6000 and am not satisfied with either. I like that Epoxy 330 dries very clear and adheres well, but don't like working with it. There's a small window of time when it's not too liquid or too thick. Frequently, the findings move while drying and it drives me crazy. My experience with E6000 is that about 10% of the pieces fall off the finding! Not acceptable. Any recommendations for other products? What about household epoxies found at hardware stores, or even Superglue???

Check Barry Kaiser's web site for a tutorial on how to apply E6000 successfully.

http://kaiserglass.com/tutorials.html

FWIW, I don't even follow Barry's advice and I've had great success with E6000. I can't get a darned bail off if I wanted to!

Dana

I am with Dana. No problems with E6000 as long as the glue is fresh, the surfaces roughened, and then cleaned (with a solvent like acetone or alcohol, never a window cleaner). I use strips of a resist tape to hold the findings in place until the glue has completely dried. It doesn't take much to keep the findings from moving. I use resist tape because it removes cleanly and is thich enough to be resistant to the movement of the glue. The resist tape is used for masking before sandblasting.

I don't like expoxy for glueing findings because it is so runny the pieces shift. It is difficult to secure the finding to the piece with tape because the epoxy has no resistance to movement when first applied. Even after the epoxy is applied and the finding perfectly, it will sometimes shift later as soon as you stop watching it. The final bond is very strong, but brittle and the finding will sometimes separate from the piece if dropped.

Before the great board message purge, you could spend days reading all of the posts about glues and the glueing process. People do it differently and when they find something that works they become proponents of whatever they do just like Dana and me for E6000. Other people hate E6000....

I completely agree with you about the runny epoxy, it's really aggravating. I'll check out Barry's tutorial on E6000. I'm happy to use it because I can buy it anywhere; the Epoxy 330 needs to be ordered, another con.

Question? is resist tape different from masking or blue tape?

Thanks so much!
JaYing

J. Wang wrote:I completely agree with you about the runny epoxy, it's really aggravating. I'll check out Barry's tutorial on E6000. I'm happy to use it because I can buy it anywhere; the Epoxy 330 needs to be ordered, another con.

Question? is resist tape different from masking or blue tape?

Thanks so much!
JaYing

Yes, it is different than either of those. I believe the red tape I have came from Venture (www.venturetape.com), but I think they have discontinued the product. I believe a low adhesive strength plastic tape would work. Scotch or 3M are usually easy to find. I would not use a paper based tape because sometimes the glue will contact the tape and stick. A paper tape would be very hard to separate from the E6000, but a plastic tape has enough strength to be pulled free.

I gave up on E6000 because I wasn't using it properly. I have a 2 part epoxy that I like because it sets up quick but I took a class with Barry recently where he demonstrated his technique for using E6000 and now that's what I use. As long as you rough up both surfaces, clean them well, stick 'em together and LEAVE THEM ALONE for 24 hours, you should be fine. Excess schmutz is easily cleaned up with acetone. I am a convert.

I've been using E6000 since I started fusing in 2001.

I only use fresh glue, meaning I always squeeze out and discard the first inch or so of glue from a tube.
I never rough up my glass or my bails.
I don't clean my glass with anything other than the same Sprayway glass cleaner I use prior to firing.
I don't tape the bails on. I apply a tiny bit of glue to the bail with a toothpick, press it on to the glass, set the glass face down (bail on top) on my workbench and don't touch it for 24 hours.
I don't try to pry the bails off to test if they're securely attached.
I don't specialize in jewelry but I've sold hundreds of (perhaps a few thousand!) pendants over the years.

Now hopefully I won't curse myself, but I've never had a customer tell me a bail fell off.

I am and always have been a bailaholic. I have made glass bails, imported bails, electroplated bails, wired bails etc etc.
Sharon and I did the craft show circuit for several years. I came up with the method for attaching that I teach in my tutorials because I did have failures.
I have tried just about every adhesive out there and found that E-6000, used properly, works as well as any and better than most. It is also inexpensive, and easy to apply.

The main reason for the roughing up the parts is to give the adhesive a better bite.

I do not see using the exotic adhesives. They don't work better than E6000, are more expensive, and much more problematic to apply (strictly my opinion).

But if anyone has another way that works for them that is great. The objective is to keep the bail on. Any method that does that to your satisfaction is totally acceptable.

Barry

E6000 works great when care is taken as stated.... only problem is initial SMELL!!