Bonding aluminum to aluminum
I am playing around with the lathe at work. Making an add on LDC for my EdGun. I am using a 1″ tube for the housing. The baffles are aluminum and are cup shaped. They are a slip fit that takes some force to seat them. I am starting out with a .250 hole in the baffles and end caps.
Once I get it all assembled, I would like to run a reamer thru the LDC to make sure that the bore is concentric. I am concerned about one, or more, of the baffles spinning when I run the reamer thru. Is there a glue, superglue maybe, that will wick between the two aluminum contact areas and hold the baffles?
I sat thru a presentation from a Locktite rep a while back. He claimed that Locktite had a product that wicks into tight areas and bonds parts. I don’t want to find out the hard way that he was full of bullshit!
I know sombody out there has the answer, lets have it.
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JD Weld. (Epoxy the way epoxy should be)
Bonds anything to almost anything, and is a bitch to get off if you change your mind. So get it right the first time.
TexasB
I ordered 1″ OD .930″ ID tube, 1″ OD .870″ID tube, 1″ solid round bar and 1″ diameter PVC round bar from McMaster Carr.
I am making 3 different styles of internal baffles. On the cup type, I cut the alum round stock down to .933″ OD, center drilled the .250″ bore and then chucked up a mill bit and bored into the stock .750″. I then cut the piece off at 1″ length. It gave me a cup with a .030″ wall thickness. The cups take some force to be pushed into the outer tube and might not spin when I run a reamer thru them. They might all line up well enough that I don’t need to ream them, just was trying to plan ahead.
I am also going to make the same style cup out of the PVC.
For the third type, I spun the 1″Od .870″ ID tube down to .933″ OD and cut it into .750″ lengths, to use as spacers. Cut some .250″ thick .933″ OD washers from the alum and PVC round bar.
I plan on trying all 3 styles, just to see if one style works better that the others.
The Loctite products that wick do work well, BUT follow all the directions carefully!!!
Shrink-fitting the internals would have been better, but hindsight is always 20/20.
Reaming will not Ture the center hole, the reamer will only follow the original hole. To true the bore you should use a boreing bar, that is what they are for.
No insult or offense meant. Just my $.02
Stick
If the ID of the tube, baffle OD are true then I don’t see why you would need to ream the bore. How did you machine the baffles?
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Hoot’s correct although I believe it is JB Weld. Use an epoxy type product, although aluminum tends to expand and shrink more than most metals when the temperature changes, which could break the bond between the parts…
Many a bicycle component has been recalled because of the bonding agent releasing it’s hold under daily temp fluctuations when one part is aluminum and the other isn’t.
I would add a pin or some type of fastener to prevent shear forces from releasing the two parts and shooting the shroud or the internals across the room… 😉