Questions about lamination adhesives

[elijahjmhutchinson]

I work for a hardware store and we have an employee discount. Unfortunately we don't carry EA40 lol. We do however carry JB clear weld but I have never used it. EA40 has a tensile strength of 3400psi and JB clear weld has a rating of 3900psi. Will this work well for a laminated bow or is it a bad idea? I'm also considering titebond3. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you guys 

[Yooper Bowyer]

I think the shear strength is the important point for lams.  I think TB3 is generally accepted for lams if you have a tight glue line, but I would use epoxy for perry reflex.  EA40 may be cheaper per unit even without the discount, you should check.

[Pat B]

I've used TBIII for backed bows, both boo and hickory backings and on osage, ipe, locust, mulberry, elm and other belly woods and on tri-lams and never had a glue line failure. I'd say it is a proven adhesive for any of these applications.

[simk]

If I do read correctly it says "5min"on the packaging. then that's wrong product anyway...you want a bit more time for the glueup process before everything sticks together 

[elijahjmhutchinson]

Thank you guys for your help. I think I'll just order some EA40. That seems to be what everyone's using for the sort of curvy bow design I'm after. 

[bownarra]

Or course EA40 will work BUT there is nothing wrong with TB3 it is a superb glue and will work on ANY design/wood. The only spot where you may want to use EA40 would be on a handle lay-up that simply sits on top of your belly lam or if the temperature is way high (TB3 can start going off before you want it to in the heat).
Stay well clear of unproven glues.....until you have done some test glue-ups and have then tourtured them to distruction
Most importantly never ever use that 5 minute epoxy on anything to do with bows! The bond strength is poor....regardless of the numbers on the packet It is only any good for a massey finish and even then i'd use a slow set epoxy.

[HH~]

Titebond use smooth lams, 2 part laminating epoxies use 36-50 grit sanded lams. There's a big difference in prep.

Hedge~

[bownarra]

Titebond use smooth lams, 2 part laminating epoxies use 36-50 grit sanded lams. There's a big difference in prep.

Hedge~

I use 60grit sanded for any glue. I'm onto around number 350 lam bows  
Smooth-on actually advise sanding lams to 120 grit for use with EA40. Same with Titebond The coarser grits that most people actually use came about because when you use the finer papers for lam prep you will run into 'burn' issues. Especially with certain woods, ipe/maple/bubinga/labernum/hickory,purpleheart/lignum etc to name but a few do not like fine papers and drum sanders....the easy way around the issue is to use 60 grit paper.
Another thing to mention is that every glue has what is known as a 'data sheet' contact your glue manufacturer and ask them for a copy. Quite often with these sort of things there are many, many different opinions between end users but the datasheet don't lie!

[RyanY]

Another thing to mention is that every glue has what is known as a 'data sheet' contact your glue manufacturer and ask them for a copy. Quite often with these sort of things there are many, many different opinions between end users but the datasheet don't lie!

This.

[mmattockx]

Quite often with these sort of things there are many, many different opinions between end users but the datasheet don't lie!

+1. The people that manufacture it usually know it best.


Mark

[gutpile]

you want a glue that will bond and hold a bend... gut

[PatM]

That's the interesting thing about bonding glues.   They don't need to be inherently flexible.