Gluing aluminium

Ddigger

Aluminium bottle rack my old man found at the sale room.  It was a bit shoogly as someone had previously tried to glue it.  We think it is from the fifties as the aluminium is pretty thick and it was obviously cut out of a large plate.

The large parts are aluminium, but I am not sure about the rods.  They feel very light indeed and have a different lustre.

What glue should I use to stick these together?  I plan to clean out all the old glue from the holes and off the rod ends.  Should I rough up the ends of the rods as well, as they are very shiney and slick?

https://i.imgur.com/1NytRSb.jpg

Thanks, Ddig

Emp_Fab

JB Weld.  /thread.

paulnb57

Gut feeling epoxy or JBWeld?....

ICBM

Aluminium epoxy.

MtB

Clear silicone mastik - bathroom sealant type stuff. 

thermionic

I’ve been staring at that photo for three minutes and cannot work out how it holds bottles. Send help.

Emp_Fab

There's either another matching plate missing from the photo, or the pins are just legs and the bottles stand upright (rather pointless !)

Also - am I the only one who initially saw the image as a 'negative' - i.e. my brain saw the background as the foreground and the plate as being in relief ?  I can't see it that way again now that my brain has seen the correct version.

ICBM

Emp_Fab said:

There's either another matching plate missing from the photo, or the pins are just legs and the bottles stand upright (rather pointless !)

Also - am I the only one who initially saw the image as a 'negative' - i.e. my brain saw the background as the foreground and the plate as being in relief ?  I can't see it that way again now that my brain has seen the correct version.

No, you're not - I couldn't work out what I was looking at at first, until it suddenly 'snapped' the right way round. It must be an illusion of the lighting or the reflections.

I'm pretty sure the two flat pieces (there will be two! The whole thing stands up on what's the left-hand end in the pic) are cast not machined from plate, that's why they're not completely flat.

Sassafras

It's good for holding empty bottles. You just stick the open neck over the rod. Perfect!
Although why anyone would want a rack for empty bottles is beyond me.

Danny1969

Emp_Fab said:

There's either another matching plate missing from the photo, or the pins are just legs and the bottles stand upright (rather pointless !)

Also - am I the only one who initially saw the image as a 'negative' - i.e. my brain saw the background as the foreground and the plate as being in relief ?  I can't see it that way again now that my brain has seen the correct version.

Me too, can't see it the other way now either

Ddigger

Yep, there are two identical plates and the LHS of the photo shows the bottom of the rack.

I managed to clean out the old glue without too much bother and I can see that two types of glue were used.  In my experience with glues, it is usually down to preparation.

I am wondering about the 4 rods, they don't appear to be the same material as the plates and they are no where near an interference fit, so maybe they are not original.

As there is so much play, I am now not sure about a glue (never heard of aluminium epoxy before).  I am now thinking about a slim plastic sleeve I can 'sweat' over the rod ends, then glue and trim afterwards.

I don't even drink wine, but maybe it will be an excuse to keep really big bottles of beer!

Thanks for the assistance.

wolsnah

You could get some aluminium brazing rods and fill the holes like they do here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1njyuPBIH0

Then get some rods with threaded ends, drill and tap new holes, screw in new rods. There's probably a craftsperson around that could do it for you for not much cost.

monofin

That pic is so weird. It's amazing how long it took my brain to adjust and see it properly

FX_Munkee

Glueing Aluminium is a proper pain due mainly to the oxide coating that forms almost instantly on the surface of Al in air.

There's a whole specialised industry behind the products which are mainly used in aerospace.

Normally you would clean the surfaces with something really aggresive like Hydrochloric acid then use a special 2 part epoxy (Loctite will sell you something suitable).

But that's my engineering answer, seeing as you're not trying to make a plane, I'd say key up the ends really roughly and use araldite

LastMantra

Solder?

Emp_Fab

Won’t work on ally.  You could always try a friction fit.....   layer as many small sheets of aluminium cooking foil as needed over the holes, to fill the gaps between hole and rod diameters then hammer the rods in tight.  Good as anything I guess.  It’s not as if there’s going to be much strain on them anyway.

thermionic

Still can't see it. Please take another photo from a different angle, preferably with bottles attached!

Corvus

Devcon, JB Weld, better if the rod ends are roughed up a bit and everything is clean. They're strong 2-part epoxies which you can drill & tap etc. A gap to fill is ideal too.

p90fool

I don't understand chemistry so I avoid glue at all costs - if it were mine I'd buy some offcut bar in a larger diameter from eBay for a fiver then thread it and the holes. 

ICBM

p90fool said:

I don't understand chemistry so I avoid glue at all costs - if it were mine I'd buy some offcut bar in a larger diameter from eBay for a fiver then thread it and the holes. 

How would you screw both ends in?




The only way I can think of is to do one end left-hand thread, but you would also need to make sure the start points of each thread were synchronised. Even then it would be very difficult to get all four to tighten at the same time.

p90fool

Boringly, I do have left hand taps and dies, but you're right, probably the easiest way would be bars threaded at the ends long enough to have a nut on the inner face and a nice acorn nut on the outer.