"anorton" wrote in message
m...

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 14 May 2012 22:28:13 -0400, "Existential Angst"
wrote:

Iffin you REALLY wanted to be sure that a nut won't fall off a screw, or
a
screw will loosen, wouldn't plain ole 2-part epoxy be the best bet?

There are epoxy thread-lockers made for volume production. They're
hollow phenolic beads, half of them filled with resin and half of them
with hardener. The threads are dipped in a weak adhesive and then in
the beads, whereupon they can be stored for as long as you want. When
you tighten the nut the beads crush, the epoxy and hardener mix, and
the mess hardens.

For non-production use, Loctite is much more convenient.


Also, if an epoxied screw/nut did have to come off, wouldn't a little
heat
do it?

A fair amount of heat. And the epoxy doesn't melt. It may get soft,
but it chars.

Five-minute epoxies can handle less heat than the slow-cure types.

--
Ed Huntress

Even with heat, removing bolts with epoxy on the threads is not very easy.
Epoxy just dribbled around the outside of a bolt does not work well.

The army uses this stuff in the turret of the Abrams tank.
http://www.vibra-tite.com/vc3.php
They found it is the only removable thread locker that can withstand the
shock and vibration they get there.

You apply it to the male threads and let it dry. It is the consistency of
soft plastic. It cold flows into the threads when assembled to fill all
the gaps. It is also great for screws that have to be adjusted and then
stay put.

You can also use castle nuts and cotter pins or tie wires.

Well, apropos of Ed's 5 min epoxy, of which I have quite a bit (and which HF
sells dert cheap), if I applied that well to the threads, would it do an
effective job? At least until I figger out exactly what direction I want to
take.
--
EA