Gluing steel to polyethylene?
 

I bought a 55 gal polyethylene drum to use as part of a swim platform. It
has two screw in plugs. One is poly and fits tightly. The other is steel,
and the thread doesn't even resemble the thread on the opening it was in;
though it is a very snug fit. I doubt I will get a good seal on it. Since
I will never open it, I would like to glue it in. I know nothing sticks
well to poly, but I am thinking JB Weld will fill in the thread spaces, and
lock the two together. But maybe silicone caulk would be a better bet.

Any thoughts on the best way to seal the metal plug in? It is about 3"
diameter and 1/2" of thread.

I bought it at an auction as part of a large lot with all kinds of other
good stuff for a dollar, and immediately sold stuff out of the lot for $3,
so it was a good buy even with the wrong plug.

In article , "toller" wrote:
I bought a 55 gal polyethylene drum to use as part of a swim platform. It
has two screw in plugs. One is poly and fits tightly. The other is steel,
and the thread doesn't even resemble the thread on the opening it was in;
though it is a very snug fit. I doubt I will get a good seal on it. Since
I will never open it, I would like to glue it in. I know nothing sticks
well to poly, but I am thinking JB Weld will fill in the thread spaces, and
lock the two together. But maybe silicone caulk would be a better bet.

Better bet still would be to find a plug of the right size. Why are you so
determined to cobble things together? It's a lot less trouble in the long run
to do it right, ONCE.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"toller" wrote in message
...
I bought a 55 gal polyethylene drum to use as part of a swim platform. It
has two screw in plugs. One is poly and fits tightly. The other is steel,
and the thread doesn't even resemble the thread on the opening it was in;
though it is a very snug fit. I doubt I will get a good seal on it. Since
I will never open it, I would like to glue it in. I know nothing sticks
well to poly, but I am thinking JB Weld will fill in the thread spaces, and
lock the two together. But maybe silicone caulk would be a better bet.

Any thoughts on the best way to seal the metal plug in? It is about 3"
diameter and 1/2" of thread.

I bought it at an auction as part of a large lot with all kinds of other
good stuff for a dollar, and immediately sold stuff out of the lot for $3,
so it was a good buy even with the wrong plug.


Polyethylene is almost impossible to glue. Check around, best bet would be
to find somebody with the proper plug, assuming you have not fudged up the
treads on the barrel too badly.
If all else fails I may have one laying around.
Greg

"toller" wrote in message
I know nothing sticks well to poly, but I am thinking JB Weld will fill
in the thread spaces, and lock the two together. But maybe silicone caulk
would be a better bet.

You already know the answer. Get the right plug or weld a PE patch over the
hole. It can be heat welded.

I have found the only thing that glues polyethylene sheeting is Liquid
Nails: Projects and Construction. It should work on other Poly stuff
as well. But I really thing you would be better off finding a plug
that fits properly, and using teflon tape to mage it seal.


Stretch

toller writes:

Any thoughts on the best way to seal the metal plug in? It is about 3"
diameter and 1/2" of thread.

Replace it with a PVC plumbing plug and use PTFE tape. Standard drum bung
holes are just NPT pipe thread.

toller wrote:

I bought a 55 gal polyethylene drum to use as part of a swim platform. It
has two screw in plugs. One is poly and fits tightly. The other is steel,
and the thread doesn't even resemble the thread on the opening it was in;
though it is a very snug fit. I doubt I will get a good seal on it...

US ("God is our co-pilot") Plastics probably sells the correct bungs...

Nick

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
toller writes:

Any thoughts on the best way to seal the metal plug in? It is about 3"
diameter and 1/2" of thread.

Replace it with a PVC plumbing plug and use PTFE tape. Standard drum bung
holes are just NPT pipe thread.

Didn't know that; I will check that out. Thanks.

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
toller writes:

Any thoughts on the best way to seal the metal plug in? It is about 3"
diameter and 1/2" of thread.

Replace it with a PVC plumbing plug and use PTFE tape. Standard drum bung
holes are just NPT pipe thread.

Worked fine, though it took half a roll of PTEE tape to get a snug fit.
Thanks.