A good glue can stave of entropy and fill you with a warm glow.

August 10, 2010 11:18 AM

I want to take Casio watches (or the equivalent) and/or old cell phones and glue stuff to them--beads, bits of circuit board, Lego minifig heads, etc. What would be the best glue for this purpose?

Ideally the stuff I glue onto the cheap, old gadges would stay glued on. I guess I could use JB Weld, a solvent glue, or some kind of nasty industrial resin.

I'm also interested in making small metal sculptures by gluing the pieces together.

posted by mecran01 to sports, hobbies, & recreation (6 answers total)

This to that
posted by sanko at 11:35 AM on August 10, 2010 [6 favorites]

Hot Glue/ Glue Gun or Silicone.
posted by From Bklyn at 11:49 AM on August 10, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's generally hard to glue stuff to metal because of its nonporous surface. I would try epoxy, the slower-curing the better. The slow-cure stuff (i.e. 30 minutes or more) is available at hobby stores.
posted by neuron at 12:02 PM on August 10, 2010

Epoxy, but I think the 5 minute kind would be fine. The 30-60 min kind would be a pain in the butt - especially if you have a small part that won't sit flat on a surface and needs to be propped up to stay in contact with the glue while it cures.

If it is plastic to plastic, a plastic glue would work because it melts the plastic together instead of creating a glue later between the two pieces.
posted by cavs33 at 1:27 PM on August 10, 2010

Thanks, I will keep looking. Hot glue and silicone are too impermanent. This to That is ok, but I was looking for more specialized knowledge from someone who is super crafty.
posted by mecran01 at 8:59 PM on August 10, 2010

This to that: "There are so many kinds of plastic its hard to give advice here that applies to them all. If possible try a small test in an area that doesn't show."
posted by mecran01 at 9:01 PM on August 10, 2010