# Kitless: Gluing different pices of resin



## yaroslaw (Nov 11, 2013)

Hi all!

Making kitless, what do you use usually for gluing different pieces of resin (accent pieces, clear windows, finials) together? I made my first one that style, and all pieces separated during drilling/turning. Without something supporting it, gluejoint on a thin wall is really weak Managed to save work, but it was so much extra work gluing pieces back concentric (as almost all work already been done on threads and everything)!

Also, may be I used wrong order of steps? I've mounted main material in a collet, faced it, than glued accent piece (previously faced and cut slightly oversized) and than began to work with as a whole piece.

Result is pretty nice, but I don't want to repeat this experience once more


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## ChrisN (Nov 11, 2013)

I know for wood, a proper glue joint is stronger than the wood. I don't know about plastic, though.


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## RichF (Nov 11, 2013)

I would not expect for a face glued joint to survive for very long.

In order to get a strong joint, you need to use tenon joints to provided added surface area for glue bonding.  A good tenon joint bonded with epoxy is very strong.

For a pen such as the one pictured, you would be best served to place the tenons on the ends of the lighter material so the color remains uniform.


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## yaroslaw (Nov 13, 2013)

Thanks for tennon idea. Any other thoughts?


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## duncsuss (Nov 13, 2013)

ChrisN said:


> I know for wood, a proper glue joint is stronger than the wood. I don't know about plastic, though.


True for face-grain glue joints, but end-grain glue joints are notoriously weak.



RichF said:


> I would not expect for a face glued joint to survive for very long.
> 
> In order to get a strong joint, you need to use tenon joints to provided added surface area for glue bonding.  A good tenon joint bonded with epoxy is very strong.
> 
> For a pen such as the one pictured, you would be best served to place the tenons on the ends of the lighter material so the color remains uniform.



Agree 100%.



yaroslaw said:


> Thanks for tennon idea. Any other thoughts?



Remember to make the tenon thicker than the hole you plan to drill down the middle of it -- or you will be back at an unsupported thin face joint.

Using tenons, I glued black ebonite "fittings" to wooden barrel and cap (the wood didn't take threads very well) and it worked quite well. I aimed to have half the wall thickness made up of each material.


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## InvisibleMan (Nov 19, 2013)

Tenon is the right answer, but I always try to go further and thread the tenon.  Just a little added strength.


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## watch_art (Nov 19, 2013)

Tenons with threads.  A metal lathe makes all this SO much easier.
What’s in a window? | Newton Pens


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## Kaspar (Nov 19, 2013)

Threaded tenons will work nicely - remember to cut your thread reliefs in the female threads where ever practicable, but even a tight, glued up wring or slip fit would be strong enough.  Metal Lathe definitely recommended for tight dimensioning.


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