# Gluing brass and aluminum to each other and wood



## godfreytoddanderson (Jun 9, 2007)

I am working on my first pens today that have brass and aluminum trim rings.  What is the best way to glue them to each other and to wood?  CA? Gorilla Glue?


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## broitblat (Jun 9, 2007)

Todd,

I'm not sure I understand the question.  But if the trim rings you're referring to are part of our standard kits, they typically are held into place by press fit with the other parts.

  -Barry


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## Darley (Jun 9, 2007)

I use CA but you will have a problem when sanding, the sanding will heat up the metal ring(s) and melt the CA who will set again when cold, the metal ring(s) should be in sandwish bettween wood ,never at the end of the blank, look my album " Italian resine and aluminium ring "



> _Originally posted by godfreytoddanderson_
> <br />I am working on my first pens today that have brass and aluminum trim rings.  What is the best way to glue them to each other and to wood?  CA? Gorilla Glue?


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## godfreytoddanderson (Jun 9, 2007)

Sorry if I wasn't clear.  As Darley described, I am inserting my own brass and aluminum trim rings between pieces of wood.  I do want to try aluminum-brass-aluminum combinations too so I was wondering about gluing metal to metal.

Any tips on turning blanks with the metal rings?

Thanks,

Todd


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## Pipes (Jun 10, 2007)

I use both Gorilla glue and ca both work for me when I glue the brass to wood for my pipe tampers . Of late I been using CA []


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## Darley (Jun 10, 2007)

> _Originally posted by godfreytoddanderson_
> <br />Sorry if I wasn't clear.  As Darley described, I am inserting my own brass and aluminum trim rings between pieces of wood.  I do want to try aluminum-brass-aluminum combinations too so I was wondering about gluing metal to metal.
> Any tips on turning blanks with the metal rings?
> 
> ...



I think you sould use silver soldering for this, your metal to metal ring will not hold with any glue when turning


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## TAld (Jun 10, 2007)

> your metal to metal ring will not hold with any glue when turning



How would Loctite (red) work? or maybe J.B. Weld for the metal to metal bonding [?]


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## Gary Max (Jun 10, 2007)

JB Weld will not take the heat unless you buy the High Temp.
I think it was $18.00 for the 1oz tube.


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## Darley (Jun 10, 2007)

Same problem with the loctite and I don't know the J.B. Weld product, the problem with metal ring is not turning it but when sanding the heat generated will unglued the metal rings 





> _Originally posted by TAld_
> <br />
> 
> 
> ...


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## Draken (Jun 10, 2007)

How about WeldBond glue?  It dries clear, and remains flexible.  Could be just the ticket for the heat expansion.  I've been using it lately for all of my laminations, and for gluing in my tubes.  Can't find it at any of the big box stores, but did locate some at Tru Value hardware.  Can also be found online.


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## godfreytoddanderson (Jun 11, 2007)

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I'll do some experimenting and post the resutls.


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## johncrane (Jun 11, 2007)

Hey Todd try this www.thistothat.com site


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## godfreytoddanderson (Jun 12, 2007)

The wood is Amboyna and Maple burl.  Its hard to see because of the glue but there are brass plates on both sides of the inserts so there are four brass plates in each blank.  The divot that you can see is in the first brass plate.

Ok, I tried Gorilla glue since it gave me more time to get it clamped up.  Here is the result after the blank disassembled itself while being drilled.  I was using a bullet tip drill bit and the tip was half way through the first brass plate when this happened.  Somehow the fourth brass plate was completely separated even though the drill bit wasn't even close to it.




<br />

Yes, I was going very, very slowly.  And yes, I sanded both sides of the brass plates.

Any ideas?  It may be really hard to drill the brass at an angle.  I guess I'll try CA next.


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## godfreytoddanderson (Jun 15, 2007)

Ok, I finally have had some success.

First off, Gorilla glue is definitely not the right choice for this situation.  Whenever I started drilling the brass the heat caused the Gorilla glue to become gummy and it separated due to the torque.  I finally separated all of the pieces, which was easier than it should have been, and re-glued the Amboyna blank with CA.  All of the problems went away.  Here is the result.



<br />

I had some problems scraping off all of the Gorilla glue and getting the pieces flat so some of the joints are not tight.  The rings are supposed to be closer to the left end also but didn't get trimmed correctly.  I guess this will end up being be a test and I will start again.


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## ericw95 (Jun 15, 2007)

I REALLY like the combination.  Thanks for sharing and I will have to keep this in mind when I get to segments.


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## skiprat (Jun 15, 2007)

I've never had any problems with CA holding the bits together, but I have had occassions where joint later develops an edge due to the different expansion characteristics of the materials. Now I just wait till the blank is completely cold before doing the final sanding.
I found that this would happen mostly with ali to acrylic. The acrylic expands more when warm than the ali so it is nice and smooth when 'hot off the lathe' but the ali has an edge when the acrylic cools and shrinks back.[]


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