Adhesive misbehaving, worried joints are not airtight?

[AlessandroAU]

First of all I am not using PL premium, the closet I've found locally in Australia is http://www.selleys.com.au/adhesives/con ... s-platinum
It seems to be equivalent, expands as it cures and able to find gaps of up to 9mm.

I have used this glue before in my autotuba build and it worked fine. However, this afternoon as I was assembling my TTLS I noticed a concerning behaviour. At the squeeze out of the joins the adhesive was bubbling in little pockets, these sometimes popped and left little craters (see images). I am worried this will cause joints not to be airtight. When I ran my finger along the bead to smooth it down you could hear the bubbles pop.

I think part of the reason this happens is the glue cures too quickly with the weather here, only about 33degC but over 80-90% humidity in the daytime. I did an experiment, I put some the adhesive in the fridge and glued up a test joint, let it dry and ripped it open, you can see the air pockets still form, but not always pop. I found lowering the temperature so the glue cured slower helped somewhat but not greatly.

Does PL premium do this, should I be concerned my joints will not be airtight?

[Radian]

Does PL premium do this

Yes.

should I be concerned my joints will not be airtight?

No.

When I ran my finger along the bead to smooth it down you could hear the bubbles pop.

Then don't smooth the bead down with your finger. You don't have to do that. It's not caulk. If you have that much squeeze-out, it's because you're using too much adhesive.

[Harley]

First of all I am not using PL premium, the closet I've found locally in Australia is http://www.selleys.com.au/adhesives/con ... s-platinum
It seems to be equivalent, expands as it cures and able to find gaps of up to 9mm.

I doubt it's the equivalent and Selley's products have always fallen well short of expectation in my experience - I avoid Selleys like the plaugue. The chiseling off of the cured product in the video on your link, indicates to me that it's not the right product.

SIKA ( sold by Bunnings and Mitre 10 ), have a product called SuperGrip® ( 30 Minute; A transparent polyurethane paste adhesive. SuperGrip 30 Minute is a versatile, ready to use, fast curing, general purpose construction adhesive.)

Also - http://hbfuller.com.au/catalog/diy/adhe ... ?Itemid=26

When I ran my finger along the bead to smooth it down you could hear the bubbles pop.

Your running your finger down the ooze soon after you have applied the adhesive will cause that bubbling and hole like in your post so don't do it at all.. Let it set with full ooze for about 12 hrs, then use a box cutter knife or chisel to remove the excess. Leaving it longer will make it harder to cut into.

I think part of the reason this happens is the glue cures too quickly with the weather here, only about 33degC but over 80-90% humidity in the daytime. I did an experiment,

Spritz the joints with water to make them slightly damp before applying the adhesive even though your humidity is high.

Ohhh...and try and find better products like I linked you too - they are out there.

[Grant Bunter]

Use the recommended product.

PL Premium is available in Australia at:
http://www.budgetgroup.net/products.php ... t_categ=77

If you're not doing enough projects to justify to yourself that buying a dozen is a good idea,
let me know and I'll send you some...

[AlessandroAU]

I just bought some of the SIKA supergrip, burnings nor mitre ten didn't have any max bond, I'll do a panel with it and see how it goes.

[bitSmasher]

Which Sika product is it?
This is a polyurethane adhesive, but not "supergrip"
http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_pro ... 13446.aspx

Could you find+link it from the Bunnings site?

[AlessandroAU]

I can't find it on the bunnings website unfortunately, but this is the stuff: http://www.glueguru.co.nz/product/423/ it was recommended by Harley in an above post.

[philrev]

You can cover those adhesive with a lot of Epoxy, epoxy would not expand but will penetrate and seal those cracks and holes. Apply epoxy several times until your sure that its strong enough.

[bitSmasher]

I decided to go check out Bunnings the other day, ugh so busy... adhesives, for reference:






will get a couple of tubes of each to test with soon... how did you fare with Sika? And have you started on the box and have any more concerns about air leaks?

[gzc_stageTech]

$13.50 & $10.50 a tube. OUCH.

And to think I sqirmmed at PL+ for $3.50 per tube.

It's a good thing you guys down under have good prices on wood, tools, and drivers. . . .

[Grant Bunter]

$13.50 & $10.50 a tube. OUCH.

And to think I sqirmmed at PL+ for $3.50 per tube.

It's a good thing you guys down under have good prices on wood, tools, and drivers. . . .

I mentioned earlier that PL premium is available in Australia...
It's even in a sticky in Tips techniques etc

And they only want $5.50/tube (but minimum order is box/12 + $20 something postage which is fine if you have plenty of builds in mind.)

I mentioned I was happy to send the OP some PL for free...

Chris,
You're joking right!
Best price for BB I found is $100/ 8x 4 sheet + freight and tax
A 3012LF retail price here is $560, but it can be found for the bargain price of $489...

[byacey]

Chris,
You're joking right!
Best price for BB I found is $100/ 8x 4 sheet + freight and tax

Are you sure that's Baltic birch? I didn't think they exported anything other than 1.5m square sheets. In Canada we have a similar product that is fine ply birch that does indeed come in 4x8 sheets, but the quality isn't quite as good as the real Baltic sheets.

[Grant Bunter]

So I'm told...

[Bruce Weldy]

Are you sure that's Baltic birch?

Absolutely. I built my Titans out of 4x8 sheets.....then everything else from 5x5 (because it's cheaper per sq ft in the 5x5). Exact same stuff.

[AlessandroAU]

I decided to go check out Bunnings the other day, ugh so busy... adhesives, for reference:






will get a couple of tubes of each to test with soon... how did you fare with Sika? And have you started on the box and have any more concerns about air leaks?

I did some testing and more reading and am convinced that the selleys liquid nails platinum is the way to go. I finished my cabinet and I confident there are no leaks. I didn't like how little time the sika took to grab and how quickly it expanded, I ended up using it on the braces and it worked great there though.