need help with adhesive for tank treads

    --Here's a site you'll find really useful for selecting the right
adhesive: http://www.thistothat.com/

--
        "Steamboat Ed" Haas         :  "Hold on! we're passing                
        Hacking the Trailing Edge!  :  through the moronosphere!"
                          www.nmpproducts.com
                   ---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

You need to find out what type of plastic Actel is. If it's something
like a high or low density polyethylene, you're going to have trouble
finding solvents or glues that will adhere to it. Once you determine the
plastic used, consult with a plastics distributor near you for
*available* solvents/glues that you could use. I say "available" because
while there are bonding products for just about all plastics, they're
not always available to the public, either because of their health
dangers, or because they require specialized application procedures.

The other thing to do is contact the makers of this Actel conveyor belt
stuff and ask them for advise.

For countersinking rubber, sufficient pressure should cause a detent
from the fastener, which might pull the head of the fastener below the
level of the surface. But odds are eventually the head will pop through
the rubber, and your pad will come off.

-- Gordon

Right, PE is very hard. However, you might have success with Sikaflex,
available in various grades (I've used the deck sealant) or even with
PL Premium, a cheap construction adhesive, which is truly excellent
and with luck, findable in your local hardware. Both are poly-urethane
based.

Clifford Heath.

If you can't countersink the rubber, perhaps you can use smaller
pieces of rubber that you do countersink, and then bolt those to the
belt.

Another off-the-wall idea... I've seen vinyl coated staples used to
hold down electric wire runs.  Perhaps you can push these staples
through the belt from the outside, and then hammer down the other
side.

Joe Dunfee

Google doesn't turn up any results for Actel that seem to match that.  Do
you have the name right?


Did you try to rough up the plastic with sandpaper first?  That might help.
Or even cut slots in it?

I have a clue called E6000 (or something like that) which is sold in a tube
at the local arts and crafts store.  It's a clear hobby clue of some type.
It seems to work well for odd materials like rubber and plastic and
leather.  I've used it with with good results to glue the sole of my old
tennis shoe down and the leather sole of work boots down.  Check out the
glues at your local arts and crafts store or hobby shop to see what you can
find.


Screw down a thin material that does bond well with rubber and then glue a
layer of rubber on top of that?

How thick is the rubber you are trying to attach?  How big are your treads?
If it's thin enough, countersink or counter bore your plastic and make the
screw pull the rubber down into the plastic recess leaving the screw head
below the level of the rest of the tread.  That will work until your thread
wears down to the level of the screws and then you will scratch the hell
out of your floors with the screw heads. :)

Maybe you could heat up the plastic threads until they were melting and
then melt the rubber to the plastic?  I have no clue if that could work.
Just trying to think out of the box here.

Many glues are flammable so be careful working with a blow torch around
glue. :)

The idea of construction adhesives that the OP mentioned sounds like a
possible option as well.  They make some really nasty stuff to hold vinyl
floors down. Some of that stuff might work for you.

--
Curt Welch                                            http://CurtWelch.Com/
curt@kcwc.com                                        http://NewsReader.Com/

    --IIRC what you've got is 'acetyl' which is a resin-based plastic.

--
        "Steamboat Ed" Haas         :  "Hold on! we're passing                
        Hacking the Trailing Edge!  :  through the moronosphere!"
                          www.nmpproducts.com
                   ---Decks a-wash in a sea of words---

Ah, or maybe it's actually acetal, which is sold by DuPont under the name
of Delrin.  It's similar to nylon I guess.

Here's some information about trying to bond it...

http://plastics.inwiki.org/Delrin

Without getting into complex treatments, I'd suggest very rough sand paper
and maybe even a wire wheel to try and rough it up before trying to glue
something to it.  Basically, it looks like a material that's just going to
be hard to get a strong bond to with any glue.

--
Curt Welch                                            http://CurtWelch.Com/
curt@kcwc.com                                        http://NewsReader.Com/

          http://NewsReader.Com/

Curt

As a bit of an update:

The tracks are these:
http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNPDFF?PMPAGE=3740&PMT4NO=47128937&PMT4TP=
=*ITPD&PMITEM=76925213&PMCTLG=00

The MSDS Sheet from the manufacturer says it is "LF ACETHL chain"
Product name: Kepital F10-XX+. Also identified as "Polyoxymethylene
copolymer, actel copolymer"
They can't even keep the name straight :)

The rubber is 1/8" rubber matting cut into 1.25" x 6" strips (the size
of the flat area of the tracks).

The best option I have come up with is a layered approach.I will try
bolting down one layer and then glue a second layer of rubber to the
first with holes large enough to clear the screw (and washers) used to
attach the first. The other option is using a base material that will
adhere to the rubber and again bolt them on. I haven't figured this
material out yet as the the Aluminum sheet I tried didn't adhere well
to the rubber either. That might be a cleaning problem though. The
treads were also sanded to aid adhesion also.

After looking at this link I guess gluing is not going to be an
option :). http://plastics.inwiki.org/Delrin

I was trying to avoid all of this construction over head but I guess
there is no way around it. The problem with bolting the rubber itself
down is the rubber tends to mushroom around the screws which doesn't
let the rubber lie flat on the tread. So now what will the base
substrate be ?????????




Monty

How about drilling holes and adding rubber grommets?

http://www.amazon.com/16X1-4X5-Rubber-Grommet-count/dp/B0011IFZM8

You could use 4 per tread if need be to make each tread sit flat on the
ground.

You might be able to find plugs instead if the grommets tended to pull out
in use (but the ones I saw seemed to be a lot more expensive).  Or, fill
the hole in the grommet with a rubber plug which was glued in place. Or
fill the whole with a short screw from the back side to lock it in place?


--
Curt Welch                                            http://CurtWelch.Com/
curt@kcwc.com                                        http://NewsReader.Com/

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNPDFF?PMPAGE740&PMT4NOG128937&PMT4TP= *ITPD&PMITEMv925213&PMCTLG