I'm modifying a cheap plastic film camera to do 'B' shots (star trails) and I need to fix a pivot to the case; a small blade passes though a slit to push against the original shutter so it'll stay open. I would like to solder a shaft to the blade and epoxy blobs to the ends of the shaft so they are held but free to turn. Grease? bakers parchment paper?
Scotch Magic tape is what I use on woodworking projects, you have to time it just right so the glue is set, but not too set to get it out of the corners. For your application, you could probably let it set up hard before pulling the tape. You might want to check first to see that the backing doesn't dissolve in the epoxy.
Stan
Its going to be *fun* getting scotch tape out of the pivots. Trouble is
*most* hydrocarbon lubricants have poor compatibility with many plastics and you need something that will stay put and not contaminate the glue joint. The other problem is thermal expansion of epoxy is way different from that of metal, Ideally fabricate metal pivots, lube the shaft with a very little silicone grease in case any epoxy gets where it shoudn't then glue the pivots down. Otherwise the 'gold standard' mould release for fibreglass work is PVA (PolyVinyl Alcohol - NOT white glue!) and if you know anyone in the trade you may be able to beg a little bottle full. I'd apply that to the shaft over a layer of paraffin wax (applied hot) if I was going to try and wash the wax out for a free action or bees wax if I wanted to leave the wax in for lubrication and controlled friction. If you canrt get PVA, try bees wax on its own. Some experimenting is called for. Are you sure epoxy will stick reliably to the camera body? Aluminium or brass bearings fixed with minature self tapping screws may work better.
Had a row with my woodwork teacher at the age of 12. He was bigger than me and won. But I was right!
:-)
Mark Rand RTFM
The term you want is "release agent". Petrolatum (Vaseline) works. Kiwi neutral shoe polish is the preferred release agent of at least one guy who beds rifle actions in epoxy for high accuracy.
Polyvinyl alcohol used to be sold as a hard contact lens wetting solution.
Your usual useless comment.
You are entirely correct, the product is mostly water, not pure PVA, with a bit of preservative. Which has nothing to do with the application.
Now tells how atoms are mostly empty space.
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