Impregnating FUD with CA?

[Maletrain]

Mixing loose porous material into CA won't add strength at all.  It's the structural integrity of the carbon fiber or fiberglass that provides the strength.  Adding CA to those materials strengthen them.  But adding "stuff" to CA won't.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your statement.

I think you would have to try it to find out.  Both CA and FUD have their weaknesses.  CA isn't good on shear and FUD isn't good on bending.  How a composite would behave in shear and bending is going to depend on how well the two can be combined and how well CA responds to bending in a confined pore and how well FUD responds to shear with CA in its pores.

Having watched "experts" make predictions that were then disproved by experiments too often in my past, my mantra is "try it if you want to know if it works."

[narrowminded]

So just to close the loop on the Photon horn size after printing, the larger chime was supposed to be 1.33mm in dia, and ended up being 1.39mm. The smallest should have been 0.71mm in dia, and ended up being 0.77mm. That is a 0.06mm difference on the diameter, or just over 0.002". That is an acceptable amount of error for my purposes.

... and that error can be adjusted in the drawing by reducing the diameter by that amount if it matters.   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ok. I did a test. The sprue that I soaked seemed a bit stronger than the untreated one.

[peteski]

Ok. I did a test. The sprue that I soaked seemed a bit stronger than the untreated one.

If the glue fills any microscopic voids in the resin, then hardens up, I suppose that it makes sense.
But the real test will be whether that makes any appreciable difference when it comes to strengthening those very small and thin horn trumpets or mounting bracket.

[Simon D.]

I asked the UK N Gauge Forum about this, and the response was that a coating with good primer works well, though should be left for 24 hours to properly cure.  Examples are a good auto primer or self levelling ones like Vallejo or Badger Stynylrez.

Using a fibreglass eraser pen was also recommended to clean up.

Simon

[peteski]

In this specific example the discussion was about strengthening tiny N scale air horns - way too small to coat with thick primer, or to use a fiberglass pen on.

But your techniques sound very useful for larger items.

[narrowminded]

I asked the UK N Gauge Forum about this, and the response was that a coating with good primer works well, though should be left for 24 hours to properly cure.  Examples are a good auto primer or self levelling ones like Vallejo or Badger Stynylrez.

Using a fibreglass eraser pen was also recommended to clean up.

Simon

If this works then another step could be to pull a vacuum and release on it.  If any of you casters out there have a a vacuum pump you could do that.  That's one of the ways that oil impregnated bushings are saturated.   

[Lemosteam]

If this works then another step could be to pull a vacuum and release on it.  If any of you casters out there have a a vacuum pump you could do that.  That's one of the ways that oil impregnated bushings are saturated.   

Back to the Bondic for a moment.  Since it is so thick I wonder if in vacuum it would be drawn into the pores.  Also since it does not harden until the UV light is applied, I wonder if brushing that on and smoothing it until the part is completely covered and then hardening it would make a difference.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

In this specific example the discussion was about strengthening tiny N scale air horns - way too small to coat with thick primer, or to use a fiberglass pen on.

But your techniques sound very useful for larger items.

Well, yes and no. The horns got the idea started, but anything that helps the stuff in general is an improvement.