Help, please: Adhesive Putty

lynn carmon · Oct 31, 2016

I've noticed that some are using a soft sticky material to hold small object on a flat piece to put on the engravers ball vise. Can someone give me hints as to what this stuff is? I read where Adhesive Putty was the best are there any other suggestions?

FANCYGUN · Oct 31, 2016

I most often just use hot melt glue sticks on a flat board

Flashmo · Oct 31, 2016

Adhesive putty is not what you are looking for. Adhesive putty, like "Blue Tack" is often used for fixturing items for photographs or keeping a small wad near the vise to pick up the metal swarf that sticks to the end of your graver. Adhesive putty is soft and pliable and will vibrate and let your workpiece move all over.

Use hot melt glue on a piece of wood for everything you can, and Thermoloc for fixturing odd shapes.

Brian Marshall · Oct 31, 2016

Everyone neglected to mention where to get the stuff... ?

Thermoloc comes from GRS, hot glue comes from hobby & art stores.

You can use a microwave or a hot air gun on Thermoloc - but microwave works best.

When you've already got the metal IN the Thermoloc - removing it is where you use the gun - DO NOT put the Thermoloc in the microwave with the metal still stuck in it.

I also do NOT recommend using a torch of any kind, nor using a glue gun for the hot glue. Torch over cooks it, glue gun is too limited for me...

Hot air gun seems the best method for working with hot glue and pitch.

Heat lamp works best with shellac. Yes, I still use shellac - mostly for setting stones in earrings.

Brian

monk · Nov 1, 2016

for fine shading and delicate pushgraving, way back when, i found small objects could just be burried in a chunk of plasticene. not sure if this would lend itsself to h&c or air assist. in the past, some sort of shellac was used by many of the old timers. i never tried the stuff, and don't know if it's still available. i used a cast iron bowl filled with pitch for a time, but soon grew tired of using the stuff.

Brian Marshall · Nov 1, 2016

Both lapidary and stonesetters shellac are still available - and there are some applications where they are the best choice.

Filigreed rings and complicated heads & settings come to mind. Shellac will get up inside and give you some support as well.

Thermoplastics can be a PITA to remove. Shellac dissolves in alcohol. PDQ - if you use a heated ultrasonic.

Brian

mitch · Nov 2, 2016

lynn carmon said:
I read where Adhesive Putty was the best are there any other suggestions?

i use a a soft 'adhesive putty' for a number of purposes, but never to actually hold a part while engraving. it's too soft & pliable.

i keep a pingpong-size ball of this sort of stuff on my bench. any office supply or craft store sells it:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=poster+putty&tbm=shop

monk · Nov 2, 2016

tyvm, brian. i may try a batch of that shellac stuff. i guess rio g or gesswein might sell the stuff.

John B. · Nov 2, 2016

Mitch,
I use that poster tack putty to quickly remove any chips that stick to a magnetized graver. Just touch the graver tip to it.
Also works great on gold chips that tend to stick to any non-carbide graver.
And easy to recover the gold chip.

Chujybear · Nov 2, 2016

i've heard someone on here saying that they use putty (silly/adhesive? i forget) to fill a vessel while they are working on it, to make it more sturdy.

monk · Nov 3, 2016

Chujybear said:
i've heard someone on here saying that they use putty (silly/adhesive? i forget) to fill a vessel while they are working on it, to make it more sturdy.

a trick i used-- on engraving trumpets, i'd fill a plastic bag with modeling clay to stiffen the surface. the plastic bag prevented the clay from sticking to the inside of the instrument. sounds kinda dumb, but worked very well.

Help, please: Adhesive Putty

lynn carmon

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