Adhesive or epoxy ?

[rsmadhava]

Some installers who field connectorise fiber cable use Loctite 324 and 7075 based anaerobic structural adhesive. With this the curing time is very fast and within 30 minutes to 1 hour the adhesive cures ready for polishing.

Other installers use different type epoxy which takes almost 18 hours to cure at room temperature or 20 minutes in a oven.

I am not sure which method is better and why. Please share your experience on this

 

[franklin97355]

Since the adhesive is a mechanical bond only it's just the installers preference. We use hot melt fittings from 3M for our fiber connections.

 

[daronwilson]

I've used a couple different epoxys, I prefer a much faster drying time than 1 hour.

I prefer the 3M Hotmelt as my first choice:

1. no messy syringe and adhesive setup, no 'pot time' on the product so I can keep the stuff in the truck for months and have them ready.

2. quick cure time, I would guess 15 minutes or so and it's cool enough to start working on it.

3. in case you make a mistake (not me) and crack or put a bad cleave on it, you simply stick the connector back in the oven, wait a minute and then shove another 2mm or so up through the connector and then polish again. VERY nice.

4. cost effective, havent done a bunch of comparisons, but they are reasonably cost effective for the time spent, and I honestly think one of the best finished product.



It is only my opinion, based on my experience and education...I am always willing to learn, educate me!
Daron J. Wilson, RCDD
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[dhnl]

Has anyone used the AMP lightcrimp product? comments?

 

[ttech]

We use the Amp lightcrimp. It takes about 1 minute start to finish to do an end. works very well.

-Don

 

[JBeav]

30 minutes to an hour cure time is rather long for anaerobic adhesive. This method should take no more than a minute. With curing this quick, there is certainly less room for error but you can cleave and polish almost immediately. You should check with the connector manufacturer to be sure your epoxy choice will work.

Jeff

 

[rsmadhava]

Anaerobic cure time is much shorter than what I stated earlier. Has anyone experienced more failures with such ultrafast curing anaerobic adhesives ? Does construction of connector influences the type of adhesive to be used ? Many manufacturers of connector prefer to use slow cure epoxies (or cure them in oven ). What would be the reason for this ?