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What kind of bio or ecological glues do you know?
  • What kind of bio or ecological glues do you know? What are the pros and cons?

    The informations will be used to build a bicycle from bambus and other ecological materials.

    Feel free to post here or in the Etherpad where we are gathering the informations:
    http://pad.opensourceecology.de/x4MsKDOSmw
     
  • 2 Comments sorted by
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    4ndy4ndy
     
    December 2012
    The pad seems to be having some downtime just now, so two biodegradeable glues for example:

    Synthetic: PVA
    Animal-derived: Collagen/Hide Glue (oh noes, watch out for the PETA's!)

    Both will be damaged by water, so you need to coat your joints in something like linseed oil.

    Some text copy-pasted from that last wiki:

    "Properties

    The significant disadvantages of hide glue – its thermal limitations,
    short open time, and vulnerability to micro-organisms – are offset by
    several advantages. Hide glue joints are reversible and repairable.
    Recently glued joints will release easily with the application of heat
    and steam. Hide glue sticks to itself, so the repairer can apply new
    hide glue to the joint and reclamp it. In contrast, PVA glues do not
    adhere to themselves once they are cured, so a successful repair
    requires removal of the old glue first – which usually requires removing
    some of the material being glued.


    Hide glue creates a somewhat brittle joint, so a strong shock will
    often cause a very clean break along the joint. In contrast, a joint
    glued with PVA will usually break the surrounding material, creating an
    irregular, difficult to repair break. This brittleness is taken
    advantage of by instrument makers. For example, instruments in the violin
    family require periodic disassembly for repairs and maintenance. The
    top of a violin is easily removed by prying a palette knife between the
    top and ribs, and running it all around the joint. The brittleness
    allows the top to be removed, often without significant damage to the
    wood. Regluing the top only requires applying new hot hide glue to the
    joint. If the violin top were glued on with PVA glue, removing the top
    would require heat and steam to disassemble the joint (causing damage to
    the varnish), then wood would have to be removed from the joint to
    ensure no cured PVA glue was remaining before regluing the top.


    Hide glue also functions as its own clamp. Once the glue begins to
    gel, it pulls the joint together. Violin makers may glue the center
    seams of top and back plates together using a rubbed joint rather than using clamps.
    This technique involves coating half of the joint with hot hide glue,
    and then rubbing the other half against the joint until the hide glue
    starts to gel, at which point the glue becomes tacky. At this point the
    plate is set aside without clamps, and the hide glue pulls the joint
    together as it hardens.


    Hide glue regains its working properties after cooling if it is
    reheated. This property can be used when the glue's open time does not
    allow the joint to be glued normally. For example, a cello maker may not
    be able to glue and clamp a top to the instrument's ribs in the short
    one minute open time available. Instead, the builder will lay a bead of
    glue along the ribs, and allow it to cool. The top is then clamped to
    the ribs. Moving a few inches at a time, the maker inserts a heated
    palette knife into the joint, heating the glue. When the glue is
    liquefied, the palette knife is removed, and the glue cools, creating a
    bond. A similar process can be used to glue veneers to a substrate. The
    veneer and/or the substrate is coated with hot hide glue. Once the glue
    is cold, the veneer is positioned on the substrate. A hot object such as
    a clothes iron is applied to the veneer, liquefying the underlying
    glue. When the iron is removed, the glue cools, bonding the veneer to
    the substrate.


    Hide glue joints do not creep under loads. PVA glues create plastic
    joints, which will creep over time if heavy loads are applied to them.


    Hide glue is supplied in many different gram strengths,
    each suited to specific applications. Instrument and cabinet builders
    will use a range from 120 to 200 gram strength. Some hide glues are sold
    without the gram strength specified. Experienced users avoid this glue
    as the glue may be too weak or strong for the expected application." - Inline citations desperately needed.

     
  • Thanks 4ndy, we have it already in the Ethepad, working now: http://pad.opensourceecology.de/x4MsKDOSmw
     

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