Adhesive for nickel silver rail and C & L plastic chairs

[Sapper]

I am starting to construct a single slip using timber sleepers and C & L chairs with their Hi Ni nickel silver rail. For the curved sections of rail I would like to use an adhesive to secure the slide chairs to the rail. I believe this has been mentioned before, possibly a variety of Loctite was mentioned, but I cannot find any information on this. I have found in the past it is difficult to exactly align the rivet hole in the punch with the result the rivets are not in their true alignment and also the timber sleepers often get a singe mark if the iron is on the rivet too long.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Sapper

[JFS]

Hello Sapper,

Yes - it was I who mentioned Loctite and the variety I mentioned was Loctite 435 which is a toughened clear adhesive suitable for plastic to metal bonds. An alternative is Loctite 480 which is a black rubber toughened glue - it is probably tougher - if you like the black colour!

You also need the aerosol spray activator 7455 which is sprayed onto the components before applying the glue.

A couple of caveats:-

It is very easy to make a poor joint with these adhesives - thorough cleanliness and use of the activator is essential. The chairs are often coated with the mould release spray which if present must be thoroughly removed with detergent and water.

It is also essential that the chairs are tightly fitted to the rail, otherwise if any gap exists, the joint might set, but it has no strength at all. Because of this, a fair amount of pressure has to be applied (I use a pair of tweezers to squeeze the joint together) and for that reason I stick the chairs on before fixing the rail - otherwise it is too easy to push the rails out of place resulting in undergauge switches - a disaster!

I posted some details about how to build switches as sub assemblies to suit this approach here:-

viewtopic.php?f=78&t=2591

Another point worth making is that Loctite is very expensive and an internet search will uncover alternative brands which by all accounts are just as good at half the price

Finally, it is worth mentioning that if you have not tried this method before, I would suggest building a test point first to learn the wrinkles before commiting to something on which the success of your whole project depends.

Good luck and please post how it goes.

[Sapper]

Hello Howard
Many thanks for your speedy reply and the information therein. I will have a close look at your post there is a lot of useful information in there and as you say do some trials first before starting on the serious work.

I will keep you posted al though it may be some time before I have anything to show.

Once again many thanks.

Sapper