I'm wondering what's the best way to fix a steel bracket to steel without welding and without drilling?
I want to attach some interior stuff in a narrowboat below the waterline. Obviously I don't want to drill a hole. I don't want something welded either because I'd need to take the boat out of the water.
The sides are a bit rusty but can be scraped to bare metal.
I imagine there is some kind of fancy epoxy that bonds steel to steel. Any suggestions/experience?
Ah - I see - under the waterline *inside* For some reason I though it was literally under the water outside.
In that case, any reasonable epoxy with or without filler should do the job, eg araldite, isopon etc.
Another option is TheWorks which forms an elastic bond - no where near as strong but over a large area, still very strong and good if anything needs to flex.
A 3rd option for this application my be PU foaming adhesive?
Or one of the no more nails / sticks like shit type products, as long as you have enough area and get the steel reasonably clean to start.
FWIW there's no real reason a competent welder should not be able to weld an attachment. TIG or MMA would probably be best. Oil rigs and pipelines are regularly welded on the wet side!
Aradite sounds straightforward. I'll probably go for that. I could use Dennis's idea of rare-earth magnets to hold the bracket in place while it glues.
Fixing foam. The stuff that comes in aerosol cans. Must be oil free surfaces. Use it to stick the panels direct? They will need to be held in position 'til the stuff goes off.
You say no welding, but I have a device that would be ideal for your dilemma - a stud welder. Not to be confused with the little ones used on dent removal in bodywork, this one will weld a stud of up to 8 mm diameter securely to a steel plate without affecting the other side. It charges a bank of capacitors up to a defined voltage then discharges them between the parent metal and the stud. The stud has a little pip on the end to shape the flow, and a spring firmly presses the stud with it's tiny pool of molten metal into the steel forming a very secure fixing. It is possible to make fixings without damaging paint on the other side.
Dennis's idea of rare-earth magnets to hold the bracket in place while it g lues.
So, I did the job with "Araldite steel" and it did not stick properly; I pu lled the brackets off easily by hand. I wonder if anyone can tell suggest what I did wrong.
I glued the three new galvanised steel brackets on to the inside of the ste el hull of my narrowboat. I used a wire brush in an electric drill to scrap e off the paint on the hull. I found smooth shiny steel (no rust). I glu ed onto this surface and held the brackets in place with big magnets and le ft them for a week to cure.
When I retured a week later I found that the brackets all came off with a s light pull. They all failed at the hull/glue interface.
Could it be that there was grease oil left on the surface? Or is it that I should have roughened up the surface, with a grinder for example?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.