Anyone experience of repairing Bakelite? I have a piece about 7 inches square which has snapped in half. Thickness about 1/12 of an inch. Plan is to glue the two edges and hold together, then add a plate on the underside - brass, or possibly plastic, glued in place.
A vintage radio site suggests Araldite as an adhesive - unless anyone has a better idea?
Bakelite is a phenolic resin type plastic and epoxy and polyester (car body filler/glass fibre resin/ both work very well, Cyanoacrylate does work but not so well.
As per usal with araldite, mix absolutely equal amounts incredibly thoroughly, wipe off excess with white spirit, clamp up tight and then stove at around 100C in the oven.
YOu will get an almost invisible bond that will not be rubberery even in boiling water
Araldite for the supporting plate, but might it show in the join between the edges of the two pieces of bakelite? Do you need anything in that gap if it's well supported?
Anything wrong with superglue for the edge join, as it's thin and won't show much if used v sparingly?
When I used to wind transformers as a student holiday job. They were wound on bakelite spools and if the pressure of the wire damaged them we always used araldite and put a blow torch over it to set them.
Jonathan
Epoxy works but do support the join with the added plate.
NT
Thanks all. Araldite seems to be the way forward, with a strip of brass underneath, all wafted over with blowtorch or possibly hot air gun.
JOOI, this is a pre war Bayko base, from when the product was true Bakelite, and called Bayko Light Engineering. Bayko Light. Geddit?
And if you need to use a dot of paint to touch up the crack ISTR Vauxhall 'brazil brown' being the right colour. If you can stabilise the join very well you should be able to get the exudate as good as flat while still wet.
NT
Bit like Formica. Originally intended as a substitute. For mica.
Cheers
Araldite with some glass fibre dust added, then sand down. It depends what its for but if its for an electrical device, be careful using metal plates. Nice smell when worked. One other issue is are you sure its bakelite and not paxolin or a compressed form of that used for cheap pcbs etc in the 70s. Brian
But not the origin of the name. It was developed by the Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland in New York in 1907 and he formed the General Bakelite Company in 1910.
It sounds, from your description, as if someone found a way of 'stealing' a Registered Trade Mark.
In message <ny$ snipped-for-privacy@binnsroad.myzen.co.uk>, Graeme snipped-for-privacy@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
I've still got my Bayko, and I'm pretty sure one of the green bases got broken in half, and it was repaired with what would have been ordinary domestic glue in the early 1950s (probably the Croyde brown stuff, which I can still remember the smell and taste of!). Last time I looked at it, the join was still holding fast.
I wonder how much Bayko is still around these days?
Araldite - use the 24 hour stuff and not the 10 minute variety. If there are any missing pieces or gaps in the join the old trick was to file down some "scrap" bakelite of the same colour and use it as a filler in the epoxy.
In message snipped-for-privacy@brattleho.plus.com>, Ian Jackson snipped-for-privacy@g3ohx.co.uk> writes
Quite a lot. It was produced for 30 years, and was a big seller at one time. Typing Bayko into eBay this morning results in 375 listings, so plenty to choose from.
In message snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org>, Terry Casey snipped-for-privacy@example.invalid writes
I don't think Bayko was stealing the name. Bayko Light was merely a play on words, emphasising the Bakelite used in the product, much like Hornby Dublo was a play on Hornby Double O, emphasising the then new 00 gauge.
In message snipped-for-privacy@binnsroad.myzen.co.uk>, Graeme snipped-for-privacy@nospam.demon.co.uk> writes
Indeed. It was sort-of the Lego of its time.
I hadn't checked for a while. Yes - I see Ebay has a lot. The first hit from a quick Google is a kit for £18.99 from Oxfam. Time to de-clutter / donate, I think!
There's a box in our loft.
I never realised that because I pronounced it "dooblo"
In message snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Dave W snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk> writes
Shame on you :-) You are far from alone though, and then there are the eBay sellers who insist on listing Hornby Duplo ...
All sorts of Trixs take place on there.
GH
Even Mini ones.
SteveW
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