Adhesive Guide for Resin Parts

The following is a guide of sorts, actually more of an account of my use with the various adhesives / glues with regard to their use upon resin parts.

The resin I use is the "quick cast" resin from Tap Plastics. This resin is a tan resin when dry so I also use tap plastics black super pigment to produce a nice gray resin. I use this resin for casting my own design of "field stone" and "cut stone" dungeon pieces. I use those pieces to construct modular dungeons and other structures.

There were a few criteria that I was looking for when searching for the "right" adhesive / glue for use with resin pieces. These included:

1) Fast Acting: I wanted to be able to put a piece together in minutes without clamping or bracing of any kind, and then in 24 hrs cure to its effective hardness/strength.

2) Give when placement: I also wanted to be able to reposition anything or slide the bricks around for best placement, so 30 second to a min working time was ideal.

3) Non Smelly: I also needed/wanted to have an adhesive that wasn't overpowering in odor since I live in an apartment complex and did not want to leave my pieces out over night on the balcony (very dusty).

I used the following adhesives / glues on some extra/overflow pieces of resin I had lying around. Here are the adhesives:

1) Loctite Superglue Gel (winner)
2) Devcon Weldit
3) 5 min Epoxy
4) Heavy Duty Welder Adhesive
5) Liquid Nails (For Small Projects)
6) Gorilla Glue
7) Elmers Carpenters Glue (wood glue)
8) Elmers White Glue (school glue)
9) Weldbond "More than Great Glue"
10) Aleen's Fast Grab Tacky Glue

Overall I chose the Loctite Superglue Gel for a few reasons. First the gel worked great as a gap filler/mortar per se on the gaps between the various pieces. Second the gel allowed me about 30 seconds to a min to slide the pieces around on each other for ideal placement. Third the bond it created was strong enough that after 5-10 min I could move the piece off my corner jig to stand free without the bricks sliding off/falling off or needing any kind of bracing while it fully cured. Forth, once cured (24 hrs) I couldn't break the bond with my bare hands. Lastly Low odor, while there is a distinct "super glue smell when using the stuff" the odor isn't overpowering when using products such as liquid nails or 5 min epoxy.

The only down side is the cost which I've only been able to find 4 gram or 2 gram amounts for 5.00 and 2.50 respectively. I've manage to make a 4 10x10/half wall sections out of one tube of the 4 gram gel product.

If I didn't use the super glue gel I would have used the 5 min epoxy, except the extra step of having to mix then apply with a tooth pick was kind of a pain in the butt, or the Devcon Weldit adhesive. Both were quite smelly and I was able to still break the bond after 24 hrs. The devcon was more of a rubbery adhesive while the 5 min epoxy was more like the loctite superglue as it was more rigid.

Here are some of the pics I took including pics I took after 24 hrs of cure time and breaking the bond with just my bare hands and the residue left over.

The Various Glues / Adhesives I selected for my tests 1

The Various Glues / Adhesives I selected for my tests 1

Loctite Super Glue Gel Was the eventual Winner
as after 24 hrs I couldn't break the bond!  I even
threw it at the floor a few times.

Devcon Weldit is a good one though its a bit smelly,
and the bond could be pulled apart, the bond was
more "rubbery" than rigid.

5 Minute Epoxy is very smelly, and the bond did break but
took a lot of effort to break. Also the bond was more rigid
than any of the others.

The Welder Glue was very smelly and also produced
a rubbery like bond however was easy to break after 24 hrs.

Liquid Nails was utterly useless. After 24 hrs the
adhesive was still very paste like and very easy to
pull apart not to mention the ugly ass color it stays.
DO NOT USE.

Gorilla Glue stayed too liquid for too long when
initially placing the bricks. I had to leave it in the
jig as it dried. Then when dried it was easily broken
apart. I didn't see a lot of foaming action that others
have complained about, at least not to the extent where
it would have caused any problems if it had worked
that is.

Elmers Carpenters Glue is Good for initial placement
and held "ok" but any rough "play" or pressure
broke the bond.

Elmers White glue, aka school glue, aka PVA glue.
Identical to the wood glue above.

Test Glue Set 3

Welbond is glorified PVA glue. Same Results as above.

The tacky glue works well for initial placement as its more
of a "sticky" white glue but overall is exactly the same
as wood and white glue above for properties.

If you have any questions or suggestions or if you have an alternative adhesive, especially if its cheaper than the loctite gel, please let me know in the comments below.

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for stopping by!