What brand of epoxy do you use?

[Bad Juju]

I am looking for an epoxy for reinstalling the crystals in my watches. After searching, the only brand I have seen mentioned is Araldite. Home Depot has Gorilla Epoxy. I was planning on picking some up but it occurred to me that other Gorilla products that I have used work really great. Do I want to use an adhesive that might be difficult to remove in the future if I need to work on the crystal? On the other hand, in the end epoxy is epoxy and any epoxy will degrade with he correct application of heat.

Any thoughts?

[retroleds]

Devcon brand, 5 minute epoxy. Plenty strong, easy to remove, degrades rapidly at temperatures over 300f, making clean-up and removal easy. Like scraping off lightly burnt cookies from a cookie sheet. And the tri-angular tip keeps the part A and part B from migrating together and making a mess. Ace, True Value and Home Depot all usually carry it. Cleans off nice with isopropyl(rubbing alcohol) while wet, so it's no big deal to deal with. Mix a drop about 1/2 inch(1 cm) across of each part on some scrap paper(Post-it is nice, doesn't dance around while mixing) with a toothpick, pull a small bead around the groove in the case, pop her in and wipe off excess. Clean up again a few minutes later.

Don't bother wiping the inside, it's a bad place to work and nobody can see the bead of glue.

[bruce wegmann]

I have used Araldite-Rapid for several years for all my crystal-replacement needs. It's a high-strength, five-minute composition that flows easily for the first two or three minutes after mixing, ensuring a gap-free bond. It is water-clear, however, so, to minimize show-through of the metal ledge the crystal sits on, I add a drop of Tamiya XF-10 acrylic color to one component [resin or hardener...doesn't matter], blend the color in thoroughly, then mix the two parts. Done carefully, the approximation to the original installation is excellent. Most importantly, the addition of the color does not inhibit the cure of the adhesive. If you're going to use any other brand of epoxy, I would try an experimental mix on a piece of glass or metal, to be certain you will get a proper cure.

[Bad Juju]

Outstanding! Thank you both for your replies. That information really helps me a lot.. Now I'm off to the hardware store.

[Bad Juju]

Bruce,

XF10 is flat brown. Is that the correct color? XF9 is hull red (slightly redder than XF10), XF27 is clear red, and XF7 is flat red. Have you tried anything closer to the red of the crystal?

Thanks again for your help.

[Bad Juju]

Bruce,

I just reread your post. I mistakenly thought the point if the paint was to tint the epoxy to match the crystal. So the original epoxy was brown? That would explain the XF10.

[bruce wegmann]

Yes, the original idea was to hide the metal ledge; why they didn't just go with black, I haven't a clue. May have something to do with what was available in epoxy compositions. The Dress watch is the big problem, with ten times the exposed area of metal under the crystal. Seems like they actually painted the surface with black paint, let it dry, then applied the epoxy. Seems like that would interfere with adhesion, but I guess th vertical surfaces [left unpainted, would still allow for an acceptable level of bond between the metal and glass.