Alternatives to JB Weld?

Phil Elmore

Phil Elmore

Joined
Feb 28, 2002
Messages
7,636
Today when I was getting out of the car, the clip on my Laser Devices "Operator" flashlgiht, which has been my daily carry for a couple of years, got caught on something and popped right off. It's removable, you see. This is clearly going to happen again, so I thought I might use a couple of small dabs of JB Weld to try and hold it in place.

The problem is that I don't trust the JB Weld. When I used JB Weld to put some clips on a couple of cheap kerambits, in order to configure the clips in the proper orientation for reverse-grip draw, they worked for a short time before the clips came loose. The JB Weld didn't break so much as the items it was holding together separated from the blob of JB Weld.

Does anyone have any suggestions for alternatives? If you can think of some other solution to securing the clip I'd love to hear it.
 
Drill and tap and put a screw in it or maybe some two part gel epoxy. Got a pic? That might help.
 
I'll try to remember to post a picture tomorrow. I'd really prefer to avoid any drilling and tapping, or otherwise altering the structural integrity of the flashlight barrel.
 
Somebody beat me to it.
Me not thinking or typing very fast tonight.
Jim
 
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Sharp Phil said:
I'll try to remember to post a picture tomorrow. I'd really prefer to avoid any drilling and tapping, or otherwise altering the structural integrity of the flashlight barrel.
Click to expand...

A hose clamp might work, but you're left with the screw part sticking out and some sharp edges. If it pops out and not up, a cable tie might work.
 
I know you don't want to do it, but drilling and tapping is likely best. We'll wait for the pics to see, but it's likely not easy to get enough JB Weld surface bite to make a neat permanent fix.

JB Weld is amazing stuff though. When nothing else works for a "one-off" repair ... it frequently does.
 
If you drill and tap,the barrel of the light would need to be at least as thick as the diameter of the fastener to have any chance of working,even then it probably wouldn't last long.Besides JB weld or PC7 epoxy,I think the clamp idea would be the next best but I'm thinking more like a zip tie than a clamp but you would still have a high spot where the ends come together.What about a decorative cord wrap?
 
duct tape...it will cure anything!

I have had good luck with JB Weld but a have found that the surfaces need to be prepped a bit in order for the best results. By prepped I mean the surfaces need to be roughed up a little bit to give the JB Weld something to grab onto to. I have also used Loctite 380 Black Max to install shotgun ribs and it has performed well as long as the surfaces were prepped according to their instructions.
 
Here's the promised picture:

laserdevicesclip.jpg
 
Yes the surface should be roughed up and also wiped clean with alcohol or similar for any epoxy to work properly.
 
A small zip tie wouldn't work to bad on that.Your clip is probably just getting spread a little so you should be able to get it tight again by pinching it so it grips the barrel tighter.If it were mine,I'd take the clip of and put a lanyard on it.
 
If you scrape/sand off all the black paint from the inside of the clip where it goes around the barrel of the flashlight, and then scrape/sand off all the paint from the barrel of the flashlight, where the clip encircles it, and then rough up both surfaces you'll probably get better results.
Unfortunately, the JB Weld will eventually fail again. It'll take longer before it happens, but it will fail again.
Even drilling/tapping might not provide a long-term answer. Cutting threads into a hole in the thinwalled body of the (aluminum I presume) flashlight is problematic at best. If you use a steel screw for such a shallow tapped set of threads, eventually the threads on the screw will chew up the corresponding threads in the aluminum.
I'm not saying that you can't fix the problem, just that any real fix is probably not something you can do at home (unless you have, at minimum, a small drill press and some welding skills/gear), and it won't be all that cheap either.
I'm not trying to bring you down Phil, i'm just giving you a realistic appraisal of the problem.
 
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Actually, come to think of it, a variation on the twist-tie suggestion might be
the cheapest, most effective way to ameliorate the problem. Get some small dia. steel wire, loop it around the barrel portion of the clip a couple of times (running one of the loops through the little hoop at the top of the clip) and then twisting it neatly at the ends to secure the loops. Then run the twisted-together ends through the little hoop again so that it doesn't catch on anything.

Cheap, easy, and it should provide a nearly permanent fix. Just check it every once in awhile to make sure the wire isn't cracking around the area of the twists.

Please disregard my previous gloomy opinion of the situation.
 
Stickfighter2 said:
Actually, come to think of it, a variation on the twist-tie suggestion might be
the cheapest, most effective way to ameliorate the problem. Get some small dia. steel wire, loop it around the barrel portion of the clip a couple of times (running one of the loops through the little hoop at the top of the clip) and then twisting it neatly at the ends to secure the loops. Then run the twisted-together ends through the little hoop again so that it doesn't catch on anything.

Cheap, easy, and it should provide a nearly permanent fix. Just check it every once in awhile to make sure the wire isn't cracking around the area of the twists.

Please disregard my previous gloomy opinion of the situation.
Click to expand...

I second this. Great idea.
 
You could try automotive cable ties,these are the stainless steel ones with a ball bearing closure and are use on exhausts and manifolds.
 
Do the surface prep as detailed above, then drill a small hole in the band at the clip so the JB Weld can squeeze through and mushroom. This should help it all hold together. You can smooth the JB Weld out or file it down after it hardens to help the appearance.

I liked the wire idea, too.
 
Take it to a jeweler and have him solder it to the barrel. That should make it fairly permanent.
 
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