Gluing bolts to steel

[bodiedyota92]

Hey guys,

Have any of you ever glued bolts to steel? What i am trying to do is glue some bolts to the back of a 14ga CR steel sign that is just sanded. The bolts will be mounted in stone with epoxy. I don't want to weld these, because i do not want any distortion on the face. Does any one have a recommendation of a particular brand of epoxy, silicon or acrylic that they have had good luck with. This will be inside so weather is not an issue for the adhesive. Any feed back is appreciated...

[Bobcat320]

I have never tried to epoxy a bolt to a sign...
I punch a hole in sign and use a 1/4" bolt stud which I then weld on in the hole (plug weld). If done carefully you can polish it back off with a flap disc to match the sign surface with no distortion at all. I have done numerous signs this way and it works well! I am sure many of the old pros on here have a product they have used and trust to epoxy or glue a bolt on!

[shiner2001]

I use flat head machine screws to make standoffs for my signs, or when mounting in stone, I just use steel rods welded to the back. 14 gauge is plenty thick to weld to without distorting it. I make them out of 16 gauge all the time, just power down the welder.

[Black Forest]

You could investigate this method.
https://www.facebook.com/MechanicsTips/ ... 152904768/

[Gamelord]

Look up Marine Tex. That will work for you.

[msimpson99]

Where distortion is an issue I will look at brazing. Not as strong as a weld, but better than any kind of glue. It also works well on joining dissimilar metals.

[abmetal]

Black Forest,
Can you provide more info on the capacitor charged stud welder? I looked on the Facebook page and also on that website and can't find it. It did look like a factory made stud welder to me.

Thanks.
Allen

[Joe Jones]

I would use JB WELD compound. Clean the metal and the bolt WELL to remove all paint, grease, etc. Place the bolt where you want it. Mix up a small amount of JB WELD and put it around the bolt head and onto the metal in a conical shape. Let it harden. The bolt will NOT come off.

[WyoGreen]

I would think long and hard about glue, mainly the consequences if the glue fails. I say this because I witnessed the failure of a 1/4" piece of steel plate coming loose after someone had glued it to a concrete ceiling instead of bolting. The plate turned sideways and sliced down through a suspended ceiling, then through a hanging potted plant, then through a chair under the plant. Luckily no one was sitting in the chair, or they would have been killed.

Steve

[Joe Jones]

Yeah, I wouldn't count on glues and epoxies for 1/4" plate steel mounted to a ceiling, but for a 14 ga. sign mounted to a stone wall, I think JB WELD would work great.


.

[Marty]

weld only

glue, even the best quality 2 part epoxy can fail

for standoffs I weld hex head bolts making sure they are 90 degrees to the backplate


also welding is 10x times faster than messing with glue or epoxy

[Phil@rvc]

Weld weld weld