need to adhere shock mounts for backrest. They are 2 circular pucks with a metal surface on one side. The adhesive needs to be metal to wood.
Most of the research I’ve done points to neoprene to wood adhesion but this is metal to wood.
any guidance for a proper adhesive to use in the US would be appreciated. A few vendors sell adhesive but I’m not a fan of this ‘proprietary’ relabeling of product where I can’t even tell what it is.
Probably not what you are hoping to hear, but removing every bit of old glue residue from the shock mounts and backs is key to achieving a lasting bond no matter which adhesive you plan to use. It's crucial to get that "metal-to-wood" contact you mentioned. Tedious and exacting work, to be sure. I used miniature carving tools for this and it was no fun. One tiny slip and you've damaged the visible surface!
Anyway, I used the boat builder's standard West System 105/205 epoxy slightly thickened with colloidal silica on all four of our DCMs 20-yrs ago and they've all held fast since. I also scratched-up the metal shock mount surfaces with coarse sandpaper and then thoroughly cleaned them with acetone and cotton swabs to minimize any chance of contamination.
Oh, and be careful not to use excessive clamping pressure. Thickened 105/205 has fairly good gap-filling capability if you don't "starve" the joint by squeezing it all out (West System website features excellent tutorials on working with epoxies, fyi). Isopropyl alcohol on Q-tips is good for cleaning off excess as long as you get to it before the epoxy kicks.
Yep. That’s exactly what happened with maybe the exception being there wasn’t much glue left behind but my eyes might be deceiving me and it’s just kinda clear and covering the wood.
I was debating between using something that will bond forever or whether there was any benefit to having a good but not great adhesion just in case it fails. I’d rather have it fail and come off clean vs taking a chunk of wood with it.
On the first one, I scratched up the remaining glue residue on the backs to provide "tooth", wiped mating surfaces with acetone, and used PC-7 as recommended by Alfie Hume (@humemodern) to use for new shock mounts on my ES670. In theory, it should have worked as well as it did on the lounge (still going strong 20+ yrs!) but failed within a year. I suspect a compatibility issue was to blame as the failure occurred at the new glue-to old glue line. I never tested the original adhesive (formula is "proprietary" of course) but it seemed likely urethane of some variety to me. After the second chair failed a few weeks later, I decided to bite the bullet and use the stuff I know, already had on hand and keep my fingers crossed. Today, I might give West System G-Flex a try. Good reviews, looks good on paper, and I plan to try it out on a friend's set of fiberglass shells (if he ever decides to drop them off (yah, you, Chuck).
Wait, you want "reversible"? Have you been talking to a fine art conservator or something? 🤓
Either way, welcome, good luck, and please report results!
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