Sticky Bucky

[gridbug]

Technical questions mes amis

What glue is best for buckys? Bone to bone, what makes the best bond (and preferably quick setting)

[PumpkinHead]

Gorilla glue and JB Weld are both good for making a bucky hold a position.

[Gore Galore]

What are you trying to do?

If a bone Breaks the best fix is heating a knife and melting both sides of the break and basically welding it back together. This works best because Buckys are thermoplastic.

It is difficult to get a pose by gluing bones together. But you can drill a hole the depth of a drill bit and putting a 1/4 or 5/16 steel rod into both bones and gluing that in place. Then you have poseable bones.
We also use airline cable to reinforce all the joints.

Describe what you are doing and I am sure you will help others give you suggestions.


Qick Set Marine Epoxy is also always a good bet. The kind that comes in two cans.

[gridbug]

I have a couple buckys that need their ribcages repaired - that place where there is a break in the ribs on either side of the sternum has come apart on some ribs. Heat may be the way to go with those.

I also have a project where I have completely disassembled a bucky (ribcage and all) and am reassembling it in 'mostly' the right order. The ribs will all be reattached in the wrong places so I need a sturdy bond and as the angles may not be the easiest to brace a quicker setting glue would be nice.

I thought about Gorilla Glue, but I thought it did not say for plastic on the bottle.

[Gore Galore]

Yeah,
The heat method is definetely the way to go on fixing the ribs. That is how I discovered that method. What I do is take an old knife you can ruin, because you will. Heat it until it is red with a propane torch and then hold the knife to one of the rib ends and try to bend the other rib onto the other side of the knife. Slide the knife out and push the rib ends together. They will be one again. YOu will have to hold it for a moment, but if you get it. You have a permanent bond on your hands.

You can try this with your other project too, but I would also recommend the 2 part epoxy. Not a tube but cans. I wish I could remember the name.

[gridbug]

Thanks Mr Gore, I'll keep an eye out for canned epoxy

The heat trick will probably work for most of what I have to do B)

[mindtumor]

What if you just want to glue bucky bones to plywood? Do you use the same stuff or will liquid nails work?

[Jim Warfield]

20 years ago I used alot of Liquid Nails here when building, then a few years ago I was disassembling those items and Liquid Nails pulled apart with not much effort!?
Of course 20 years ago I was probably buying that product because of the sexy cowgirl on the label.
They may have a completely different formula in more recent years?

[Gore Galore]

I think I would suggest using plumbing strapping to attach the Bucky to plywood. Or screwing the Bucky to the plywood. Pose it and then attach the legs, arms, and chest. The problem I have had with just using an adhesive to attach it is that customers tend to want to touch. Well actually take things as memorabilia.
For example, We built a set of entrance doors made of fiberglass that had real bones all over it. Customers broke pieces of the bones off to keep. And I was actually impressed. I mean these bones were fiberglassed in place. Not just stuck on, but fiberglassed and they broke them off.

[Jim Warfield]

Maybe "People" did not remove them from the plywood.
Maybe they removed themselves as their basic sub-atomic particle life force was magnified by all the human close-contact over a period of time?
"Fiberglassed? Can't stop me, I'm outa here!"
"WOOOO!"

The science and skill of how to attach dissimilar objects is a huge part of building things in the haunted house business, in my opinion.
Boy Scout Troops have toured my house for just such an "Art Tour" in pursuit of an art badge.

Bolting
Welding
Gluing
Pop-Riveting
Wiring
Nailing
Clamping
Bending tabs over
Cableing with clamps and cable
Screwing
Remember to use big washers when you need to distribute the resistence to being pulled away or apart from whatever?
So many decisions!!!
did I forget any?

[gridbug]

I definitely agree - if you can screw or bolt the bones to the plywood that is the way to go!

I checked a bottle of Gorilla Glue - no mention of plastic at all. Does not bode well for Buckys.

[Gore Galore]

I have heard of people using it. I can't criticize what I don't know of. I just use it to weld foam together to create sculpting blocks.

[dr0zombie]

When I built my last set of corpses I had no luck with Gorilla Glue. It did about nothing and didn't even add to the effect. And its a corpse... everything sort of adds to the effect :?

The epoxy worked well though....

[Infoamtek]

The reason Gorilla Glue doesn't work is the mold release on the plastic bones.