DIY question - Liquid plastic or similar material

Mike1983

Mike1983

Mike1983

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Bit of a longshot but I was hoping someone around here may be able to help.

Does anyone know of a material that I could pour into a plastic enclosure that sets hard after time and can then be drilled / have stuff screwed down to it?

I'm thinking epoxy resin maybe? Looks kind of expensive though as I'll need about one litre.

Thanks
 
Polyester resins are quite strong and not as expensive as the epoxy. Screwing into resin I would go for a coarse thread with a pilot hole about 0.8 x the minimum thread diameter.
 
maccapacca said:
Have a look at hilti resins, we resin holding down bolts for steel frames with them
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That's £50 for one tube :eek:

Surely there are other plastics / materials that could be poured/moulded for cheaper. What size holes / screws are you drilling and whats the application. This will determine the strength of the material and it's likelyhood of fracture / strain etc.

Would a material similar to the thermoplastic Polymorth (caprolactone polymerbe) be any good - It's about £5 a kilo ( if you don't buy it in the well-known high street electronics shop) and you might be able to force it into the gap ?
 
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Glassfibre resin ought to do the trick (polyester resin). You can get it on eBay by the litre :)
 
Sometimes you get a better answer if you describe the application rather than one small aspect.

Someone might be asking to glue glass to metal when really they are trying to stop a submarine window from falling out :)
 
Resin generates a lot of heat when poured in large quantities (exothermic reaction), make sure it isn't going to melt/burn whatever you are pouring it into.
 
Thank you very much for your replies, much appreciated.

To put the question into context...

The enclosure I refer to is about a shoe box sized plastic box with hinged lid that will ultimately act as a weatherproof enclosure that will be fixed to a wall in my back garden. The problem is, the back face of the box (where I intend to fit equipment) is just thin plastic with no ability to mount a backboard or similar without puncturing the enclosure (and thus compromising weatherproofness).

My idea of pouring some kind of resin is to effectively reinforce the back face of the box and provide an area that can be drilled (without perforating the box itself) and allow the mounting (screwing down) of plug sockets, a lightswitch and transformer.

Hope that makes sense, let me know if there are any other cost effective solutions!

Thank you very much.
 
Mike1983 said:
Thank you very much for your replies, much appreciated.

To put the question into context...

The enclosure I refer to is about a shoe box sized plastic box with hinged lid that will ultimately act as a weatherproof enclosure that will be fixed to a wall in my back garden. The problem is, the back face of the box (where I intend to fit equipment) is just thin plastic with no ability to mount a backboard or similar without puncturing the enclosure (and thus compromising weatherproofness).

My idea of pouring some kind of resin is to effectively reinforce the back face of the box and provide an area that can be drilled (without perforating the box itself) and allow the mounting (screwing down) of plug sockets, a lightswitch and transformer.

Hope that makes sense, let me know if there are any other cost effective solutions!

Thank you very much.
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just drill the box use weather proof fixings + lashings of exterior sealant

you can also use rubber washers
 
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In that case I'd fold a sheet of aluminium into a box shape and glue that into place with epoxy, mount hardware to that.

Or bolting down support pegs with some added epoxy would still retain the weatherproofing.

Filling it with resin sounds overkill.
See what I mean about giving us the application first though? ;)
 
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