The 'actors' in this parade are wellknown brands such as Pratley, Henkel's Pattex, Loctite, Araldite, Sika and others.
I use 4 different types of adhesives in the product I manufacture. The normal 'runny' type cyanoacrylic familiar to most people, the gel variety, clear epoxy and contact adhesive.
For the last 10 years, I have standardised on four specific brands which proved to be reliable over the years.
Sometime during last year, I started experiencing failures with all of them except with the contact type I use.
The superglues (Q-bond and Pattex gel) never hardened or set properly. An entire range of Pratley epoxies never set hard so that I could hang my Caterpillar on the joint.
A particularly costly idiocy was done to Henkel's Pattex super gel. The stuff now comes from Brazil with a new, black closure and a much wider spout. To use it, you remove the tube from the blister and break the tube seal by screwing down the closure. Fine up to here. When the black closure is removed, the stuff bubbles out uncontrollably until half the contents are gone. When you eventually are able to get the closure screwed down, the spilled mess around the nozzle cannot be wiped off as the stuff just continues running out of the spout. The result is unavoidable - the new black 'wonder' closure is permanently bonded to whatever is left in the tube.
Although I store all my adhesives in the fridge (much to my wife's complaints), I initially replaced the failing glues with 'fresh' stock from the various suppliers.
When the replaced adhesives behaved similarly to the stuff I had to dump, I started taking the products back to their suppliers and to their credit, they either replaced the item/s or refunded my money - an unsatisfactory arrangement which was not really the answer as I then had to try and prove over a period of time that the replacement brands were reliable. Similar problems also occurred with replacement brands.
I then started to take up these matters with the head offices of these suppliers. Q-bond (no affiliation) was the only supplier which replaced an expired product free of charge with product which worked the way it should.
The others - Pratley offered a large shopping bag filled with different product. The epoxies doesn't set and the critical Pratley 'professional' product which I used successfully for a decade, was not included after the last batches I bought also failed to set.
All of this sad story is vital to the business of making my little product. After each adhesive failure, all parts have to be disassembled and cleaned, coils have to be re-wound, expensive components become damaged and unuseable and so on.
All because glue peddlers are allowed to sell their products without sell by or expiry dates printed on the boxes or tubes.
As long as 15 years ago, I had problems with certain brands and wrote to various instances (SABS) and others without the courtesy of even an acknowledgement.
More recently, I wrote to the new consumer council and 3 months later there has been no response at all. Later, I called one of the newspapers' consumer journalist and discussed the matter of no expiry dates on adhesives with him. He agreed to receive a copy of my letter to the consumer council but to date, nothing has happened. I wanted to motivate and supply evidence to the consumer council to enter into discussions with glue sellers with the view to state expiry or sell by dates on their products.
The glue market even in South Africa must be worth a good couple of millions annually.
What does people do when the stuff they buy is used and stored correctly and still doesn't work as claimed on the blister pack?
Do they just cut their losses and spend more on another brand?
I'd be interested in reading your views about this and your experiences with glues.
mafioso
I use 4 different types of adhesives in the product I manufacture. The normal 'runny' type cyanoacrylic familiar to most people, the gel variety, clear epoxy and contact adhesive.
For the last 10 years, I have standardised on four specific brands which proved to be reliable over the years.
Sometime during last year, I started experiencing failures with all of them except with the contact type I use.
The superglues (Q-bond and Pattex gel) never hardened or set properly. An entire range of Pratley epoxies never set hard so that I could hang my Caterpillar on the joint.
A particularly costly idiocy was done to Henkel's Pattex super gel. The stuff now comes from Brazil with a new, black closure and a much wider spout. To use it, you remove the tube from the blister and break the tube seal by screwing down the closure. Fine up to here. When the black closure is removed, the stuff bubbles out uncontrollably until half the contents are gone. When you eventually are able to get the closure screwed down, the spilled mess around the nozzle cannot be wiped off as the stuff just continues running out of the spout. The result is unavoidable - the new black 'wonder' closure is permanently bonded to whatever is left in the tube.
Although I store all my adhesives in the fridge (much to my wife's complaints), I initially replaced the failing glues with 'fresh' stock from the various suppliers.
When the replaced adhesives behaved similarly to the stuff I had to dump, I started taking the products back to their suppliers and to their credit, they either replaced the item/s or refunded my money - an unsatisfactory arrangement which was not really the answer as I then had to try and prove over a period of time that the replacement brands were reliable. Similar problems also occurred with replacement brands.
I then started to take up these matters with the head offices of these suppliers. Q-bond (no affiliation) was the only supplier which replaced an expired product free of charge with product which worked the way it should.
The others - Pratley offered a large shopping bag filled with different product. The epoxies doesn't set and the critical Pratley 'professional' product which I used successfully for a decade, was not included after the last batches I bought also failed to set.
All of this sad story is vital to the business of making my little product. After each adhesive failure, all parts have to be disassembled and cleaned, coils have to be re-wound, expensive components become damaged and unuseable and so on.
All because glue peddlers are allowed to sell their products without sell by or expiry dates printed on the boxes or tubes.
As long as 15 years ago, I had problems with certain brands and wrote to various instances (SABS) and others without the courtesy of even an acknowledgement.
More recently, I wrote to the new consumer council and 3 months later there has been no response at all. Later, I called one of the newspapers' consumer journalist and discussed the matter of no expiry dates on adhesives with him. He agreed to receive a copy of my letter to the consumer council but to date, nothing has happened. I wanted to motivate and supply evidence to the consumer council to enter into discussions with glue sellers with the view to state expiry or sell by dates on their products.
The glue market even in South Africa must be worth a good couple of millions annually.
What does people do when the stuff they buy is used and stored correctly and still doesn't work as claimed on the blister pack?
Do they just cut their losses and spend more on another brand?
I'd be interested in reading your views about this and your experiences with glues.
mafioso
