Tritium Mounting?

I have two 1.5x5mm Tritium vials on the way and plan on mounting at least one of them to my KL1 Head. I am not really sure how to do this so any advice would be grate. I searched and didn't find much be a reference to 5 min clear epoxy (no type or brand or where to get it) and a tooth pick.

It depends where you want to mount the tritium. I usually use an existing recess in order to protect the vial, and use Araldite Glass and Ceramic epoxy. It dries crystal clear and doesnt go yellow with age, which is what you want. I think most members in America use Devcon crystal clear, but i couldnt find that in my area. If you are mounting in a recess all you need to do is apply a TINY dot of glue where you want the vial, just enough to seat it in, and then sit the vial in it. I try not to get any on the visible side of the vial because it refracts the light and makes it look untidy, in my opinion, but it would make it stronger if you encase the whole vial in epoxy. Hope this helps.
Marc

if you want the best and purest optically transparent , norland 61 is most probably your best bet, this is what is being used by a lot of us in the mcgizmo room, if thats a important feature you can pm me i l send you some for free , if you try and buy it is like $30 a once ( approx)
ps it helps to have some form of UV light as that is what activates the norland if not i have a lower level adhesive that is still good, its not so UV needy

The quicker setting 5 minute epoxies are NOT waterproof. It will get kind of gummy if it sits in moisture too long. That could be a sweaty pocket all day. It will also yellow a bit with age. The longer setting epoxies are much better, and are waterproof.

Someone here mentioned that Superglue brand has a UV curing adhesive for glass. I found some at Home Depot for about $3. It's in a syringe on a black and red card with the other adhesives hanging on the wall. It wasn't next to the superglue, off to the other side. I bought the cheapest UV light I could find for this and it worked great. I was putting them in a bezel with slots cut for the trits. The glue is thin, so I put a drop on a piece of glossy paper (junk mail) and used a toothpick to get a very small drop on the tip. Touch it to where you want the glue and it will wick off easily. Put the trit in place and zap it with the UV. Put a little more on with the toothpick and you can build it up how you want it. I filled the slots flush and smooth with the surface so they wouldn't fill with pocket lint and is easy to wipe clean. For extra measure, once I got everything done the way I liked it, I propped the UV light so it was right at the trit and went off and watched TV for 10 minutes. Figured it wouldn't hurt to overcure it. It looks great, has held up well and was a LOT cheaper than the Norland.

Now for a silly but serious question: would a tanning bed cure the adhesive?

I found some stuff called Perfect glue 2 by Liquid nails. It appears to be jell based super glue that drys clear. It for Glass and ceramics so I am giving it a try as I type this I am waiting for it to finish setting up. Ile poast some pics when its finished.

Ok, the Liquid nails stuff proved to not work well at all, on the up side I was able to remove it after a healthy dose of nail polish remover.

I found some Glass Adhesive that is UV cured in 10min and clear. This seems to have worked Vary well and you can get the stuff at Home Depot for $4. Its in a red tube that looks like a syringe.

Not bad for a first try...

thats the other stuff other then the norland i was going to bring you

KE7AYF said:

Ok, the Liquid nails stuff proved to not work well at all, on the up side I was able to remove it after a healthy dose of nail polish remover.

I found some Glass Adhesive that is UV cured in 10min and clear. This seems to have worked Vary well and you can get the stuff at Home Depot for $4. Its in a red tube that looks like a syringe.

Not bad for a first try...

Click to expand...

I have just started to use Hardman® 04004 epoxy
available from here

It is water clear, slow setting ( water proof) , and designed to be used with metal. I have no long term results but so far so good.
$12.00 and they take PayPal and ship fast.

Gonna' . . . .



:bump:



. . . . this 3-year-old thread,


to see if there are any New ideas.




Preferably not requiring UV light, or 2-step (epoxy) mixing.





_

You never NEED a UV light to cure Norland, just put it out under direct sunlight for a few minutes and it's done.

The-David said:

I have two 1.5x5mm Tritium vials on the way and plan on mounting at least one of them to my KL1 Head. I am not really sure how to do this so any advice would be grate. I searched and didn't find much be a reference to 5 min clear epoxy (no type or brand or where to get it) and a tooth pick.

Click to expand...

I just received a few from Bart. He was kind enough to answer my question about crazy glue, saying NO. He mentioned the rearview mirror adhesive.

F250XLT said:

You never NEED a UV light to cure Norland, just put it out under direct sunlight for a few minutes and it's done.

Click to expand...

Norland will even cure on a cloudy day though it does take longer.