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Bondic takes a "light" approach to sticking things together

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Bondic comes with its own UV LED
Bondic comes with its own UV LED
Users shine the UV light on the liquid plastic for four seconds, which is reportedly all that's required to cause it to harden

Perhaps you've had one or more of the following experiences when trying to stick items together using super glue: the glue sets before the objects can be properly aligned, it won't set fast enough, or it hardens inside the bottle once it's been opened. Well, Bondic is claimed to have none of those problems. It's described as a "liquid plastic welder" that sets within four seconds, but only once it's been exposed to an included UV light.

First of all, adhesives that are cured using ultraviolet light have indeed been around for some time. They typically require users to supply their own UV light, however, and thus are usually limited to industrial or even medical applications.

By contrast, Bondic comes with its own UV LED that sits on the end of a reusable cartridge filled with the liquid plastic.

The liquid is applied via a needle-type applicator, to items made out of materials including plastic, metal, fiberglass or wood. It can then be worked with until users have got everything set up the way they wish. They then just shine the light on the liquid for four seconds, which is reportedly all that's required to cause it to harden.

Users shine the UV light on the liquid plastic for four seconds, which is reportedly all that's required to cause it to harden

Along with simply joining things together, this technique also allows successive layers of the plastic to be laid down one on top of another, in order to fill gaps. Once a gap is filled, the hardened plastic can be sanded, polished or painted as needed.

A kit containing one applicator, light, and 4-gram tube of the liquid plastic can be purchased for US$22.

Bondic can be seen in use, in the video below.

Source: Bondic [2] via Werd

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13 comments
Peter Kelly
Certainly, bonding time is a major issue when repairing items (although it can easily be allowed for in fabrication), but the main difficulty experienced is the strength, either of the adhesive itself, or the bond to the original material.
The video shows a lovely quick repair, but unless that fix is not of similar strength to the original item it will be worse than useless (especially in this case as the angler watches his expensive reel disappear under the water)!
Without information regarding strengths and substrates, this is nothing more than a gimmick.
Facebook User
That's a bad video. (a) it doesn't show gluing and (b) the finish he's ended up with is shit. Is that really the best they could do ?
iperov
@Peter Kelly check their youtube channel for strength video
piperTom
The syllable "bond" is prominent in the name and the title here refers to "sticking together", however the company's website warns that it is not a glue and you should not use it as one. So -- what IS it good for?
Red Len
I searched but this is not available in Australia so another solution fails. I could really use this product.
Gadgeteer
I'll "stick" with using a spray-on accelerator for my cyanoacrylates.
Mel Tisdale
My dentist has been using something similar, perhaps even identical, for years.
Buzzclick
Like you Mel, the first time I got to see a UV cured bond was at the dentist. Totally impressed how well the bond was effected.
They market this as "not a glue/a plastic welder", but the term welding requires heat. In essence, it is a glue. I have been using cyanoacrylate super glue for years, and this product is intriguing as an alternative, but calling it what it is not isn't necessary and cheapens it. Would like to see how well it bonds and fills firsthand, especially on softer plastics/rubber where super glue isn't ideal.
Dave Andrews
It's cool the way it can build up to replace small missing pieces, but I wonder if it's capable of actually bonding two pieces together, which is what plastic bonds normally do.
If it's activated by UV light, how can it bond two pieces together, since the bonding agent is sandwiched between two pieces?
DonGateley
I've been using Loon and Aquaseal versions of UV cured epoxy for years and for many applications it is magic. If for nothing else, as a tacking bond to hold things together to apply something stronger or with different properties that takes longer to set.
I divide my DIY life into pre-uv-epoxy and post-uv-epoxy eras. It's that significant a tool.
Anywhere one might use a heat gun with a coaxial melting adhesive this material is a better choice because it bonds better, to more things, is stronger and can be set faster.
What I particularly like about this is the fine applicator. Those that come with what I've been using are blunt instruments compared to the one on this. I'd like to see an assortment of tips, though, because sometimes one wants to fill and the fine tip will make that laborious.
Also having the whole system contained in one object is extremely convenient and an excellent design choice.
I'll be getting one soon if the compound itself can be replenished.