The plastic of my Victorinox Champ is coming loose...again. I tried several glues and they work fine.... for a while. Has anyone got any experience with this??? I dont blame the knife, it has quite a few years spend by my side or my older brother's side.<br>Your help is appriciated.<br>Reinhardt

I have used Superglue on mine several times, with good success. Pete

Try epoxy (or liquid weld). Don't know how familiar you are with this product but it comes in two separate containers. One is an active agent and the second one is a hardener. Strong and durable stuff. I use it on my car mirrors, pipes, tent poles, cameras and kayaks. Just be careful how you use it and become familiar with any cleanup/excess removal methods before you mix the stuff. <br><br>Tip:<br>Just as with the silicone, if your fingers are wet (keep a cup of water handy) epoxy can be molded without a problem. So if you need to wipe out the excess just wet your finger or a paper tower. Be sure to use a lot of water. But try first with something you don’t really care about and be careful with amount you mix. I always have lots left over when I’m done and it has to be thrown away.<br>

in just about every application I have tried the two phase epoxy has outperformed all other glues. I have even used this to patch a hole in the engine of my dirt bike. usually comes in a package that looks like two syringes stuck together. simply mix a bit and apply it with a stick. it doesn't get extra brittle as the super glue does, it is quite impact resistant and is unaffected by a reasonably wide range of temperatures. Should be available in a local hardware store. If you are using it on a plastic it may "melt" the plastic where it is thin but it will harden to original strength as the epoxy hardens so don't mess with it too much while applying it. If it doesn't stick to the metal a litle sanding or filing should do the trick to roughen the surface enough to the epoxy to grab hold.

Agreed with the epoxy-in-syringes:<br><br>I once tried to fix a hole in my air matress with this stuff(dont try it). it bonded so well that it cuased another hole due to its sharp edges! i later repaired the mattres with silicone.

Hands down... JB-Weld! The same thing happened to my SAK. I don't think it will ever fall apart now. (unless I hit it with a hammer);)

Not all epoxies will bond well with the plastic on the SAK handle. I have not used J-B Weld on that type of plastic so I'm not able to comment on that. However, I will point out that the cure time for J-B Weld (as with any 2 part epoxy) can be greatly reduced by putting the object into a warm oven - I would try to keep it around 165 deg F - certainly below 200 deg-F<br><br>There is a class of epoxies that are designed to bind these sorts of plastics - various names, but look for those that are specifically advertised as "plastic welder" type of epoxies (misleading, as they do not actually weld the plastic).<br><br>Tom

I apologize if I wasting people's time, but I had an interesting experience with JB weld. I purchased this and put it in my truck. Due to the hot temperatures in Phoenix, AZ, one of the tubes ruptured. <br><br>I purchased another set, opened the tubes and squeezed a little out. I placed the tubes back into my truck and this has worked fine. I just thought I'd save someone a mess.<br><br>Xavier

I imagine that was quite a mess! Good tip.<br><br>Before they cure, most epoxies can be cleaned up with alcohol. I don't know if this would be effective with individual parts or not.

RW,<br><br>If I understand your question correctly, the scales (plastic handles) on your Victorinox SAK are loosening. If so, they are properly attached by means of mechanical clamping of the plastic to the metal. We had several SAKs with loosened scales. Look up Victorinox via Google. Telepone them at their warranty service number. The scales are warrantied. Until recently the warranty service in the USA would either replace the scales at no charge if you sent them the knife, OR send you the replacement scales with instructions on installation. Unfortunately, they have discontinued the latter option, or so they have repeadtedly told me. I am unenthusiastic about sending our knives due to the risk of loss. <br><br>Installing the new scales is easy when you get them. Essentially it involves tapping the cushioned plastic scales over the reversed (?) rivets of the metal body of the knife. (Sorry, guys, I'm not an engineer or knife expert, so I don't know the vernacular). I don't know if that proceedure will correct loosened older scales. I am somewhat doubtful of that working -- I think installing the scales involves upsetting the plastic over the negative of a rivet. I doubt the loosened plastic connections have any more capacity to be upset further. <br><br>I would be reluctant to heat the plastic scales. I suspect that under heat (as from our accidental experiences in the washing machine & dryer, and otherwise) the plastic scales tend to warp. Oldest son is now on his 3rd set of scales. :-( Younger son & I each had one loosened set of scales. And, no, I did not forget my knife in my pocket -- I did something dumber. Well, who'd have thought...<br><br>Calling Victorinox for specific guidance seems like the best approach absent any emergency need for repair.<br><br>Good luck,<br><br>John

I've seen this on Wenger, never on Victorinox.<br><br>I also vote for JB Weld. I haven't used it for this, but it's the best stuff I've seen for joining plastic and metal. Never seen it fail.<br><br>Just as an aside- I don't really believe it, but I was told by a Frenchman back in the 70's that the scales of a Victorinox were (originally, at least) made of some plastic/celluloid/something that burned VERY brightly and could be used as an emergency signal. I've never tried it, and it seems far-fetched, but if nothing else it's interesting as a rumor.

Ah - something I can do some educated speculation on:<br><br><< that the scales of a Victorinox were (originally, at least) made of some plastic/celluloid/something that burned VERY brightly >><br><br>That very well could be on the older knives. My guess would be nitrocellulose-based plastic - one of the first commercially used plastics. It persevered up to the early 50's as film stock (although production of nitrocellulose-based film ceased during the 40s), which was the source of some horriffic movie theater fires. (We use "safety film", an acetate-type IIRC, today) To this day, historically significant motion pictures are still shown - on the nitrocellulose based film - and the projection booth requirements for showing these films are quite interesting - an entire sub-section of fire/building/life-safety codes deal with the safe projection of these motion pictures.<br><br>Yes - same basic substance as single base smokless gunpowder. It is STILL in use today - as a lacquer / dope (depending on application) for certain, and perhaps for other applications. I always get best finishes with "nitro-dope". Nobel was the major producer in Europe for quite some time - and may still be. I'm skeptical of the "bright flame" part of the claim wrt signaling - do an open burn of some single-base smokeless powder (outside! carefully!) to get a general idea (it will be a little faster due to grain size, but the flame characteristic is the same - a old single-base cannon powder kernal or 4.2" (107mm) mortar charges for a more accurate model.)<br><br>Here is an excerpt from the Du Pont site:<br><br>"In addition to explosives, experiments revealed that a combination of nitrated cotton or wood pulp with ether and alcohol produced a non-explosive solution that hardened into a film. This discovery led to a wide array of end uses for nitrocellulose including plastics, lacquers and photographic film. Following the 1902 change in management at DuPont, the company looked to diversify into these new end uses for excess nitrocellulose production. In 1904 DuPont bought the International Smokeless Powder and Chemical Company which, in addition to smokeless powder, produced nitrocellulose lacquers. The 1910 purchase of the Fabrikoid Company brought DuPont into the production of artificial leather for the automobile industry. Acquisition of nitrocellulose-based companies was capped by the 1915 purchase of the Arlington Company, a manufacturer of pyroxylin plastics. DuPont continued to improve these products and develop new ones like Duco, a durable nitrocellulose lacquer that revolutionized the automotive finish business. The company first moved beyond nitrocellulose-based products in 1917 when it purchased the Harrison Brothers Paint Company. Thereafter, DuPont increasingly directed its diversification efforts into new chemical research for industrial and consumer products."<br><br>As for J-B Weld - fantastic stuff; not the garden-variety epoxy - and it has a 15 hour cure time at "normal" room temperatures. I keep/use it for various metal bonding tasks. I have no idea at all if it will bond to a hard plastic, as I use a specialty variant of a 5 minute epoxy for those tasks. Since I have J-B Weld on hand AND I have a spare Victorinox SAK with one scale off, I will endeavor a test and report back. (I was curious about making some modifications to a SAK a few months ago and prised off a scale - just haven't gotten around to fixing it)<br><br>Hope this didn't put everyone back to sleep this morning...<br><br>Tom<br><br>