Hi all,
I used 5-minute epoxy to attach the front handle to my Throwing Chicken gun box. Unfortunately, it set slightly crooked.
Does anyone know what to use to remove or dissolve the epoxy? If possible, I’d like to keep the resin intact. The system TC used makes for a nice, strong handle. If I simply cut it, adjust the angle and glue it back together, it won’t be nearly as strong.
Ideas?
Thanks,
Ted.
Prefect42.
pics may help. are you talking about the handle or tube? if its the tube I would say cut off as much as you can and take a dremmel tool with the round sanding bit and clean the rest out. I don’t think i’ve been able to clean or break up epoxy in the past
Hrm, seems like anything that would dissolve the epoxy would also dissolve the resin. I think force is the only option. Maybe try sending shock waves down the PVC or maybe taking a clamp and squeezing the pvc so it bows and hopefully that will loosen the grip.
I’m no expert on epoxy, but I think it’s stronger than super glue, and I don’t think there’s any way you’re getting that handle off without cutting it.
On the plus side though, I also don’t think strength will be an issue if you do cut it, so long as you use that epoxy again to glue it back in place.
Oh wait I read wrong, front handle? What exactly is crooked, the grip to PVC, or the PVC to gun body?
I’ve read where you can use Methylene chloride (aka dichloromethane) or Dimethylformamide (DMF), which attacks the epoxy more aggressively. But the problem is epoxy is a resin, close to the same material as your gun. My guess would be anything strong enough to eat through epoxy resin would probably eat through Polyester resin too.
My only advise would be to use your dremel and cut your front gun tube length wise in slices where it attaches to the gun and just try to pick the sections off without damaging the gun body. Good luck
Just tap it on something or twist it till it breaks loose.
Thanks everyone. I will just suck it up and cut it.
As for gluing it back on, TC had such a nice set-up with a male / female connection. Hopefully even with less surface area to re-epoxy, it will still be strong.
And yes, the problem is the front handle is crooked when looking straight down the gun towards the tip.
Ted.
Prefect42.
Might not be a bad thing…
I don’t think any of the original guns looked straight either. Most shots I notice the handles are not perfectly parallel.
But its still an easy fix.
Remenber, the front handle goes SIDEWAYS. 
You could counter act the whole thing by mounting the handle the right way. May give the illusion its straight. Plus whos gonna be staring down the barrel of your wand…well, besides ghosts.
i had the problem where my grip was on crooked. i heated it with a hair dryer and it came off with some force. granted i did it about 30 minutes after i had applied the epoxy…
Heating glue and or epoxy does work really well. I’ve ran into the same problem more then once and its actually a very easy fix, just get a hammer and a flat head screwdriver or even even a file will work whatever will fit to knock it off, just slightly tap it and the epoxy should break right off. A combination of heating and this method will be even better.
Chris
I think you can break the seam on the front peg without breaking the peg or cutting the PVC. Hold the peg in one hand and hold the end of the front barrel as close to the peg as you can and just twist. Epoxy is strong, yeah, but the PVC and the thickness of the peg walls are stronger. The weakest bond will be the first to break, and the weakest bond is the epoxy.
Heat.
Most Epoxy you’ll buy at a hardware store will start to go v.soft over 50C (can be as high as 75C) - if you can warm the joint to around there or above you may be able to pull or twist the joint apart.
Then you just let it cool again and just sand it off.
Heat the epoxy up and it will become soft, but so will the resin so be careful. You should also be able to remove the epoxy while it’s warm with a exacto knife.
Yeh heat it up but don’t use a torch. I did and it caught on fire even though it was non-flammable.
Yeah don’t do that.