Glueing Fabric to Vinyl

[Chip]

This is about glueing vinyl material to pack cloth. Specifically, I wanted to attach a shoulder strap to a dry bag made from Seattle Fabrics heat sealable pack cloth, and the shoulder strap in question was already attached to a vinyl dry bag. Could I cut off the shoulder straps and glue them to the pack cloth?


On the other side of the scrapped dry bag, there were four more webbing anchors. I cut them out as test pieces. I made tubular sleeves of the Seattle Fabrics material to which I test glued the 5”-round test actors.

On the scrap dry bag, the webbing anchors had originally been somehow fused to the dry bag in an inch-wide, circular band around the perimeter of the 5-inch, circular anchors. So, I decided to apply glue in the same inch-wide, circular pattern. I lightly sanded the underside of the anchors and used alcohol to clean both the anchors and the pack-cloth sleeves before applying the glue.

I looked through my glue drawer to see what I had for glue and selected four that might work: E6000, Locktite’s Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic glue, Flex Glue and Weldwood Contact Cement. I spread a 1"-wide, layer of glue in a 5" circle on each of the test sleeves and clamped the anchors and sleeves between chunks of particle board.

Link to GlueTest3

​

Visually, after unclamping all the test pieces, all the bonds looked good. Except I had screwed up when laying the piece with the contact cement, so there were some wrinkles that I figure had to detract from the strength of the bond. But, I had no material for do-overs, so the test went on.

To test, I placed a length of 3” ID PVC tube through the pack cloth sleeves, laid the PVC between two saw horses, and began hanging weights from the webbing. The target load for my reuse of the straps was a 14-pound folding chair by Alps (https://www.canoetripping.net/forums...ge3#post104988). So, I started by hanging a 20-pound weight. I allowed the weight to hang for two hours before adding ten more pounds, and so on. Some hung overnight or all day if I went out. Eventually, three of the anchors pulled off the packcloth.

Link to GlueTest4



Results:

E6000 - test anchor pulled off after 2 hours hanging 30lbs

Contact Cement - test anchor ripped off after two hours hanging 60 lbs.

Flex Glue - was looking good with 80 lbs hanging, but the anchor ripped off sometime beyond 1 hour. The Flex Glued anchor was only on for about 20 hours when I started hanging weights. Sometime later I read the full cure time is 2 - 7 days. Eighty pounds for several hours impressed me, since the adhesive wasn't fully cured.

Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Glue - the webbing pulled out of the anchor after ten minutes hanging 100 lbs. The anchor itself is still well attached to the test sleeve.

Link to GlueTest5

​


Incidental observation: The heat-sealed 1” seams on the 9” long test sleeves never gave a hint of failing, even with a hundred pounds hanging from the anchors glued to the sleeve. The heat-seal stuff sticks together real good.

I used the Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic glue to attach the shoulder strap to my packcloth dry bag. I finished a tube on the top anchor and opened a newer tube. The glue in the newer tube was much thinner, and the photo shows substantial sloppage squeezed out from under the anchor when I clamped it. Oh well, a little bit of fugly will match the rest of my kit. I have no idea if that will affect the strength of the bond.

Link to photo of finished dry bag

​

I know these glue trials were crude and unscientific. But, I wasn't sure glue would work at all, so I figured, I'm not going anywhere, why not give it a try. Can't wait to be able to field test it.

 

[dougd]

Pictures aren't showing Chip. Interesting experiment! I'm going to keep an eye on this.

 

[Chip]

Doug, I deleted some weird little boxes that showed up beside the images and I think the photos are back. And, I did a few edits. Hope it works now.

 

[Guest]

Chip, dammit I would really like to see those photos; I would much prefer straps permanently adhered to the heat sealable ALPS chair fabric over the separate cinch-around webbing buckled things I made. I’d like a permanent carry strap on the heat sealable tapered bags, maybe even shoulder straps on the giant canoe-stem tapered bags.

https://www.canoetripping.net/forums...-stem-dry-bags

I hate to leave other folks out of the loop, but you have my e-mail; maybe send me that with photo links when you have a chance.

And, importantly, what is the brand vinyl, plastic and fabric glue that held 100lbs? Where did you buy it? I want some, I need some.

Incidental observation: The heat-sealed 1” seams on the 9” long test sleeves never gave a hint of failing, even with a hundred pounds hanging from the anchors glued to the sleeve. The heat-seal stuff sticks together real good.

That incidental observation from your weight bearing tests is impressive. I knew those even 1” heat sealed seams were tenacious, but I didn’t know how tenacious. “Real good”, that in itself makes me more comfortable using glued on straps.

BTW, on a too-late-now note, when our friend Joel was purging his gear barn he threw away dozens of old crustysmellly old dry bags. His non-paddler daughter in law actually climbed into the dumpster to retrieve a few.

I didn’t know at the time, but those would have seen a lifetime source of scrap vinyl for patching, and cut out vinyl pads with shoulder straps, buckles and lash tabs. Dammit, I really should have been there to “help”. Couldashouldawoulda.

I have a few webbing pass through shoulder strap “cushions” from Rochford Supply, which might work, but they are rubber, not vinyl, and rubber generally sucks with adhesive application.

http://www.rochfordsupply.com/shop/F...aps/index.html

I could use vinyl pad D-rings, but at $8 a pop, needing two on each bag, that is a pricey solution for the various chair and tapered bags. I may have to DIY my own from scrap vinyl and naked D-rings, but I’m looking for suggestions for something manufactured that is less expensive than vinyl pad D-rings.

Ideas anyone?

 

[Chip]

I never had trouble posting pictures until this thread. I went back and read photo instructions. Now, I've used two methods. First I did the choose photo and upload route. Seemed to work fine and the photos are visible after I save. Now put the photos on a website, displayed them there, did "copy image" and pasted into the post. Works, but they come out super-size, so I clicked the mountains icon and specify a more reasonable size. Seems to work. Lastly, I put a textual link to the photos, so if you can't see them, try the link. Good luck.

 

[Guest]

Hooray, all the photos now appear.

I like your weight bearing test methodology. Now to get a tube of that Loctite Vinyl, Plastic and Fabric glue.

And find a source of those kind of dry bag pads to glue on.