Well Little Red's drivers side safari window has failed again. These are Creative safaris that I fitted in 2011. The frames are aluminium but the hinges are stainless and they were glued. You may remember the infamous "Manly" incident where I had a kid pull down on the open window despite me yelling multiple times at him not to touch it - that was my passenger side so I removed them and reglued them. At my last wedding at the start of December, I made the mistake of not supporting both brackets when I had the drivers window open when she was parked in the sun - the glue gave way and now I need to fix it again.
I contacted Creative Engineering in the UK to ask them what they recommend I use - they suggest that I send my window tops back to them and they will weld a new hinge on and supply new glass seals for the very reasonable price of 35 UK pounds each - apparently they have been doing this for the last 9 years - only thing is I am really scared that they might get lost in the mail or take 6 months to turnaround. We are thinking of going to the UK in December - should I just glue it back and hope it lasts until later in the year then send them over and collect them in person?
Anyone else done this?
Tried talking to Squidy ….?
If he doesn’t know, one of his DSK buddies would……
(24-01-2023, 05:00 PM)Melissa Wrote: [ -> ]Well Little Red's drivers side safari window has failed again. These are Creative safaris that I fitted in 2011. The frames are aluminium but the hinges are stainless and they were glued. You may remember the infamous "Manly" incident where I had a kid pull down on the open window despite me yelling multiple times at him not to touch it - that was my passenger side so I removed them and reglued them. At my last wedding at the start of December, I made the mistake of not supporting both brackets when I had the drivers window open when she was parked in the sun - the glue gave way and now I need to fix it again.
I contacted Creative Engineering in the UK to ask them what they recommend I use - they suggest that I send my window tops back to them and they will weld a new hinge on and supply new glass seals for the very reasonable price of 35 UK pounds each - apparently they have been doing this for the last 9 years - only thing is I am really scared that they might get lost in the mail or take 6 months to turnaround. We are thinking of going to the UK in December - should I just glue it back and hope it lasts until later in the year then send them over and collect them in person?
Anyone else done this?
if the window suround is aluminium and the hinge is stainless steel then they can't be welded
would be good to have a stainless window surround and stainless hinge's
Thats what I thought too Rick - maybe the replacement hinge is not stainless?
They have replied again to a further email from me (letting them know I was in Aus) saying:
Hello Melissa, I realised that after I had sent you an email.
The Glue you need will be F246 Permabond adhhesive made by loctite.
Both sides of the hinge need to be free of all old glue and must not have any grease from fingers
Kind Regards Mandy CE
PS look forward to the safaris being repaired in December
You can bond it together with sikaflex Mel
Thanks Barry - I am suspicious that Loctite doesn't sell the F246 in Australia - its not on their website.
Scott picked up some 263 Super Stud Lock Threadlocker - that will have to do until Christmas - which I think it will.
(25-01-2023, 06:59 PM)DakDak67 Wrote: [ -> ]You can bond it together with sikaflex Mel
Thanks Chris
And the key to absolute cleanliness, to allow any adhesive to attain maximum bond, is to throughly scrub both surfaces with isopropyl alcohol, a couple of times……
Spray bottles available at Bunnings, or similar paint places.