Wire Glue, now made with Buckyballs!

wireGlue.jpg
wireGlue2.jpg

ThinkGeek is now selling "Wire Glue," a conductive adhesive made with micro-carbons. They're selling a .3 oz bottle for $4. I like what BotJunkie said about it:

It looks like a neat product, and I'm sure it works well, but if you're thinking of getting this rather than learning how to solder... You should just learn how to solder. It's cheap, it's fun, and you get to melt metal and make stuff. Give it a shot, and then after you burn yourself, you can go ahead and buy the glue without feeling guilty.

"Wire Glue" Conductive Glue


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Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: Kevin Trotman on March 27, 2009 at 5:35 AM

Where's the Current Limiting Diode?

Interesting new product, but where's the current limiting diode in this circuit? That LED won't last as long without one.


Posted by: anachrocomputer on March 27, 2009 at 7:07 AM

Resistor

I think you mean a current-limiting resistor, but yes, there should be one.


Posted by: Charles on March 27, 2009 at 8:26 AM

It's about time

Now, I don't mind soldering, so don't get me wrong, as far as this product is concernced I have to say - it's about time.


Posted by: dnny on March 27, 2009 at 8:58 AM

this is great. goes nicely whit paper PCB´s:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dnny/1537270922


Posted by: paolo- on March 27, 2009 at 9:00 AM

Wow, easy surface mounting for everyone ?


Posted by: metis on March 27, 2009 at 9:12 AM

can be useful...

there are times and places where soldering isn't an option, and this could be a great solution for them. it's not going to replace soldering, but a ball peen hammer doesn't replace a framing hammer either. right tool for right job.


Posted by: BigD145 on March 27, 2009 at 2:15 PM

Wire-wrapping is a lost art, isn't it?


Posted by: Clayton on March 28, 2009 at 1:22 AM

Wire wrapping reply

No wire wrapping is not a lost art.

The control system for our power station has all the field devices wire wrapped at the back of the programmable logic controller. THere is thounds and thousands of them.

google Siemens T3000 control system.

We use an automatic wire wrap gun to give a reliable connection


Posted by: Anonymous on March 27, 2009 at 1:09 PM

.3 oz, not .03 oz.


Posted by: Gareth Branwyn on March 27, 2009 at 3:01 PM

Oops. Yes. Thanks. Typo corrected.


Posted by: Mike Stanczyk on March 27, 2009 at 1:18 PM

DO WANT.

And considering you can get liquid electrical tape too:
http://www.starbrite.com/productdetail.cfm?ID=1081&ProductCat=Home%20Care&ProductSCat=Liquid%20Electric%20Tape%20(Home)&ProductSSCat=

(I last bought it at my local Ace Hardware.)

I'll never burn my self soldering again.


Posted by: Nate on March 27, 2009 at 4:08 PM

Not the best thing

I've had this exact wire glue for almost 2 years now and its not that great. I used it for surface mounting some luxeon rebel led's. It's not that strong of a bond and the resistance is relatively high (0.5-5 ohms) even for small connections


Posted by: dstahlke.myopenid.com on March 27, 2009 at 4:36 PM

really buckyballs?

Is this stuff really made with buckyballs? The ThinkGeek site doesn't say that. They mention that they like buckyballs, and they say that the glue is made with "microcarbon technology", but they don't say that the glue is made from fullerenes. It's probably just graphite.


Posted by: Gareth Branwyn on March 27, 2009 at 6:39 PM

I doubt it's actually using fullerenes. I was just trying to emulate breathless ad copy in the headline.

All I can find online is that it uses microcabon technology. I bet you're right. It's probably just a base of graphite. I also wonder how strong it is and how conductive.


Posted by: David on March 27, 2009 at 7:48 PM

This stuff ain't great. You have to mix it all the time to get a useful consistency, and it dries very brittle. The connections are far more fragile than a solder joint. I've used it to make connections to (heat sensitive) flex circuits, with a drop of epoxy over the top for strain relief. Works, but probably best to use conductive epoxy in the first place!


Posted by: cdreid on June 4, 2009 at 5:21 AM

The led doesnt need a resistor

It doesnt need a resistor because apparently all of this stuff has very high resistance. Ive been looking into this and other stuff to make smd possible without a toaster oven etc. Even just to make shields for smd ic's butit looks like the resistance is way too high. S*cks because i really want to do smd (getting hard to even buy nonsmd) but what a long, giant PITA process! And if you screw up.. start all over again *sigh*


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