No nails?
Author
Discussion

waynester

Original Poster:

6,532 posts

280 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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Quick question..how strong is the 'No nails' bonding stuff?
I am converting an alcove approx 2' x 4' in my daughters bedroom to a desk area. I plan on fixing horizontal batons to the wall, along the back, left & right, and cutting some MDF to fit on top. I don't really want to drill holes, so thought about using some bonding glue.
It has to take the weight of an oldish PC, i.e tube screen/hard drive etc.

Thanks for any replys

up-the-dubs

4,282 posts

259 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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The problem with fixing a shelf like that to a flush surface using "glue" type stuff is vibration. I don't know about No-Nails but the stuff we sell (industrial grade), personally I wouldn't. A pc vibrates ever so slightly all the time and therefore if it's strong enough vibration in relation to the strength of the glue, it might just fail in time. We only sell it for static applications.

HTH

mel

10,168 posts

305 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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Put it this was the proper Gripfill original stuff is so strong we often see it specced that it is NOT to be used to fix skirtings etc to plastered walls, simply because if you ever need to take it down you will take half the wall with it, I'd say put in a couple of screw holes if you worried about damage it will be easier to fix if you ever move it.

toolsnstuff-couk

9,396 posts

288 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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"No Nails for Shelf" + "PC on Shelf" = "Broken PC on Floor"

chrisgr31

14,286 posts

285 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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waynester said:
Quick question..how strong is the 'No nails' bonding stuff?
I am converting an alcove approx 2' x 4' in my daughters bedroom to a desk area. I plan on fixing horizontal batons to the wall, along the back, left & right, and cutting some MDF to fit on top. I don't really want to drill holes, so thought about using some bonding glue.
It has to take the weight of an oldish PC, i.e tube screen/hard drive etc.

Thanks for any replys


The real question is how stong is the item you are glueing this too. The wall could be painted and the weight could potentially peel the paint off instead.

Personally I would reluctant to rely on glue for this particular purpose, although did use it to put a blind up in my old house.

pzero64

2,159 posts

271 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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waynester

Original Poster:

6,532 posts

280 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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Thanks, i had a feeling it wouldn't be the best solution.
Time for a spot of drilling it is then....

GreenV8S

31,024 posts

314 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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Put a leg in each corner to take the weight, you could glue each leg to the wall if you want.

Cotty

42,252 posts

314 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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Nicked from the Sean Connery thread

Irish Muslims have admitted glueing 100 commuters to the inside of a London Underground Tube train after using the first "no more nails" bomb.

up-the-dubs

4,282 posts

259 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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Groan

arh

2,133 posts

269 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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If using glue make sure it is not solvent free as the solvent free stuff does not preform. Also if using this on a plaster board wall you may well have issues as the plaster board is not fixed strongly to the wall.

Munter

31,331 posts

271 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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For bodging when I worked on building maintainance we'd use gripfill to stick in place and then wham a few of these through it.

www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/cat.jsp?ts=31789&id=101213

Saves on drilling etc. Cant say i'd do it in my own home though...

>> Edited by Munter on Thursday 1st December 10:12

Pigeon

18,535 posts

276 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
quotequote all
up-the-dubs said:
The problem with fixing a shelf like that to a flush surface using "glue" type stuff is vibration. I don't know about No-Nails but the stuff we sell (industrial grade), personally I wouldn't. A pc vibrates ever so slightly all the time and therefore if it's strong enough vibration in relation to the strength of the glue, it might just fail in time. We only sell it for static applications.

The DIY grade with acetone as a solvent - can't remember exactly which brand it is - seems to be pretty good on vibration. I used it to attach large, convex mirror glasses over the top of the small, flat ones that my bike mirrors originally had, giving a greatly improved view. Bike mirrors vibrate a lot, but the glasses haven't fallen off.

Indeed, bike mirrors vibrate so much that on one of them the metal of the shell cracked all the way round the point where the arm attaches, and it fell off. I retrieved it from the side of the road and glued it back on with the same stuff. That, too, seems to work fine.
waynester said:
I am converting an alcove approx 2' x 4' in my daughters bedroom to a desk area. I plan on fixing horizontal batons to the wall, along the back, left & right, and cutting some MDF to fit on top. I don't really want to drill holes, so thought about using some bonding glue.
It has to take the weight of an oldish PC, i.e tube screen/hard drive etc.

So the shelf thing is supported on three sides? Sounds good, as the load on the supports will be straight downwards and the bond will be in shear, no bending. The weak point, however, will be the plaster on the wall. The supports will need to be several inches high to spread the load over a decent area of plaster to reduce the risk of it coming off.

Personally I'd still go for drilling holes though. Makes it much easier to get things straight, as you don't have to fanny about supporting the supports so they don't droop while the glue sets. It will be stronger without the need to use huge battens, and if you decide to take it down later you'll only have a few small holes to fill. Just make sure the holes are deep enough for the screws to engage properly with the brickwork. It's dreadful the way things you buy from DIY shops for fixing to the wall (light fittings, bog roll holders etc) always come with screws that are so short they only engage with the plaster, it's worse the way people then use these screws and end up with loose wobbly fittings in perpetual danger of falling off, and it's worse still when people get the idea from these products that you only need short screws and build wobbly dangerous DIY shelving... Not that you would of course.

The other point I'd make is that a 2'x4' sheet of MDF with a PC on it is going to droop and sag. I'd prefer to use blockboard, with a stringer screwed and glued underneath the front edge and maybe another one half way back.

Balmoral Green

42,561 posts

278 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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I have used the stuff for skirting boards, very good for that, wouldnt trust it with shelves though, the paint or plaster will just come off the wall with it. Its not that it wont work, it will, so you are relying on the strength of the material it will bond too, a thin layer of paint, or plaster. If you dont want to drill and screw, the idea of gluing a leg in place in each corner and then the crossmembers on top was a good one.

markmullen

15,877 posts

264 months

Thursday 1st December 2005
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We had an customer who brought back a 2 week old £32500 4x4 with buggered electrics, he'd refused to pay £325 +VAT for a towbar fitting, instead he'd whipped the old one off his old 4x4, put the couple of bolts that happened to line up and then no more nailed the rest on. Luckily when it came to doing the electrics he'd knackered it cutting the loom.

When we asked what he intended towing with it he told us a 4 tonne beast transporter