Best adhesive for marble

[carolinastone]

What do most of you guys use for laminating marble?

[Dan R.]

Kent, good to see you around. I am still using that template material you sent up years ago. We are about 20% through it. I often think of your generosity and hope that I am passing it on in kind.

We use Integra (gunnable acrylic) and more recently Glaxis from Tenax. Glaxis is a pure clear with no yellowing characteristics like poly or epoxy. The Glaxis is relatively new, but we have tried it with great success. Bieng new, there is no long term testing, except from Tenax. I suggest to contact Tenax directly, they are in Charlotte, right in your neighborhood, sort of.

[Rick George]

For me it would depend mostly on color/type of marble. We mostly use the Touchstone system for laminating, but on whites and lighter porous colors this wouldn't be the best choice as it will bleed into the stone too much and make a dark and wide lam line.

[Stone Dude]

PolyTenax is great for laminating, if they have any in stock

[tenaxusa]

GLAXS is perfect on white and light colored marble since it doesn't bleed into the stone. unfortunately the water clear transparent flowing and knife grade usually bleeds into the seam due to the MEK liquid hardener that tends to bleed.
epoxy does it too since is very slow curing ... glaxs also has the double convenience to be completely UV stable (15 years guaranteed against yellowing) and completely independent from outside temperature as far as curing time (32 minutes both in winter or summer...)
give us a call and we can send you a sample.

[Nick]

So Glaxs is much better than Crystal/Thassos on all accounts?

[tenaxusa]

absolutely!
GLAXS is a far superior glue then any water clear polyester glue. Those glues were intorduced in the market just for filling white marbles and are not very strong.
Crystal on the other end being an acrylic is much stronger but since is a very slow curing glue it sometimes has issues with bleeding into seams. also crystal liquid has water like transparency making it perfect for transparent fillings of holes and travertines.
so it all depends on what your needs are to find out what would be the best and most cost effective solution. (glaxs does cost more then polyester...)

[Nick]

What is the msrp price difference for a quart?

I am guessing that it is less than 10 hours cure time difference per job............................

Can I expect my current Tenax suppliers to have this? We have used Tenax products for as long as I can remember and I know that the crystal has not great adheision strength, but it has been our go to for Italian white marbles and onyx and honestly the cure time is quite costly.

[james d]

The only thing that bothers me about Glaxs is the way it is measured for the whole can I like to be able
to mix what I need. Maybe they changed this since I saw it.

[dustinbraudway]

I talked with Adam the other day about this. I have been using the Dumo for glue ups, but wanted something to fill pinholes in my concrete tops and uv stable. Sounds like Glaxs is the way to go. I believe he said he was going to get me a sample.

BTW the Dumo is stupid strong if anyone is looking for a great knife grade epoxy

[matt rickard]

Thank You for the info Filippo!

[tenaxusa]

Nick, the gel time in bulk of GLAXS is 35 minutes (more or less). it takes hours off the clock compared to crystal.
as far as crystal strenght...you would be surprised. that glue can hold 2 pieces of stone glued together from the POLISHED side!!! is as strong as an epoxy...but has the problem of being very slow curing to maintain its clarity and color...
and yes, it is available thorugh any of our distributors...they just need to ask for it!

James:as far as the mesuring of the glaxs, sure you can mix it yourself without using the all can. BUT you need to trust me when i tell you that eyeballing IS NOT going to work.
you just need to go to wal-mart...buy a nice small digital scale and start using it before mixing the 2 parts.
here is how you MUST do: measure the weight of a paper cup, press TARE (so the scale zeroized again), change the weight in grams (much easier...), add 100 grams of part A, press tare again, add 70 grams of part B and mix it throughly.
anyless or any more ou need to pull up a calculator and make sure you use the same ratio.
sounds complicated???use the whole pouch and forget about the whole weight...

the ony thing to be completely sure is that the 2 surfaces to be glued MUST be completely DRY and CLEAN.

anyhow, i want to renew the offer...give it a try. send me an email and the first 10 SFA fabricators that request it i will send it for free to try. (1 each per shop of course...)
BTW a video of the glaxs is on youtube, tenaxusa web site or tenaxusa blog.

[Boyd]

Filippo is right about the metering [measuring]. We use a postal meter for measuring ratios on different Tenax glues.
They work fine.

You must remember Filippo divides in Italian, but multiplies in American. Same for Domenico.

Boyd, SFA

[DavidL]

Thank you for the info Filippo, this thread had been extremely informative!!!

[Nick]

I know this is a general thread, but to have a ballpark, how much more is a quart of glaxs compared to crystal and is it knife grade or flowing or both?

Also, James may need to elaborate on the mixing. Us glue shops are not big on anything other than measuring by "feel" or eyeball and the only people I know that use digital postal scales at work make much more money than granite fabricators .

[tenaxusa]

@Nick: glaxs is about 4 times more expensive then crystal.(but then again you need to see everything in prospective...think about a nice calacatta or carrara countertop...how much 40-50 dollars of glue are percentage wise worth on the overall cost of the job?? and how much a bad seam or lamination job will eventually cost???)
also i completely agree with you...that's why we made the single use packaging and we strongly suggest to stay out of scale and grams...especially on glues that are more sensitives on right ratios then others...

[james d]

How many grams are in one can of glass?

[dustinbraudway]

James it should say how many ounces it has on the can. Just break it down to grams. For the liquid hardner I went to a local marine supplier and bought a little bottle that I can pour all the liquid hardner in. It has a cup on top that you can squeeze the bottle and it will fill the cup up top to the amount of cc's you need. Or you can also just get a scale. I use bought scale and cup often to just double check everything.

[Nick]

and how much a bad seam or lamination job will eventually cost???).

Are you implying that Tenax Crystal provides bad seams and laminations? That is the product we are comparing Glaxs to....



Sorry couldn't resist . You do not need to explain value, and if you did, I would not be a customer you would want. I will have to look into the measuring. One time glues are worthless for our shop, maybe fine for some, but I run through crystal. 4x the price is fine considering cure time, but I need to be able to use it like I use a quart of crystal meaning a tiny bit for a small fill or a full cup for a lamination. Is it an epoxy or poly? Sounds like epoxy.

This whole mixture thing is concerning though. So is it a weight ratio that has to be perfect? How long does it last in 90* climate?

Sorry for asking you a bunch of questions, but I am taking advantage of the opportunity in speaking with you (who knows your product) rather than the salespeople who act like they do, but do not really. We so alot of "white" marbles and other things and this is of great interest to me.

[tenaxusa]

who said that crystal was bad for lamination now???
crystal is still one of your best option for laminating every kind of stones. it is as strong as an epoxy and has no color. crystal clear. itcan be used to laminate granite as well.
now i thought here we were talking about a very specific kind of lamination, white marble.
crystal, like all the other water clear glue needs to be mixed with MEK (liquid hardener) and by the time the glue hardens up, MEK can actually seep through and create a "wet" joint. eventually it might fade away, but it might take time.
this will be visible only on very light color materials.

now glaxs will take care of both problem, speed and "wet" joint.

[Boyd]

Nick,

We order resin in large quantities. It only takes a certain number of ounces to re-resin a slab. So, we measure via a meter every single time. This is not rocket science. Plus, there is a slight margin for error. Not much, but a little.

Boyd, SFA

[james d]

Yes we also use a scale for mixing our epoxies, The Polys by eye, Used crystal once
and couldn't get it to kick fast enough. I was askin about the glaxs weight in the can
because When you have multiple jobs goin on there is constant mixing thruout the day and to mix a whole
can seems like a waste. Glue is a huge occurence over here. 25 grams will usually laminate 15 lin ft.

Ya we try not to waste around here. Whenever I see a big batch of glue mixed up I POP!!

[james d]

Oh we use stone weld whenever we can.
Have not yet seen this one bleed we do
our fair share of white marbles!

[tenaxusa]

glaxs pouches are 100 grams, while the cans are 400 grams

[Carmine Pantano]

glaxs pouches are 100 grams, while the cans are 400 grams

I was just going to type that. The 100 gram pouches actually have Part A & Part B already in it. Each part on each end. You squeeze the bag kinda hard to break the seal in the middle and you mix the package together with your hands. Think a Juicy Juice bag before you poke a hole in it with your straw. But no air in it, just Glaxys and hardner.

I have a HUGE marble lam job coming up and I will be getting the 100 gram pouches so that the mixing is stupid proof for my guys not to worry about measuring.

I'll get pics and give feedback when we do the job.