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Lazy-H98

Blue Loctite Drying Time?

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Expecting a new rail and rings for my Tikka 7MM any day now.  What is the drying time on blue Loctite?  Just wondering how long I should wait before heading to the range.  Thanks!

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Speaking of blue Loc-tite, I was talking to a certain scope manufacturer customer service a few months ago and they told me part of the problem I was having was because I used blue Loc-tite on all the screws.  They said it affected the torque and could cause bore alignment to be way off.  I've had several top-notch gunsmiths tell me to absolutely always use blue Loc-tite with every screw (bases and rings) and I've never had a problem.  Has anyone else every heard of blue Loc-tite causing the problems that the optics manufacturer described?  I've been meaning to ask this for quite some time and this thread reminded me of it.

Plus, I figured I'd give Lance a break for our deal of unlimited questions!

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Now that's a good question.  I've been talking to EGW and Vortex and they both advise a drop of blue loctite on rails and bases.

Can you share the scope manufacture?

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The Loctite will decrease the friction factor on threaded fasteners thus increasing the pinch force that is applied through the fastener.  Progressive tightening (like with lug nuts) is important to achieve uniformly distributed clamping forces . If you want to increase the cure speed to a few hours, you can use Loctite Primer T or N.  HOWEVER, this does increase the cure time to the point that it may set up during the progressive tightening -- you only have about 5 minutes so don't dinky-dork around.  It is also a good idea to degrease and thoroughly clean all the hardware before assembly.  Putting Loctite on the rails and bases I question -- it only cures in the absense of oxygen (anaeorobic) and I'm not sure they are tight enough to exclude oxygen.  I suppose if you use the primer, it may work.  Epoxy would be more appropriate.  

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Fastener manufactures specify torque values based on using a dry fastener. Some will give or list values for both. The long and short of it is using Loctite or any thing that lubricates the fastener has the effect increasing the specified torque value As Big Tub says. Really no need for any primmer just clean all surfaces with lacquer thinner or acetone apply the Loctite in the afternoon shoot the next morning. If you want to speed things up set firearm under a household lamp overnight.

 

Dan      

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14 hours ago, Lazy-H98 said:

Now that's a good question.  I've been talking to EGW and Vortex and they both advise a drop of blue loctite on rails and bases.

Can you share the scope manufacture?

That's funny, because it was a guy at Vortex that told me I should never use Loc-tite on bases or rings when I thought I was having scope troubles.  I ignored him and did what I've always done because I've never had a problem with blue Loc-tite and that was the first time in all my years doing this that I've heard that.

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On 8/17/2018 at 8:13 PM, IA Born said:

Speaking of blue Loc-tite, I was talking to a certain scope manufacturer customer service a few months ago and they told me part of the problem I was having was because I used blue Loc-tite on all the screws.  They said it affected the torque and could cause bore alignment to be way off.  I've had several top-notch gunsmiths tell me to absolutely always use blue Loc-tite with every screw (bases and rings) and I've never had a problem.  Has anyone else every heard of blue Loc-tite causing the problems that the optics manufacturer described?  I've been meaning to ask this for quite some time and this thread reminded me of it.

Plus, I figured I'd give Lance a break for our deal of unlimited questions!

The liquid on the threads would allow the fastener to clamp slightly tighter in relation to a dry fastener when the same torque was applied. If a torque wrench was used along with a proper tightening pattern it would seem impossible the the addition of loc-tite would have any chance of causing a shift in the scope mounts. As long as the torque is even on all of the fasteners there should be no shift. I think the guy who told you that needs to go take one of those tests where you pee in a bottle.

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12 hours ago, 300RUM said:

The liquid on the threads would allow the fastener to clamp slightly tighter in relation to a dry fastener when the same torque was applied. If a torque wrench was used along with a proper tightening pattern it would seem impossible the the addition of loc-tite would have any chance of causing a shift in the scope mounts. As long as the torque is even on all of the fasteners there should be no shift. I think the guy who told you that needs to go take one of those tests where you pee in a bottle.

That's what I figured and I was scratching my head something fierce after that phone call.  Thanks!

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