Loctite won’t cure on pivot screws

[spy4life]

I’m having issue with pivot screw coming loose with blue loctite and read somewhere that it won’t cure with stainless steel.

How do you guys cure your loctite? Use primer? Tried both red and blue but it never gets cured so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Bloke]

That's a strange one no doubt and I have no answer.

Personally I'd clean all the Loctite away as best I could with acetone and use nail polish.

[spy4life]

Personally I'd clean all the Loctite away as best I could with acetone and use nail polish.

That sounds like good alternative option to loctite.

[Hailon]

If there is any oil on those threads it wont.

Clean it all out with acetone or IPA and try again.

I had a pivot that wouldnt set an it was the oil mixing with loctite.

[spyderg]

I’ve had issues with blue loctite not being strong enough but don’t want to move to the red stuff. What I’ve found works well is plumbers tape, just once around, then loctite.

[remnar]

That's a strange one no doubt and I have no answer.

Personally I'd clean all the Loctite away as best I could with acetone and use nail polish.

I've used nail polish on small screws and it works great. In general though, you always want to make sure that all of the threads are cleaned of old thread locker and oil, and make sure you don't fiddle with it while it is curing. I have also used teflon plumbing tape on small screws with good success. I haven't tried it on pivot screws but it could possibly work well because it might give you the ability to do some adjusting while still keeping the screws from backing out. :) :spyder:

edit: I forgot to mention that over on some of the gun forums that I frequent it is common knowledge that pink nail polish is the best. :rolleyes:

[remnar]

If there is any oil on those threads it wont.

Clean it all out with acetone orIPA and try again.

I had a pivot that wouldnt set an it was the oil mixing with loctite.

Do you really use beer to clean your screws? :D

[ejames13]

I've consistently had the same issue on multiple knives. I bought some of the loctite primer and haven't looked back. Stuff works great.

[Hailon]

Do you really use beer to clean your screws? :D

Isopropyl alcohol :rolleyes:

[jacala]

I've had previous curing problems with blue loctite on my Glocks(sight screws)
Screws: male and female threads must be absolutely clean or loctite will not dry.
Must have patience to get a reliable outcome. I don't recommend using RED
loctite unless you have a blowtorch and jackhammer handy.
Not sure what the normal shelf life is for loctite.I wouldn't trust anything older
than 12 months.
Edited to correct my incorrect advice re type of loctite.

[Loudenboomer]

Blue locktite should be applied to a clean surface but I've used it on tractors to front engine dragsters in less than perfect conditions. The capillary action holding properties are still working for you even when it's not taking an epoxy looking set up. That's the beauty of the Blue

[Bill1170]

Cleanliness of the metal parts is the answer. Acetone is best in my experience. I’ve locked many threads in both stainless and plated carbon steel. Loctite is wonderful stuff.

[abbazaba]

Not flicking your knife after application is also key, ideally let it sit overnight.

[bouhunter]

I use blue every year for the height adjustments on my John Deere snow blower. Holds like a champ under extreme lake effect snow conditions!!! But I pour it into the bracket in large quantities :)

[Doc Dan]

As has been said, most likely there was some sort of lubricant on the screws or on the hole threads and so the Loctite would not set. I'd clean it all out really good with some acetone, blow it dry (just to make sure) and re-apply the Loctite.

And yes, pink or red nail polish are the best colors for screws. They get more sticky and dry hard.

[ross8425]

Oh it holds pretty good. The pivot screw on my DLT PM2 had so much blue loctite on it that I thought it was red. I had to heat it up with a soldering iron to get it to budge. Even then, I had to swap the other pivot screw out for the one that goes behind the clip because I almost stripped the head off. Maybe you just need to have it floating in loctite the way this knife was.