Reliable glass glue

[beachglass]

can any of you suggest a RELIABLE glue for fastening glass to silver plated discs (bracelet) shown on pg 18 of your R'N'T catalog.
also glue for holding glass to glass (i.e.)  sea glass to glass hurricaine lamp   thanks...bev

[Metalman]

My 'glue of choice' for glass has always been 100% silicone.  Like they use to build fish tanks.  It comes in black, white,almond and clear.  You can also find silicone gasket material which is a 100% silicon glue in a tube, comes in a clear blue and red colors, at the auto supply store. Works great for glass to glass when you don't have a perfect [that's absolutely perfect] fit.  If you have a perfect fit, epoxy glues work well and there are UV setting glues for glass which are completely clear when set.  I have the impression that the E6000 glue would work well in this application but someone will have to speak to that, I have not used it.

[Luann Udell]

Can I piggy-back on this question?

I want to repair some beautiful antique Venetian millefiori glass trade beads that broke in transit to me.  I tried a super-glue (Zap-a-gap), and it held on a couple but not on the rest.  Which, come to think of it, probably means the glue is nearing the end of its shelf life....

But is a super-glue still the best candidate for an unobtrusive, sturdy glue for glass?  (I won't be selling or using the repaired beads, just keeping them for my personal stash.)

[Metalman]

Well if they are opaque glass, then yes I think the superglue family is the way to go.
I like the Bead Fix glue[R&T 60242]
If the beads have transparency - I might still use the UV setting but I might not buy it if that is the only usage I have. A strong source of UV light might be necessary

[Polly]

Of the glues that we stock, here are my recommendations:

For gluing glass-to-glass, we've had good luck with Epoxy 330 and 220.
Epoxy 220 is stronger, but has an amber color which wouldn't work well, for example, for repairing Swarovski crystal figurines that have come apart.  For that type of repair, back when we had a jewelry store, we used the Epoxy 330 because it dries clear.

So I would recommend the Epoxy 220 for the trade beads (making sure of course, that the 2 parts to be joined are free of dust and oils first -- but you know that -- I'm just saying it for other readers).

For metal-to-glass, we have a number of glues that should work.
#60-250 G-S Hypo Tube Cement is designed for gluing watch crystals, so it works for gluing metal to glass.  But we've noticed it doesn't work well for metal-to-metal bonds, not sure why.
It works much like a superglue:  works best on surfaces that fit precisely together.

Then these 2 I don't know as much about: Bead Fix and Crafter's Pick.
Bead Fix works well for gluing memory wire ends, which is a metal-to-metal bond, and involves a little bit of air space, so I think this might work well for other metal-to-metal bonds that have a bit bigger gap than superglues work for.

(I will come back and edit this later today to add more links.  Running into a deadline right now that I need to wrap up.)

--Polly