Ballistic nylon as the skin. 1st try

Trying on the back side of “silent shamisen” just to check if the glue would hold it in place at all.


Need to speed up the skin stretcher build as those clamps fall apart at the certain tension 8-(

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The first glue I have used did not work.
Trying with a different one.

You should tag Kyle on your “glue for hibiki” post. He could probably save you some guess work.

Good point. He does Hibiki reskinning himself.

@Kyle_Abbott, can you please share the trade secret on what glue you use for Hibiki and alike?

Hi Alexey! (Thanks for the tagging suggestion, Marylin! :slight_smile: )

All synthetic skins in Japan (including Hibiki) are attached with industrial strength super glue.

Cheers!
Kyle

Thanks Kyle! As I thought.
Do you have any specific glue brand or number by the chance?
As it is hundreds of the “industrial strength super glues” (mostly CA type).
My understanding it would require a “professional” type stretching machine with an ability to pre-stretch the material before pressing it on the dou as the open time for this kind of glue is very short and “classic” method of stretching wold be impossible.

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I use Aron Alpha (which is the same company as Crazy Glue, I believe). You’re correct, the skin needs to be pre-stretched as the glue sets very fast. It’s possible System III T-88 epoxy might work? (very long open time and about 7000lb strength)

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I see. I was thinking using Slo-Zap CA glue with setting time of 30 seconds. Epoxy might work as well.

Hello Alexey,
I hope all is well. I am new to the community but have read quite a bit and see you are a pretty active member. I enjoy and appreciate your contributions. I am building a couple of Shamisen and have coincidentally considered using ballistic nylon for the skin. I was very excited to see this thread. Did you finalize this experiment? What was the result if I may ask? Have a great day

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Hello Pol

I haven’t finished the nylon testing so far.
In order to do so I need to build skin pre-stretching machine first. I am on the stage of making 3d model and drawings needed for this.
As I mentioned, the glue needed for this has an extremely short cure time compared to animal skin glue and the “classic” way of stretching skin would not work unless you just soak the glue thru nylon.

Good luck with your experiment!

Actually I decided to try the epoxy Kyle recommended above, so I do not have to use the new machine for this.
I would update the thread as soon get results

Hello Alexey,

Thank you for the update! I am very intrigued to know about your result. BTW, I hope it’s not too late to tell you that it is my understanding that epoxy doesn’t do well on a “joint” under constant tension. I forget the term for this type of tension, but the skin pulling all the time in the same direction would be the tension I mean. I am not talking from experience, but I trust the person who told me this. It is a very flexible adhesive that will slowly just slide under this type of tension. You might want to try and find information on this particular matter. All the best!

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Hello Pol

Yes, you talking about shear load.
I am just hoping as it is a construction glue the shear stress from the skin would be not the extreme for this glue. It can handle 7000lbs per square inch tension stress, shear load to destroy the joint usually way less but should be sufficient enough. If rice glue can hold original skin, as far as glue would get hold on nylon it should work.

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