Bonding metal track to van

Barley53

Barley53

Member
T6 Pro
Hi, I'm looking to bond a lightweight piece of steel track, thin and about a meter long, to the side of my van. Welding and rivets/screws are not an option, can anyone recommend from personal experience the best method to stick bare metal to (painted) metal?

Thanks,
 
To hold what sort of weight? ..... fairy lights or a mountain bike?

Silicone?

Epoxy resins?

Sikaflex?
 
Led strip light @Dellmassive .
I've seen plenty of chat on the internet all claiming that this method is better than that etc, so I'm hoping that forum members might have some practical experience
 
Does it have to be permanent ?
How about strong small magnets - loads on EBay.

Pete
 
Cheers guys, all useful stuff. It doesn't need to be permanent, any method that is secure against uk elements, roads etc so any suggestions are welcome.
 
Thanks everyone. Seems there's plenty of methods to fix this fairly lightweight object on, I just like to be sure of my info...
 
'Tis up. Attached to the underside of the awning rail so that I get light with the awning up. Thought I'd wait 'till the weather warmed up a bit before permanently attaching, so for a temp install I heated the metal with a heat gun on low setting and attached the profile with double sided carpet tape.

Temp install my a*rse. Buggered if I can budge it...... Works a treat though.

20210212_175215.jpg
 
I installed a sail track on my drivers side to fit an awning to shade my fridge. I used 3M vhb double sided tape and it's a really strong bond. That tape grips very well.
 
Carpet tape is not usually waterproof so test adhesion after its had some prolonged rain on it!
 
Another shout for 3M VHB tape.

Its only stuff that properly sticks on trims to car body work in all conditions.
 
Paynewright said:
Carpet tape is not usually waterproof so test adhesion after its had some prolonged rain on it!
Click to expand...
Defo @Paynewright, at the moment I've got the awning strip in the rail to keep any direct rain off the tape, I certainly intend to try to fix it on with a more permanent solution when things warm up a bit....

@AussieMick , @.50 , I bought some vhb tape that claims to be perfect for the job, but although I heated the metal a bit the tape refused to stick. I assumed that it was still too cold to bond, but would you mind posting the details of the tape you used please?
 
I used 3M VHB tape. First I cleaned the area I wanted to stick it to with alcohol, then applied tape. The temperature was probably over 20 degrees so I have no experience using it in cold weather.
I tested it by sticking a small off cut to a metal cupboard door in my garage and I cant pull it off so it really grabs.
Cleaning the surface is important.
I have a strip led light in my awning that is clear siliconed in and has been there over 3 years.
Looks to be in the same spot as yours but tape should work.
 
Cheers @AussieMick . I cleaned the area with alcohol and used 3m vhb tape for metals, despite warming the metal the tape absolutely refused to grab so will assume the ambient temperature plays a part (it wasn't much above zero...) . I'll try again when it gets warmer, tape or sikaflex.

Thanks again.
 
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