Has anyone successfully used an entire bottle of this stuff? I get through 4-5 uses of it before the cap seizes to bottle and is welded on and it’s time to buy a new bottle. Its to the point where I take extra care when storing, moving, or shaking the bottle to make sure none of the liquid gets up near the threads. I try to wipe down the threads with a wet cloth before re-capping. Am I doing something wrong? Anyone here have any tips on how to handle this stuff?
-
When I used it at an old job, we would use methyl-ethyl ketone to return it to a liquid state or to thin it out. Not a pleasant chemical (the methyl-ethyl ketone). The culture of the company had no problem just buying more VC3 if it dried out. The problem was the engineer(s) who thought it was a good product to use because it maintains its thread holding ability through several threading cycles unlike loctite. I honestly think it’s a very limited use case chemical and not sure what an actual good case is. I’ve used it on M3-M8 screws so roughly 4-40 to ⅜-24 of the queen’s English. It’s simply to viscous and sticky.
My opinion of VC3 for paintball applications is not good. It’s very thick/difficult to apply thin which can lead to big problems since most of the screws in paintball are 10-32 or smaller.
If you insist on a thread locking compound, I would suggest Loctite 242 (blue normal stuff) Loctite 248 (blue waxy paste like stuff in a glue stick tube), or for even lighter duty, Loctite 222 (light duty pink stuff). -
I use a very little of it on the cocking rod and the pump arm where it threads into the back block. I use blue loctite in most other places (ex the pump arm where it threads into the ram). I started using VC-3 after watching one of ID Simon’s vids a few years back.Comment
-
Blue loc tite. I have still only had one application of red in 22ish years of playing now.
Sent from my motorola edge 2024 using Tapatalk
I use Tapatalk which does NOT display comments. If you want me to see it, make it a post not a comment.
Feedback
https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/b...323-s-feedbackComment
-
I’ve seen the video where Simon recommended VC3. I’m not a paintball professional like him. My experience with VC3 was pretty much 90% negative but it wasn’t paintball related. I’ve been playing paintball for 20 plus years, spent 12 years as an automotive tech for Honda, 4.5 years working on cutting edge auto technology (where I used VC3), and currently build ultra-high precision motion systems (4 years). In my experience, I can’t think of a solid use for VC3 especially in paintball.
I use the Loctite products I suggested daily. The 248 paste stuff is very nice to use, but I honestly think it has very little holding ability. It’s not as strong as the 222 pink liquid. I use the 248 on M1.6, M2, and larger screws daily without concern of breaking screws. I’ve removed the tiny screws days and weeks later without issue.Comment
-
I almost always use 242 for anything that needs thread locker. I know how it behaves. So does everyone else who turns a wrench. This predictability does not bore me, so I don’t go looking for alternatives.
At a job I had a few years ago they decided to switch from Loctite to Vibratite to save money. The guy came and explained to us what the 1/1 equivalent was for the Loctite products we used and the whole thing seemed completely stupid at the time. I know Loctite can be expensive and the price certainly has gone up but I use maybe, *maybe* one of those little bottles in a year. Maybe. Sometimes I’ll get three years out of it. How much money could we possibly be saving? Why bother to learn new product names to save a penny a day?
People don’t get fired for buying name brands. They get fired for buying other stuff. There is a YouTube-famous guy who is known for a similar saying. Him saying it plainly made me realize how true it is.
We already know what the name brand does. The other stuff could contain unknown characteristics. If you already are %100 happy with Snap On or BASF or Mobil 1, if you know for sure that works, then changes only offer the same thing at best and at worst the ingress of new unforeseen problems.
If you’re faced with two choices. Both are the same except one might have a problem, pick the problem-free one. I can’t think of anything more problem-free than 242 Loctite.
Comment
-
no to VC-3. does not hold, hard to work with, dries out quickly, and expensive. Loctite or Permatex adhesives are the best choices for paintball.Comment
-
I tried vibratite used it one time and threw it in the back of the tool box cause I'll never use that shit again, screwed up a brand new ram base with that stuff, as others have said it's just to thick and sticky blue locktite is just so much easier to useComment
-
Multiple yes but not for paintball applicationsComment
Comment