Does it have a use by date stamped on the bottom in black – all my genuine ones do?

I am not sure that a chap who ignores a use-by date for over 25 years should be worried about whether his latest supply is genuine or not.

Tim

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Very similar experience here

MichaelG.

You make some good points, Dave, but let me give you the story:

I'm not going to labour this [it's been done to death in previous threads], but in summary:

The original Loctite grades were all anaerobic-curing 'acrylics' [in the generic sense]

The advice that we were given by the technical staff at Hemel Hempstead was simply that the cured product would have much the same mechanical characteristics, however it cured. … Ergo, if it's still sufficiently liquid to get out of the container and into the job it's still good to use. These products have very little 'adhesive' characteristic; they are essentially gap-fillers.

Henkel's range is obviously much broader now, and some of the products will have genuine shelf lives … but there is a cynical little nag in my mind telling me that it's to their great advantage to 'shelf-life' all of the products.

The dregs of my 30+ year old bottle of 638 are currently sitting open to the air … I cut the top off the bottle when I could no longer unscrew the cap … and I will have no hesitation using it when I need to.

MichaelG.

The use by dates are of course for qualty control, All products have a data sheet which at Leica we filed and referred to as needed. In the Instrument repair system Leica garantee use of instruments to minus 50 C But, only if lubricated with genuine in date greases. Some of these greases cost £500 for a kilo ! a small 25 gm pot dated could be £50. All the greases were of Avionic requirement. Greases dry out, solvents and thinner parts evaporate and the grease become hard.

Every 3 mionths we would check the dates and even if it had not been used was disposed of. The grease had very little other use as they were specfied for a particular purpose and not for general use. Of interest it was recomended that instruments were serviced/overhauled every 12 months.

We also used adhesives and these were supplied in one off packs and again dated but kept in a refrigerator at a specified temperature, again if not used by the sell by date they were disposed of. One knows how dusty workshops and shelves can get and contamination of small bottles of Loctite etc is endemic. I have had Loctites fail, these being adhesive types. no idea why but would eventually go back to a mechanical fix of some sort.

Bandersnatch is totally correct, it's all about liability and total costs. Twenty or thirty pounds for a bottle of sealant (or lubricant) may sound a lot to a hobbyist but it's a fraction of the cost of re-working a batch of kit when it didn't go off, or a warranty claim, never mind being sued because a car, train or plane crashed because a screw came loose. It does happen, the 2011 crash of a P51 Mustang at the Reno air races killing 10 spectators and the owner/pilot was caused by the failure of locking on a small screw on a elevator trim tab (not loctite, an old "red fibre" insert captive lock nut that probably ha been on the aircraft sincei t was built). You don't want to be the company that saved £20 on loctite and killed people and / or caused millions in damage. I have a bin full of precision minature bearings for aircraft equipment whose lubication time expired 20 years ago and I rescued frm the skip. They are fine for hobby work but I would not put them in an aircraft.

Robert.

Edited By Robert Atkinson 2 on 24/09/2018 23:13:20

Edited By Robert Atkinson 2 on 24/09/2018 23:13:51

Years ago, (about 14) I made up a backplate to fit ER collet chucks to my lathe (slightly unusual Mandrel thread size)

Having coated both chuck and backplate with well outdated Loctite thechuick was clocked on the bore and gently knocked until it ran true within 0.0005". later, I obtained backplate castings and ha machined them, attempted to remove the ER collet chucks from the fabricated backplates. I ceased using a copper/hide mallet when the danger of doing damage became obvious. The collets are still on the fabricated backplates!

So a couple of C I backplates with a 2.25 x 8 tpi BSW thread are surplus to requirements.

Howard

I have a bottle of Loctite screwlock which must be 20 years + and I still use it today, seems to work as it always has.

I see there are a few cheaper brands available now but I wonder if they are actually the same as their Loctite equivalent and work as well, maybe they do….?

I do think though that Loctite base their pricing on their trade name. Last week I had a choice of a Loctite cyno for £12.45 or the same size bottle from an unknown supplier for £3.75. I went with the cheaper one as I have used cheapo cyno for years and never had any issues.

‘Fraid 20 years is nowhere near the oldest. I have one small bottle which is well over 45 years old. Originally used for big end bolts on Ford Anglia /Cortina/Escort engines in the early 70s. I didn’t buy it – my brother gave it me.

I’ve replaced it several times over the years, while the tiny bottle was “lost” but used when found and needed. Most recently used only last year. It has out-lasted some of the larger ‘Truloc’ bottles of sealant obtained just over 30 years ago.

I do have a recent acquisition of a bottle of permanent loctite equivalent, but my little 40 year old plain ‘loctite’ (no number as far as I recall) is still liquid, still works and is findable – again – in my workshop.

Like the artful codger, I needed a new stock of Loctite 603, and was seduced by a 50ml bottle for less than £8 from China. The labelling, at least the English parts, is completely upfront about it being made in China by Henkel Asia Pacific, and the use by date on mine has just passed. Would they do that if they were trying to counterfeit? Anyway, the product looks and smells very similar to the nearly empty 20 year old bottle I have on the shelf, and it seems to work ok though I haven’t done any severe tests. However I’ve noticed that liquid leaking from a joint sets hard if it isn’t wiped away very quickly. It seems that being in contact with cured material in the joint is sufficient, even though it’s in the open air. My old stuff stays liquid for ages if it’s outside the joint. Something is certainly different, But does it matter in terms of bond strength?

For the record: **LINK**

http://www.loctite.co.th/tht/content_data/Loctite_Shelf_Life.pdf

MichaelG.