A look at the growing number of applications where epoxy adhesives have replaced or augmented mechanical fasteners.
Almost from Magnolia's founding in 1957, our customers have looked to benefit from the advantages chemical fastening offers over mechanical fastening. In the case of Magnolia, the chemical has been formulating epoxy adhesives. One of the first memories I have of epoxy replacing rivets, bolts, screws or other mechanical fasteners was in 1962. My father, Magnolia founder Don Wells, allowed me to drive him to see customers in the Southeast as a summer job when I was 15 years old and had just received my learner's permit.
Although I had worked in the manufacturing area of Magnolia during previous summers, this was the first time I had been exposed to the end users of the products I had helped produce, pack and ship. We visited companies building mobile box-like structures, such as manufactured housing, over-the-road trailers, school buses, recreational vehicles, motorcoaches and fire trucks. We called on makers of such diverse objects as golf clubs, residential and commercial windows and doors, and airplanes. We saw companies engaged in repairing bridges, underwater piers and other above- and below-water construction projects. All in all, it was a very enlightening summer for me, and probably a nerve-racking summer for my father, given my less-than-perfect driving skills.