3194: 16 Part Epoxy

16 Part Epoxy

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Title text: Some surfaces may seem difficult to glue. But if you research the materials, find tables of what adhesives work on them, and prepare your surfaces carefully, you can fail to glue them in a fun NEW way that fills your house with dangerous vapors.

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Explanation

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This is one of 61 incomplete explanations: This page was created by a bot covered in various types of glue. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic refers to epoxy, a substance used for attaching other materials. Many types of epoxy are multi-part, where the components, such as resin and a hardener, are stored separately. They are mixed on use, so that the epoxy cures into a solid, binding to whatever surfaces on which it was applied. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with many components that are implausible or make fun of common problems people have when using epoxy in real life.

The title text references how not all epoxies and glues work on every material, and that applying them on some can require special techniques or products. Some industrial or industrial-grade adhesives contain solvents (e.g., tetrachloroethylene, which is used in E6000 glue) that release harmful vapors as they cure. If used improperly, this can result in the release of chemical vapors in an enclosed space along other dangerous side effects, while also not working as a glue as intended.

Type	Real?	Explanation
Resin	Yes	A liquid which turns into a polymer when mixed with a hardener.
Hardener	Yes	A thick liquid which is mixed with resin to create a durable polymer which is commonly used as a glue.
Filler	Yes	An optional addition to the hardener and resin which changes the properties of the polymer.
Softener	Yes	A substance which is added to polymer to soften the polymer and increase its impact resistance.
Rosin	Yes	While this looks like a joke entry, this is actually an alternative to resin which is extracted naturally rather than synthesized from other chemicals. Rosin is frequently applied to the bows of string instruments like violins or fiddles to improve the sound, as immortalized in the famous song "The Devil Flew Down to Georgia".
Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else	No	One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing it when it bonds to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it more useful for a practical joke. Some epoxies are specifically designed for gluing skin, usually for medical purposes, but none are known to bond to skin exclusively.[actual citation needed] The most common kinds are moisture-activated, which means they will not easily bond to fully dried surfaces, where often most non-skin surfaces are dry.
Stuff that will crack and turn white over a few days, for decorative appearance	Not effective as epoxy	'Crackle effect' is a real thing for crafters, and can be created by mixing paint and glue, but is not recommended if you want two surfaces to adhere, since most paint is made to be non-adherent in order to be durable [actual citation needed].
Placebo	Not in this field	The placebo effect happens when somebody is told that something has a certain effect, when in reality there is no effect. This is commonly used in medical studies to determine whether a medication actually does something as opposed to simply having a psychosomatic effect, but Randall is using this term to describe the type of polymer. This makes no sense, because the polymer would need to make someone believe it is gluing things together without actually doing anything, which is highly unlikely. Alternatively, this could refer to a component or filler that claims to serve a specific purpose while having no true benefit, causing the perception of benefit to the consumer (presumably causing better reviews).
Minced duct tape	No	Randall is pretending that having very small pieces of sticky duct tape would make a good adhesive. In fact, cutting duct tape into small pieces would weaken it and make it less effective at sticking things together. In the UK, the word 'minced' can also mean 'made worthless', which would also not augur well for the adhesive.
Acetone fragrance	No	The fragrance of acetone is very similar to that of nail polish remover and comes from a natural solvent within it. Most people consider this scent incredibly unpleasant. This would also be worthless in an epoxy set, as the fragrance would have no effect on adhesiveness while making it smell worse.
Powdered bar magnets	No	While this would still work, as each tiny piece of magnet would still become a magnet in its own right, it would be much worse than a normal bar magnet due to the random orientation of each piece.
Polyethylvinylesteracetate	No	This appears to be a reference to polyvinyl acetate, otherwise known as wood glue, but with extra prefixes tacked on to make it seem more sophisticated. Polyvinyl acetate is a type of polyvinyl ester but having ester alongside acetate in the name is redundant. Additionally, polyvinyl acetate doesn't usually contain ethyl groups. The manufacturer of this product may have added a minute amount to make the product look fancier without noticeably changing performance.
2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate	No	This would be exactly the same as the normal one.
Salt and pepper to taste	Not in this field	Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor. Using this would have no effect on the polymer.
Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas	No	Gorilla Glue is a popular brand of superglue which uses gorillas as its mascot. In this case, the blood of the gorillas would be extracted and placed in the polymer, which would have no effect because they're depicted as just regular gorillas that happen to carry glue everywhere.
Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours	No	Another common annoyance when using a polymer is that some types do not form an adhesive bond with certain materials. In this case, the polymer would bond with every material except for the one you were using, causing great distress.

Transcript

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This is one of 37 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

Standard 16-Part Epoxy

[An epoxy applicator with a single push bar and sixteen differently-colored chambers, each labeled]

Resin

Hardener

Filler

Softener

Rosin

Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else

Stuff that will turn white and crack over a few days, for decorative appearance

Placebo

Minced duct tape

Acetone Fragrance

Powdered bar magnets

Polyethylvinylesteracetate

2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate

Salt and pepper to taste

Blood sample from the Gorilla Glue gorillas

Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours

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Discussion

Woah, just reloaded it and new comic! Sick... I should probably read it now. Willintendo (talk) 20:02, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Explain first; read later! 82.13.184.33 10:18, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Paint bucket fill tool strikes again. --Lycheefoxpup (talk) 20:18, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

TABLES! TABLES! TABLES! WOOOOOO!!!!!! --DollarStoreBa'al^Converse 20:21, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Table created. However, I am a teenager and do not work in construction, so the explanations may need some work. --DollarStoreBa'al^Converse 20:56, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Every item in this table is real. Ask me how I know. 64.201.132.210 21:34, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

How does the placebo work? Does it just kinda mind control you?--DollarStoreBa'al^Converse 21:42, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Robert'); DROP TABLE Epoxy;--

Did it work? 2001:1998:3500:42C:0:0:0:534 23:27, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Thought for placebo adhesive: Water between two microscope slides. It'll stick real good, but it's not really glue, more... fancy pressure physics. 142.165.161.48 22:28, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

"Duck" tape, not "duct". Come on Randall, you know better than that. Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 00:08, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Both spellings are used. One is trademarked. 76.187.17.7 03:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Read this: https://archive.is/Fq5Js Viliml (talk) 09:36, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

But "duct" screams folk etymology. "Duck" sounded unlikely so people though it must be "duct"...but it's a huge leap to think that a tape that some people tended to use for a/c ducts would actually be named "duct tape". Both the tape and the word "duct" are too general purpose for that. Is it known as that? Yes? Does it make sense though? Not for a second. Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 10:38, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Now I'm wondering what the properties of a powdered bar magnet would even be, if each individual piece continued to be magnetic. 2405:201:E010:1029:2C1E:1669:FA92:85DE 00:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

A magnetic powder stops being diamagnetic. All the north poles clamp onto a south pole, so the magnetic fields essentially all cancel. You end up with "lump of magnetic powder", not "one big magnet" or "powder you can disperse in a liquid." Nitpicking (talk) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

But all the little pieces of magnets are still full magnets with a north and a south pole. Magnetic monopoles have, so far, not been observed in practice. --Coconut Galaxy (talk) 06:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

So, the 2-poly(etc) seems to me to suggest that instead of being "-vinyl-ethyl-vinyl-ethyly-" polimerisation, with the links between both 'ethyl-like' backbone subcomponents being from opposite ends of the respective subunit carbon-pairing, it'd more likely now be considered as a polymethyl-group with a methyl (or methylene) group as the now unused onward '1-'site, hanging free of the new polychain. I'd have to check the bond-geometries, though to see if it would even work. (Ignoring the obvious problem with the made up name.) 92.23.2.208 01:44, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

I feel like the Polyethylvinylesteracetate is a joke about how polymer names are often long and gibberish-sounding. Potatocakethrow (talk)

Rosin is also used soldering, which might be relevant to adhesives. Soldering is used to join pipes, among other things. Nitpicking (talk) 03:32, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

>"Rosin is also used soldering, ...to join pipes" Plumbing (pipes) soldering more often uses "acid flux" (Zinc Chloride and similar), not rosin which is used in electronics and jewelry. --PRR (talk) 05:48, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

While it's less common in glues than other animal products (such as skin, bones, or cheese), blood-based glues are (or historically were) a thing. Citation: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/blood-glue

Gorillas would not be a suitable source of this blood, though. 178.251.89.99 (talk) 07:09, 15 January 2026 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
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