3194: 16 Part Epoxy

16 Part Epoxy

|< < Prev #3194 (January 14, 2026)

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 59 incomplete explanations: This page was created by a bot that likes the taste of salty glue. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic refers to epoxy, substances used as adhesives, sealants, and coatings. Many types of epoxy are multi-part, where the components, such as resin and a hardener, are stored separately. For ease of use, this can be in parallel syringes (of equal volume, or suitably different where a mixing ratio of 2:1 or 3:2 might be desired) such that the user simultaneously squeezes out the isolated chemicals by depressing both syringes at once. They are then mixed together on the target surface, so that the combined epoxy quickly cures into the desired solid, binding whatever surfaces upon which it is applied and then brought into contact with. This comic presents a fictitious 16-part epoxy, with the same apparent logic of parallel deposition in mind, 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 Went Down to Georgia".
Stuff that bonds permanently to skin and nothing else	No	One key annoyance with sticky substances is the difficulty of removing them when they bond to skin. In this case, the polymer bonds solely to skin instead of anything else, making it mostly only really 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]. Poor finish can be a frustrating problem when applying such mixtures to visible surfaces, especially when the problem only appears some time after you've congratulated yourself on a job well-done.
Placebo	Not in the field of adhesives	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	Acetone is a volatile solvent used in a number of glues and paints (incl. nail polish), but it weakens epoxy and can even be used to remove uncured epoxy. It has a strong, distinctive, very unpleasant smell, and is actually toxic, meaning that fragrance is an odd reason for adding it to any product.
Powdered bar magnets	No	While this would still work, as each tiny piece of magnet would still be 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	Not in epoxy	This appears to be a reference to Poly (ethylene-vinyl acetate), some formulations of which can be used as the adhesive in hot-glue guns. Vinyl acetate is an ester, so the inclusion of that term is redundant. The cadence of the constructed word may also be a reference to the television episode Lucy Does a TV Commercial and its memorable product "Vitameatavegamin".
2-Polyethylvinylesteracetate	Unclear	This sounds almost exactly the same as the above item. But a name with a "2-" prefix generally indicates that the initial bit of the name is a functional group attached to the second position along a chemical chain (often being the carbon-carbon 'spine' of a molecule, in large-molecule organic chemistry), rather than attached to its end. Because the molecule name is (deliberately) malformed, it's hard to tell what is supposed to be attached to the second carbon of what subunit.
Salt and pepper to taste	Not for taste, but salt can be useful	Salt and pepper are two incredibly popular condiments which are used to enhance a dish's flavor. But the taste of your epoxy should not be your concern. Do not eat epoxy. But salt or sand or other fine grains are sometimes recommended to add a bit of grit to an adhesive. Generally glues or epoxies need the bonded materials to be firmly held together while the glue cures. But when first pressed together, any excess glue is squeezed out and can cause the surfaces to slip around and need to be re-aligned. Any extra friction in the epoxy can help alleviate that.
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 not be any more efficacious than any other gorilla's blood, because they're depicted as regular gorillas that just happen to carry glue everywhere.
Stuff that bonds to every known material except yours	No	Another common annoyance when using an adhesive is that each glue type only forms 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 and leaving you in a fix.

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)

To be fair, it is more commonly used for taping ducts than it is used for taping ducks 2A01:CB1C:12EF:7900:953B:FFB2:21E3:47EC 12:43, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

To add on to that point, the most popular use for pipe cleaners (other than elementary school craft projects) is to clean pipes, so it's not that much of a stretch. --DollarStoreBa'al^Converse

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 ~~~~)

The traditional song "Rosin the Bow" may be less well known than "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", but rosin is in the title. 87.75.47.93 10:46, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

How would you even squeeze that thing Yaokuan ITB (talk) 18:09, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

The main page has been vandalized with pornography 65.35.147.191 (talk) 15:13, 15 January 2026‎ (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

sodium bicarbonate can be used on cyanoacrylate glues as an accelerant and hardener. Pergaps salt can play a similar role in some epoxy mixes? 131.255.152.112 18:27, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
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