UV resin recommendations/advice?

[SGluedMyFingers]

Hi. It's been years since I posted on the forums. I was doing the RPF Facebook Group, now I'm off FB. Good to be back.

I bought some prewired smds with plans to white glue them to the end of a fiber optic strands and then encase that in some Aves (2-part apoxie) to light block and secure.

I got the smds in and they include a big notice about adhesives to avoid. Apparently these are pretty fragile to heat and moisture: hot glue and 2-part epoxies are too hot they say and may/will damage them. So Aves may be out.

They do recommend UV resin however. I've been seeing this stuff around a few years on youtube and such. The application possibilities have piqued my interest and I'm hoping it solves my immediate need.

Any brand recommendations? Tips for use? Things to avoid?

The stuff is pretty expensive. Low shelf life too. Hopefully you guys can hep me avoid any costly mistakes. I have a cart prepped with Green Stuff World and I'm looking at some JDiction HV. Anyone have experience with these? THNX!

 

[Antsnest]

Aves doesn't even get warm, you should have absolutely no trouble with that, but I question the advice you were given - SMD devices are _designed_ to be heated up to 250+ degrees whilst soldering (albeit for a short amount of time) so they should easily be able to stand "hot" epoxies and even hot glue.
I have regularly used both CA and 5 minute 2-part epoxy glue to secure SMDs for years with absolutely no problems whatsoever - however you cannot use CA on Fiber Optic, it will cause brittleness.
If you have access to a 3D printer, something I do these days is make a little adapter that you can glue the LED in one end, and the FO in the other so they meet in the middle correctly aligned - this provides a very strong mechanical bond that is not going to fail on you at a critical moment.
There's an example here from my Razor Crest build Revell Razor Crest Lighting WIP - this is with a 3mm round LED but the principle is the same for SMDs just smaller.

 

[SGluedMyFingers]

Aves doesn't even get warm, you should have absolutely no trouble with that, but I question the advice you were given - SMD devices are _designed_ to be heated up to 250+ degrees whilst soldering (albeit for a short amount of time) so they should easily be able to stand "hot" epoxies and even hot glue.
I have regularly used both CA and 5 minute 2-part epoxy glue to secure SMDs for years with absolutely no problems whatsoever - however you cannot use CA on Fiber Optic, it will cause brittleness.
If you have access to a 3D printer, something I do these days is make a little adapter that you can glue the LED in one end, and the FO in the other so they meet in the middle correctly aligned - this provides a very strong mechanical bond that is not going to fail on you at a critical moment.
There's an example here from my Razor Crest build Revell Razor Crest Lighting WIP - this is with a 3mm round LED but the principle is the same for SMDs just smaller.

I was surprised as well, I've seen plenty of vids where people use hot glue to secure smds, yet here is their advice:
Gluing EvansDesigns LED Lights
And given the price of each, I'm inclined to follow it... or at least ask around and experiment. Perhaps their particular design is more fragile, maybe they are overly cautious. Dunno.

I also agree that Aves seems relatively cool but 2-part epoxies, as I understand it, use heat to cure. It seems cool on the outside, but there has to be heat going on somewhere if it's a traditional 2-part epoxy, right?. I sent an email to Aves, asking if their formula runs cooler than traditional epoxies, about how much heat their Apoxie Sculpt produces to cure, etc.. Waiting to hear back. Should be interesting to hear how they respond.

And I'm excited to play around with some UV resin. I'm just looking to learn a little more from people with experience with it before I spend money. I'm not really in a hurry to complete my project.

Thanks for the input!