Sugru Review

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product for free so that I could provide product feedback to the company and post a product review. I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

I recently received some Sugru samples for a product review.  If you don't know what Sugru is there website sums it up pretty simply:

"Sugru is the world’s first mouldable glue that turns into rubber." http://sugru.com/about

I actually like the YouTube video they pulled together ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fOSo_EN-y4 ) it is very informative and pretty funny.

So hopefully at this point you either already knew what Sugru is, or you went ahead and looked at the links above and now have a pretty good idea.

Personally, I didn't really run across Sugru until one of my blog readers pointed out that I should use Sugru for mounting some of the devices in the project where I was setting up a Nexus 7 in my car.  I was sent two packs of Sugru.

Two 8-Packs of Sugru

When you open it, it has a few sample ideas

And most importantly the directions and other useful information

This is the "New" colors pack

This is the "Classic" colors pack

So much Sugru!

Of course came the big problem - what do I test it on?

Project 1 - Kid's Chair

I had a small plastic chair that had a leg come loose (the inside part that would hold it in place broke) so I figured that would be a good test run.

Pretty good color match

After smoothing it out, it looked good.

 I let it cure for 24 hours and then basically did some test by grabbing the leg and sort of moving it around.  At first it felt like it was pretty solid but after testing some more (honestly maybe a bit roughly) it ended up coming loose.  This is wear I learned the first lesson that is apparently already a known - Sugru seems magical but at the end of the day it has limitations and certain types of plastic seems to be one of them.

On the plus side, I got a chance to feel the material once it hardened.

Project 2 - Baby Gate

We have a baby gate setup in an odd spot, sort of leaning against the wall and either as we walk around or when the baby shakes it, it ends up banging against the wall.  This seemed like a perfect project for Sugru.

This is where the gate bangs against the wall (you can see the marks)

I made a block / bumper of Sugru and let it cure

Now if the gate is moved, the Sugru bumps the wall instead
which is less noisy and should cause less or no damage to the wall

Overall I think the baby gate project was a success.  I wish I would have made a pattern / mesh on the part of the material that would hit the wall since that might have improved the ability to absorb the shock.

Project 3 - Kitchen Chair

The back piece of one of our kitchen chairs broke, the chair itself was still usable but if you grabbed it by the back to move it the piece would come off.  If this is a bit confusing, don't worry the pics should clear things up.  I figured this would be a good test for Sugru.  I used the "Woody Brown" color, and c-lamp to hold things together.

Top of the chair.  The left part is where the wood broke.

This is the piece that goes on top of the chair.

Close up of the broken area.

Close up of the broken area with the pieces pulled apart so you can see the damage better.

As you can see in the pics, one side broke and it seems like the other spots just came out after that -- I really don't know how it broke, we blame the kid.  Below, is how I applied the Sugru and clamped it to cure.  I should have used some rope/straps to keep things in place better, I had to fight it a bit because the piece would slide when I used the clamp to apply pressure.

Left side of the chair (just needed a little Sugru to keep it in place)

Back view of the chair - clamp holding things together

Front view of the chair

Another picture of the clamp

After waiting the 24 hours for things to cure, I removed the clamp.  The chair seemed to hold together, but I only grabbed the back to move it - I didn't apply too much force because during normal use it shouldn't have that much force on it anyways.

Clamp removed.  It may not be pretty but it held together so far.

Front of the chair, much less noticeable.

Overall the Sugru worked for this fix.  The color is close enough that you know it is there, but it isn't an eye sore.  My wife said she might use a marker or something to try to make it match the chair closer, but bottom line the Sugru did a good job for a quick fix.  A little better planning, and I probably could have minimize how much Sugru was actually visible.

Additional Project Ideas

• I have been working on setting up some electronics in my car ( see my blog post here ) and Sugru might help give me some interesting mounting options - in fact one of the blog comments mentioning Sugru is what made me look into the product.
• I am still in the process of coming up with ideas, and will update this blog with a few more ideas as I come up with them and hopefully a few projects ( regardless if they work or not ) to help give others an idea of what they can do with Sugru.

Bottom line: Sugru is as awesome as it seems.  If you follow the directions, and understand how it works -- like any tool it becomes very useful.  Their website has great information, ideas and from what I can tell the support is pretty helpful.

Sugru Product Page: www.sugru.com