Sugru: polymer clay that fixes and sticks to pretty much everything

Sugru is a soft modelling clay that dries in 30 minutes at room-temp to a waterproof, heat/cold-resistant, dishwasher safe, flexible semi-solid. It's self-adhesive and bonds with many metals, glass, ceramic, plastics, etc. It can be used to make or fix or remake things from shoes to spectacles to plumbing-pipe. I've just ordered some for home and office -- it comes in four colors and looks like it'd be hella useful, and at £7, I'm certainly willing to give it a try!

Sugru (via Core 77)

Previously:

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

WARNING: DO NOT TAUNT SUGRU.
dr

All this publicity (not just the blog posts, also coverage in the Telegraph and BBC) take place just as formformform was seeking investment. I hope the hype turns out to be real, the world always needs new ways of sticking stuff onto stuff.

There are many more sugru examples here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=sugru&w=all
Steve Stair

Of course they are already sold out.
Mitch

For people wondering about fixing their teapots and coffee cups, there is a type of RTV silicone marketed for that purpose. The one I have has a picture of a coffee cup on the packaging, and also a fish, because it’s marketed as aquarium safe, too.

There is a silicone paint called Psycho paint for platinum cured silicone. I used to use a very thin RTV silicone for waterproofing circuit boards. I think you could make a paint out of that if you added the right kind of pigment to it.
Ghede

I’d love to get some and just putz around with it. Make hollow spheres and mess with them, make tiny faces and stick them on the wall, etc.
Pidge

The word also means “play” in Irish, which is a nice touch.
Patrick Austin

Aside from being non-soft-touch, damn dudes, get some JB Weld or Green Stuff if you’ve never played with them. JB is holding together half the stuff in my house.
- Jerril
  
  Green Stuff is totally great, but the soft-touch factor is actually a pretty big thing. Modestly flexible? That changes where it is and isn’t useful in a radical sort of way.
  
  Sometimes you need something pretty firm (leveling out the bottom of something you don’t want rocking around frex) and sometimes you want something a little squishy (those various mended handgrips, earbud plug covers, and etc would be more comfortable to use slightly squishy than extra-hard).
  
  Although after that paragraph, I’m sure everyone’s thinking about Angstrom’s “Dildo kit” comment ;)
  
  Dildos aside, I’m wondering what sort of paint (if any) would adhere to this. It would have to be pretty elastic to survive on the flexible surface. Is there such a thing as silicon-rubber paint? That would solve the adherance and flexibility problems right there, if it isn’t an entirely fictional product.
Dave Faris

In the future, we’ll all be hosts of infomercials.
- Anonymous
  
  Nice one!
lyd

I think I am a little disturbed by the impending commercialization of “hack”, but I suppose it was inevitable.

Jane truly is lovely.
Angstrom

It dries into a “soft touch silicon rubber” , hmmm.
So it’s essentially a freaky dildo making kit then. ;)
GammaBlog

Repair/Recyle=Good

Is it food grade. And what sort of solvents are emitted during curing. Do you want your kids’ noses close to it in still air, while they make colorful tentacles, dinosaurs, flowers and nail extensions?

How well does it stick to ceramics, metal, plastics etc. If you make a handle out of it, can you rely on it not coming unstuck? Can it be sanded?

Like #7, If these questions are dealt with on the Sugru site, they remained hidden from me. Some of these questions are asked in comments on the Sugur blog, but no answers. But I’d love to play with it myself. Looks like fun.

My usual go-to is Atlas plumber’s epoxy. It sticks well if you mix a touch of water into it while kneading. Sets hard and can be sanded. Toxicity unknown. Thanks to the other Boingboing commenters for suggesting their favorite sticky putties. Valuable knowledge.
Brie33

Mighty Putty?
VagabondAstronomer

As a modeler and gadget maker, I would be more than happy to try this stuff out. Of course, have to see if it is even being imported first.
Dragon2040

You heard of Mighty Putty, Mighty putty Wood, and Mighty Shine. Now get Mighty Putty for Hackers!!! Now in 4 amazing colors!!!
Piers W

My favourite is polycaprolactone, aka Shapelock, Friendly Plastic, and Polymorph.

Melts at 60 degrees C, sets to super tough slightly flexible plastic similar to solid polyurethane.

You can do anything with it you can do with cast plastic, cogs for example.

The bones of this robot are made out of it:

http://accannis.posterous.com/eccerobot-skeletal-robot-moves-like-a-human-m
shadowfirebird

Questions I can’t find answers to on the website:

1) Is it food safe? I mean, if I repair a mug, is it safe to drink out of the mug?

2) Does it shrink (or grow) as it hardens?

If the answers are “yes” and “only a little” then ‘useful’ is hardly the word to describe this product. ‘life-changing’ might be better, at least in my case…
Anonymous

Where’s Billy Mays when you need him? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you, ooh-ooh-ooh…
Daemon

They need to make this in a variety of degrees of firmness and with multiple ways to apply it.

Having a choice between a harder or softer final product for example. Or a version that was more of a liquid, which would allow painting or dipping as application methods…
phenocopy

I would hesitate to use anything not food-safe to make a dildo.
Unless, of course, it’s for “novelty use only.”
Anonymous

Looks like a clone of Loctite Superflex adhesive sealant. Same polymer, same polymerization mechanism. Hell, I bet it even smells like vinegar as its drying too.

I would guess since it’s probably just precisely that with a little plasticizer in it, it will probably shrink *mildly* in size as its used and have a larger temperature range over which its useful. Probably also decreases the melting temperature though, so don’t put anything like this in the oven.
Anonymous

And they also managed to clarify the modern redefinition of the word ‘hack’.
Cassandra

I too would love to know if it was food-safe. Just last week I broke the spout of my brand-new ceramic teapot and was unsure how to repair it–but if I’m going to be pouring hot water over this stuff I want to know if there’s going to be putty flakes or chemicals in there with my chamomile.
Cassandra

Ah, just found this from the website:

â€¢ sugru isnâ€™t suitable for use in direct or prolonged contact with food.

Darnit.
- shadowfirebird
  
  Damn. Well spotted though.
  
  Still could be a life-changer for a lot of people if it doesn’t change size much when it dries — in other words, if it can be formed using a mould.
thornae

@Cassandra: So, stick a tube of something that is safe down the spout, and wrap the sugru around it to make it look good.
semiotix

ZOMBIE BILLY MAYS HERE to tell you about this exciting new product…
Anonymous

Is it better than epoxy putty, e.g. Green Stuff, Milliput, etc?
cymk

Wicked sweet find Cory, I’m gonna have to order me some, hell if I know what I’m gonna do with it though.
- 2k
  
  I think more than a few people share your sentiment.
  
  I’m sure I’ll think of something.