Glue trouble for drysuit zipper repair - peeled off

[phishphood]

OK guys, looking for thoughts here. I glued a TIzip on to my xcd4 drysuit as a replacement zipper. Thought it all went ok and seemed to hold up fine. Did a pressure test of sorts and it was OK. Suited up in it multiple times and had no issues. Today, I geared up for my first test dive in it and the zipper came unglued. Used DRIS drysuit glue as was recommended. The weird thing is the glue came off the zipper side, but stayed stuck to the drysuit (which was the part I was warned might not glue so well). So what caused this? Not enough scuffing with sandpaper? Didn't clean the zipper well enough with solvent before putting glue on? It literally just came unpeeled like a sticker off the paper backing. More than happy to reglue, just want to make sure I don't make the same mistake twice. Also, any idea if there will be issues just putting more glue/heat on the existing stuff on the drysuit side now? Thanks guys. Photos can be added tomorrow if they help.

 

[godofsail]

Do you have any solition for that ?

 

[decompression]

Did you use a solvent to clean the material, like toluene?

 

[bada3003]

OK guys, looking for thoughts here. I glued a TIzip on to my xcd4 drysuit as a replacement zipper. Thought it all went ok and seemed to hold up fine. Did a pressure test of sorts and it was OK. Suited up in it multiple times and had no issues. Today, I geared up for my first test dive in it and the zipper came unglued. Used DRIS drysuit glue as was recommended. The weird thing is the glue came off the zipper side, but stayed stuck to the drysuit (which was the part I was warned might not glue so well). So what caused this? Not enough scuffing with sandpaper? Didn't clean the zipper well enough with solvent before putting glue on? It literally just came unpeeled like a sticker off the paper backing. More than happy to reglue, just want to make sure I don't make the same mistake twice. Also, any idea if there will be issues just putting more glue/heat on the existing stuff on the drysuit side now? Thanks guys. Photos can be added tomorrow if they help.

I think prep, applying effective pressure, and drying time are key. DRIS installed a replaceable neck seal system and it pealed off after not many dives. They stand behind their work and got it fixed the second time around. I did install the neck seal system myself on another drysuit, focusing on prep (sanding, cleaning), applying pressure during drying (needed to build a special contraption), and letting it dry for 3 days before testing. 200+ dives on it and no problems. I had metal zips replaced by tizip at DRIS and no probs. Besides time, the main reason I did not do it myself was because I could not figure out how to apply consistent pressure on the zip during the drying time. You need to keep airpockets under control. Without applying prolonged pressure I think it's a crap shoot.

 

[undrwater]

Based on your description, it sounds like it wasn't clean enough.

 

[godofsail]

Did you use a solvent to clean the material, like toluene?

Does acetone work with cleaning the material ?

One of guy in one of diy zipper replecement (neoprene) topic , he uses e6000 glue on tizip and im wondering does that adhesive works with it ?

Can you give adhesive advises for tizip ?

 

[decompression]

Yes, acetone should work.

 

[phishphood]

Forgot about this thread and I guess to help others that come along:
my issues were resolved by a light sanding of the smooth materials and a thorough cleaning with solvent. I think it was acetone, but might've been toluene or MeCl....