

A partial visual history of Sugru - lingben
http://sugru.com/story

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arjn
I like Sugru. Have used it for several things including padding and grips on
my compact digital camera. My only complaint is that it has a short-ish shelf
life though from what I understand, it can be extended by refrigeration. Its
also somewhat costly (if you consider the amount you get).

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danjwilson
[I work at Sugru]

Yup, it lasts 2.5 times longer in the fridge!

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gcb0
what about the cost? :)

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crazygringo
I've used Sugru for one thing, applying a thin layer around the fraying part
of my Macbook Air power cable. Wrapping it in white electrical tape never
worked long-term, as the tape would eventually slide and get nasty. But the
white Sugru has worked perfectly for more than a year now, without any
disintegration, loss of flexibility, discoloration, or additional fraying. So
at least for protecting thin cables, it works great.

PS: I wore rubber dishwashing gloves to apply it and smooth it, so it wouldn't
wind up with fingerprints embedded in the texture along the whole way.

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gcb0
nothing like paying premium for a product because "it is designed better" and
then having to redesign it :)

id have used color sugru, but then all my power cords have proper stress
relieve...

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singular
I know I'm going to get downvoted to hell but...

Are these the beginnings of a new silicone valley?

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jtreminio
I've used Sugru for only one thing, and it has worked perfectly: apply a thin
layer of it over the edges on my MBP where my wrists touch, so I don't feel
like it's trying to open my veins.

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danjwilson
If you like the story, Jane's talk at 99U is also worth a watch:

[http://vimeo.com/72040407](http://vimeo.com/72040407)

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Peroni
Her talk at Hacker News London is also well worth a watch

[https://vimeo.com/37306611](https://vimeo.com/37306611)

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advertising
Extremely inspiring while in the weeds of my own "10 year (hopefully)
overnight success". I also really like the presentation format. Thanks for
sharing.

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dhalp
Take note of the small section regarding fixing a disabled girls wheelchair.
Its wonderful.

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qwerta
There is stuff with similar properties. Silicone or resin applied in layers.
Also soldering plastic (good ventilation!) or wax.

But Sugru seems like very easy to work with.

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hayksaakian
is there a forum or somewhere where i can figure out if my use case would work
before i buy some?

my headphone cables always mess up around the part where they plug into a
device. The wire is too bendy and the plastic part is too thick -- what ends
up happening is the thin wires inside the cable bend against the plastic, and
crack/break forcing me to hold the cable in awkward positions to get stereo
audio.

could this actually fix it?

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buro9
I've used Sugru on a few things, and yes it would fix the problem you have.

There are bits of Sugru on some Lenovo chargers where the cable pulls from the
charging unit. This is precisely what you're describing and I've moulded it to
still have some give (tapers away from the plastic charging unit).

And some bits on Brompton (cycle) pedals to add weight so that the pedals
swing to a better starting position.

A walk around my house will reveal little bits all over, each doing a small
thing and sparing me from the cost and waste of replacing larger things.

It works really well and the only complaint I would have is that it can be
ugly. But more than anything that is your choice about which colour to pick
and how you shape it before it sets. I now use a tool to shape it (back of a
teaspoon, etc) so that my finger impressions don't live forever and make it
look kinda amateur.

Works well, would definitely work on the kind of small fix you need.

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danjwilson
If you're worried about finger impressions, dip your fingers in soapy water
before moulding.

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buro9
Thanks, great tip. I'll do that in future.

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lemming
What a fantastic story. That's a startup I can get excited about.

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TWAndrews
Wow, this looks like really cool stuff.

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69_years_and
It is, got quite a few packs a year or so ago, down to my last one. Will be
ordering more.

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jonnybgood
It was all in the marketing. There really isn't anything special about the
actual product and it's nothing new, but man did they make it "feel gorgeous".
This is definitely something to learn from.

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beambot
I haven't come across any DIY formulations that can produce the same texture
and properties (strength and flexibility) -- especially in gallon-size
quantities (for robot parts). If it really "isn't anything special", then
please share your homemade formulation(s)!

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gcb0
they probably wont sell it to you anyways.

few month i wanted to buy tempurkont or something from sherman willians. i did
the research. i needed silicone paint or primer. they had a line of products
perfect for my use. i got the info down to product number. cant remember now
of course.

NONE of the stores knew about it. one of the stores took the trouble of
calling some place. learned it was from the architectural branch. id have to
order a minimum quantity of X gallons, x being a huge number i dont remember,
and wait 2 to 3 weeks.

so, yeah, even if you learn the resin you need, though luck. they wont bother
selling to you anyways.

so kudos to sugru. but shame on them for almost no tech info.

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danjwilson
It's not easy to find, but we have a technical data sheet here:
[http://sugru.com/pdfs/tds.pdf](http://sugru.com/pdfs/tds.pdf)

