

Sugru: a silicone molding compound for hacking around the house - audionerd
http://sugru.com/

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brandon
My two personal experiences with Sugru so far:

1\. The stuff is amazing. As an experiment, I completely coated an 802.15.4
temperature sensor in a thin coat and threw it into an autoclave (to test the
temperature claims, etc). It held up.

2\. Customer service has been amazing. The Sugru I received came from a batch
with a slightly shortened shelf-life because of mixture issues, so they sent
me a second order for free. No questions asked, no forms, nothing. Just an
email "sorry about that, the replacement is in the mail."

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bonsaitree
Despite the clever marketing (and it is quite clever), hand-formed room-set
silicone has been used in the building trades for almost a decade--mostly for
long-run ductwork dampening and high-service-interval electrical junction box
seals.

It's precisely analogous to when cyanoacrylate adhesive compounds were re-
marketed as Krazy Glue.

~~~
camccann
Merely "clever" doesn't seem quite strong enough. Taking something already
well-known and useful in some specialized context, thinking of a way it would
be useful for some non-specialized target market, and then successfully
marketing it to that demographic is a very elegant move, and potentially quite
lucrative if successful!

In fact, if I was going to critique this at all, I'd _question_ the choice of
marketing. They're targeting younger, geeky DIY-type internet people well,
which is not a bad market at all to be sure, but there's definite potential
for something like this in going for older, less tech-oriented demographics (I
bet I could get my mother interested, for instance).

But I suspect they've already thought about that sort of thing--sounds like
they can't keep up with the current demand as it is, so reaching new markets
is probably not a priority!

~~~
jrockway
_there's definite potential for something like this in going for older, less
tech-oriented demographics (I bet I could get my mother interested, for
instance)_

That is not the demographic that orders random puttys from the UK in
anticipation of perhaps needing it someday. To be successful in that
demographic, it needs to be marked through traditional means, and it needs to
be available at the store. That is expensive and difficult. Making a website
and some Youtube videos is much easier, and less likely to be a financial
problem if there is no interest.

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gnosis
This stuff reminds me of ShapeLock (aka Friendly Plastic):

[http://www.creatrope.com/blog/make/friendly-plastic-
shapeloc...](http://www.creatrope.com/blog/make/friendly-plastic-shapelock-
tools/)

<http://www.lonestarairsoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8822>

[http://www.micsaund.com/2006/03/13/plastic-you-can-mold-
in-y...](http://www.micsaund.com/2006/03/13/plastic-you-can-mold-in-your-home-
for-diy-projects/)

The differences seem to be that ShapeLock:

\- requires some heat to get it in to a moldable state

\- is firm, not rubbery when it sets

\- is not sticky

\- is reusable (just heat it up again, and you can re-shape it)

Here's something made from it:

<http://www.xrobots.co.uk/android10.htm>

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teaspoon
What's with introducing female engineers and designers as "lovely"? That's
generally speaking, since it's probably just precious copywriting in this
case.

~~~
sjf
Lovely _and_ Irish, how twee. I am a female Irish engineer and I would be very
disappointed and a little insulted if a copywriter couldn't find a better
description other than 'cute with a funny accent'.

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sasmith
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_4a4O7kXQo>

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audionerd
I thought the best short introduction to the product was this interview w/
pictures:

[http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?option=com_content&view...](http://www.iconeye.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4294:introducing-
sugru)

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sh1mmer
FYI: They are sold out while they work on upscaling their production process.

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shrikant
If more product websites were like this, the world would be a better place.

