A dead straight road - vanishingly small in the vastness of Australia - lies ahead of him. There is not another car in sight. Only the occasional roadkill suggests that other vehicles have already passed by. Before darkness falls, a camp for the night must be found. The unlit, empty roads would be too dangerous. The next day, the journey continues, but unfortunately without a side mirror. It is suddenly hanging by a thread. The why plays a subordinate role, the how to repair has priority. "If only we had Araldit. The mirror would be bombproof again in no time," says one. The other laughs. They find a small petrol station somewhere. When they take a closer look at the shelf, they can hardly believe their eyes: Araldite. The day is saved.
My father told me this story again and again when I was a child. It was intended to demonstrate the importance and versatility of the two-component adhesive. And it's not just dad who swears by Araldit. The heat shield on Apollo 11 held thanks to the Swiss invention. Cars were stuck to the wall with it for advertising purposes. And in Sydney, the epoxy resin holds the famous opera house together. Araldite simply holds everything (except Teflon) together, even under high temperature fluctuations and stress. And it sticks quickly. After application, you have a few minutes - at least with the Rapid version - to make a correction, after which it holds. This is ensured by the hardener, which runs out of the second canula alongside the epoxy resin.
If it's not just dad, but the entire industry that's stuck with the glue, then there must be something to it, I thought to myself as an adult and reflexively reached for the white and red syringe on the DIY store shelf. The stuff works really well. So well, in fact, that when my colleague Kevin asked me how he was supposed to glue magnets, I answered like a shot from a gun: "ARALDIT!"
