How to lock black-pipe connections?

Question

I'm having some fun playing around with a furniture project where I'm using some black pipe as the legs. Things are working out fairly well (well, I think so, even though my wife thinks it's ridiculous...I guess this is going in my office...)

The one snag is that while I have all the joints tight as can be without stripping, I had to back off a quarter turn or so on some of them to get things aligned. These connections aren't as rigid as I'd like and with some pressure, it's easy to turn it given the leverage enabled by the design.

Is there good way to 'lock' the joint in the position I want short of spot welding? Would a few drops of superglue down the connection do it? Should I solder it? another product?

Answer 1

There's adhesives available from a company called Loctite‎, that come in different formulas. From temporary stick, all the way up to welded forever.

With black pipe, I would clean the threads really well to remove cutting-fluid used by the factory. I've gotten Loctite before at car parts stores, and the old farts there will give you a good recommendation on which flavor to use. Alternatively, you could use JB Weld, which again will require the surfaces to be cleaned thoroughly, but unlike most Loctite formulas will become effectively glued forever.. Good Luck!