rajul

My Feedback: (58)

Hi all, I need some guidance in using wood glue.

1) How do you build wings with this glue? If I am using CA, I would usually assemble the ribs and spars, etc, then apply thin CA along the joint edges. Do you apply wood glue the same way ? Does the glue seep into the joint surfaces well doinf it this way? Or do you have to apply the glue to the rib edge surface first, then press the rib down? Since wood glue dries slower than CA, how do you hold the pieces together until the glue hardens ?

2) Does wood glue work well with plywood especially for butt joining fuselage sides ?

3) Which wood glue is better ? The normal or waterproof type (Franklin) ?

Thanks.............

pdansalvish

My Feedback: (23)

Rajul,


I've been using Pica's Glue-it on my Corsair that I'm building and I'm totally stratified with it. I run a small bead of glue on one piece and then place it where it belongs on the next piece. Wipe off the excess and wait 15 minutes. The glue is easily sand able and gives me a change to move the piece around. On large pieces I ran a small beads of glue on one piece and use my fingers to spread it all over the place.

As for plywood, I used the same stuff recently to laminate two pieces of plywood together and it is holding extremely well, In fact I made a mistake 20 minutes when laminating the two pieces of plywood and I can get them apart. I'm in the process of making new pieces.

For waterproof if the plane will be used in water I would recommend using the waterproof kind. Other wise don't worry about it.

I've been using the aliphatic glues for building over 15 years and I never had a glue joint good bad. Don't get me wrong I like the CA glues and I have them in my work space. But, I just like working the alipahatic glues better.

Dave

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

Hi Dave, I can't imagine holding on to every piece of rib for 15 mins until the glue hardens ! It will take a long time to complete a wing structure. Is there a better way of doing this ? Thanks.....

AirplaneDan98

That's what's great about aliphatics, you can get them on your fingers or clothes and they come off easily.

I never hold the parts together. I use T-pins, clamps (clothespins are great), weights or rubber bands to hold the pieces together while the glue drys.

CA has it's place, but I prefer aliphatic glue. I use Elmers regular wood glue for most of my work. Dan

rcpilotsteve-RCU

My Feedback: (5)

A few things you have to remember. All joints throughout the entire craft must be a perfect fit. Not to loose and certainly not to tight. Probably the one most important part as you have figured out is holding down all the pieces until the glue dries. I completely build the wing dry first, sanding,shaving fitting each piece perfect, I only use pins through this stage.
Useing a flat bottom wing for an example of what I do. The typical wing construction starts with Trailing Edge sheeting and the Spars. On your perfectly flat surface pin the pieces down flat and secure over the plans covered in wax paper. This is first and foremost the mst important part. If you don't start flat you will not finish flat. Your pieces are already fit so you just apply the Alpahatic Glue place them in their appropriate places using pins, one on each side to keep the parts square. With the use of the Alphatic Glue you have time to place all the ribs. Once placed I have two weighted flat bars that I set ontop of all the ribs to aid in holding them firm with the pins. I then get out the square (specialy made to fit between) and square up each rib. Then after all that I take a much needed coffee break and let the glue dry. Leaving the bars on away from the top Spar slots I go ahead and Glue the Spars in, shifting the weight on top of the Spars once placed. I usually leave it like that until the next day. The rest is easy
I use a solid wood door with a 1/2 inch piece of drywall on top. The drywall holds the pins quite nice. The doors are rigid enough to just set up on the work bench.
Hope I helped.

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Water based wood glues are not reccomended. They warp wood. I use SIG Alphatic Resin Glue only

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

Hi rcpilotsteve, are your flat bars made of metal and what are the dimensions like ? I have a bottle of titebond, is this water based ? Thanks.........

rcpilotsteve-RCU

My Feedback: (5)

Titebond supplies woodworkers with many different glues. If yours is yellow in color it is probably Alphatic I don't use anything else but Alphatic and two part epoxy. Never white glue for a few reasons.
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I have two different sets of bars both are cold rolled steel. One set is 1/2 an inch thick by 1.5 inch wide (rather beefy) and the other is 1/4 inch thick by 1.5 inch wide, it has another piece of 1/4 inch steel tacked to the center of it making an eye beam that is 55 inches long. These ones get used the most I also have a special set I use with my shop floor. When I work with foam cores I sheet them slip them back into the foam to recreate the solid block, set them on the floor with a 3/4 inch piece of ply and put the 2 or 3 or sometimes 4 pieces of 2inch wide bars over top, line up the studs and bolt them down sandwiching the usually two completed wing halves. Gotta love this hobby

pdansalvish

My Feedback: (23)

Rajul,

Since I use a magnetic board I use the magnetics to keep the ribs upright and t-pins to hold them in place to the lead edge or trailing edge. Like rcpilotsteve stated you should have a good joint. But, with most of the new kits (Great Planes, Top Flight, Sig and Pica) with their laser cutting and die-cutting I found I have really good tight joints. I always check my joints before I glue.

Along the same line, I have sandwich bags filled with Cat Litter and I have some lead bars which I also use to hold things down or together. Recently, on the Corsair I had to laminate two pieces of balsa together. So I put some glue on one piece and spread the glue around with a finger. I then used two cat litter bags and my lead bar (over kill) to hold it in place while the glue setup.

I know with the Pica glue, with-in five minutes I can pick-up the pieces and they will not move. But, this depends on how thick of glue you use. The thicker you put it on the slower it takes to set-up.

I also love the way I can wash my hands off a the end of the building session. No more CA fingers when I goto work. If I spill it on my cloths I just grab a damp paper towel and clean it off. With CA I get a permanent dot.

In fact the next time you go to the LHS, pick up small bottle and try it on your latest project.

Dave

Jim Finn

My Feedback: (2)

And while at the hobby shop get a $2 "Sig" syringe. Fill it with yellow glue and the glue is very controlable! I use these syringes for CA and for Sigment too. Just leave the glue in the syringe. It will last for weeks that way. Sigment is the most sandable glue I know of.

pinball-RCU

Rajul,

I'd like to hear your experiences. I was building a wing last week, and the CA fumes were starting to get to me, so I thought I'd take a cue from all these posts and use Glu-it, which I happened to have a bottle of handy. I did not have much success. For example, I glued the trailing edge sheeting to the tops of the 1/16" ribs. After it dried, it took very little pressure to break the joint, and I ended up CAing everything. It just didn't seem to me that the Glu-it soaked into the wood as well as CA, and didn't produce a strong bond. I wouldn't even think of an end-grain to flat-grain joint, and the model I'm building has tons of these.

pdansalvish

My Feedback: (23)

Rajul,

Your experiences with Glue-it are a little weird. So far, I can't break one bond on anything I have glued. I'm wondering if there is a shelf life? Also, if water got into the bottle may have weaken the glue? But, I have had good luck with the glue and now using as my primary glue.

Dave

rajul

My Feedback: (58)

Hi Dave, I started this thread like half a year ago and at that time I was still undecided which way to go for my kit. Now I use ca, Titebond II and epoxy. Each have their place in building......

pdansalvish

My Feedback: (23)

Rajul,

I agree with you. I have all three in my workshop. What I'm glueing together at the time deterimes which glue I use. On my latest project, Pica's F4U. I primary used Pica's glueit with some expoxy here and there. But, during my recent repair of my Goldberg Skytiger I used CA and Glueit. But, I'm now in a habit of reaching for the Glueit first. Good luck in your modeling and it was great chatting with you.

Dave