manks7477

I have been building now for about 4 years and have always used CA and Epoxies, I don't know why, but I have never used yellow glue until the last couple of weeks. I don't know what you guys think of it, but I have really enjoyed using it, no realy mess, not smelly, cheap, and lots of working time. The only thing you have to do is pin it together, and wait, from my recent experience that has resulted in a better build overall.

What are your thoughts on the best glues to use, I always loved the speed of CA, and I will still use it from time to time, but I am really liking the yellow stuff. It is also easier to sand.

mmattockx

I bet you will find a lot of builders agree with you. I like the aliphatics (yellow glue) myself for the reasons you state. If I'm in a hurry, I'll use CA, but I think the carpenter's glue gives a tougher structure overall.

Mark

manks7477

I will only use CA now if I am having real trouble getting the resin to cure, or I really need to move on. I love not having to pick CA off my fingers for hours. I never knew how much nicer it was to work with until the last couple of weeks.

From now on I am going to use it over CAs.

Cheers

manks

Ectomorph26

I a gorilla glue fan myself. Plenty of set time and it expands to fill in any gaps and I think forms a better hold on formers and ribs since it not only glues the top of the rib or former but as it expands it grabs around the edges too.
Plus you can glue about anything with it, it's non-toxic, non-acidic, 100% waterproof, heat resistant, and I could go on and on. I originally discovered it while looking at wooden homebuilt aircraft.
Plus it's sandable, paintable, and stainable so it's easy to work with after you've glued anything together with it.

The trick to it though is to use it extra sparingly since it expands 3-4 times (at least that) so if you glob it on well you'll have an extra strong joint lol. I like to apply it with a small foam brush just enough so you can tell it's on there, and then clamp the parts together. It's important to secure the parts together though otherwise as it expands it will actually try to push the parts away from each other (still hold them just not good when things need to be aligned perfectly). If you brush it on though it's not really a problem.

As well it seems to make a much stronger structure than CA, probably closer to something built with nothing but 30 min epoxy but without the weight of epoxy.

However when they say it's sandable it's not that sandable. It would be different on harder wood but with balsa you want to either mash down (it sort of foams up) or scrape off any overflow before it cures. Once it hardens it's like brick but doesn't gum up when you sand it unless it isn't dry. Like I said though if you put it on sparingly thats not really a problem.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

Ever try 'dry gluing' or 'double gluing'?

Put a thin coat of glue on both pieces, trial fit, etc. Now let that dry. After 5-10 minutes, add another thin coat and put the two pieces together....it drys very fast! And is very strong too.

mmattockx

Excellent description of polyurethane glue. I like Elmer's Pro Bond PU, same stuff and significantly cheaper. PU glues are THE BEST for sheeting foam cores with balsa, all the strength of epoxy and less than half the weight. The best page ever about skinning wings:

http://www.mackrc.net/patternwings2/index.htm

Terry Brox is a master at it and shows in detail how you can be too. For anybody who thinks that foam core wings are heavy, this should change their mind in a hurry.

There, I just had to share that...


Mark

jinzo

I personally use mostly CA. I will use wood glue when I'm bonding a big surface, such as a fuselage double or wing tip. Obviously, epoxy is used in the places where it is required. I have considered trying a build using exclusively wood glue. While I have developed ways of not getting CA on my fingers, the smell has been starting to bother me a bit, partially because my building space isn't as ventilated as it should be. One of the main things that has kept me from trying an all wood glue build is that I have no idea how I would maintain pressure on the surface when glueing something like wing sheeting, cap strips, turtle deck sheeting and other oddly shaped, curved sheets. Using it to glue ribs, spars, fuselage formers and the like is a no-brainer.

Perhaps if I can find some more helpful information as far as how to evenly weigh down wing sheeting and the like, then I will try building my next plane with wood glue. It is definitely cheaper than CA, which would be nice.

Dr1Driver

I use CA 100% of the time. I remember building control line planes when I was a teenager. Pinning the structure down, aligning and gluing everything up, and letting it dry overnight was a real pain, and it took a long time to frame up a plane. I'll take advantage of any modern technology that eases and speeds up the building process.

Dr.1

Stripes

My Feedback: (19)

Sandpaper, works good, stop before sanding actual finger.

scratchonly

I use weldbond white glue for most of my joints. It sets up quickly and remains a bit flexible to stand shock better than the yellow glues. It also sands easily and is great for joining balsa sheet. Tape one side, fold open and run a small bead down the joint; close, wipe off excess and run another piece of masking tape down the joint. Can be handled in an hour. Also makes greal rivets.

da Rock

Yellow glue, white glue, aliphatic resin glue......

Works excellent for most joints. Actually is water resistant but will fail if immersed over time, and for our airplanes, that isn't a biggie, is it.

It's joints stand vibration as well as any other glue, better than most. It's joints are stronger than balsa when it gets to penetrate raw wood, so what's not to like. It's easy to work with.

The only job it's not really suited for is laminating doublers as it air dries. Epoxy does that job best.

It's also smart to wipe excess from joints as the excess only adds weight, and it's dead weight. The amount that is absorbed and dries within the joint is a lot smaller in volume than you'd think, less than is usually squeezed out. So if you wipe the excess, you're actually taking away lot's more dead weight than "live" weight being left. BTW, same is true of epoxy. You do not need any bit of the excess for added strength so it's all waste.

Keep q-tips and paper towels handy and wipe all the joints. You won't lose one bit of needed strength.

da Rock

BTW, you can coat a surface with aliphatic resin and let it dry. Then place whatever you wish to glue to that surface on it and apply heat. The right amount of heat will kick the glue and the parts are bonded together. It's one technique to sheet foam wings. It's easy once you learn the right amount of heat and how to apply it and that you only got one real shot with the heat. Until you get all that down pat, it sucks doing it that way.

You can actually get it to laminate that way. Two sheets of wood. Coat one surface. Let dry. Press together and iron and taa daa..... But the wood can't be too thick or the heat won't penetrate.

Phlip

I've heard beanbags work well, but I've not tried 'em.

Phil