weskel

What is the best glue to use on the blue foam you get at Lowes and home depot?

Is the 3M spray glue the best or something else.

Any advice would be great...


Weskel

crashingagain

probond or gorrilla glue are strong yet flex a little.
5 minute epoxy works great but costs too much and is brittle.
3m 77 works for laminating pieces

guyflys

Weskel, Bob Smith Industries C/A works great on all foam. Make sure it's Gold+. You can find the BSI C/As in most hobby shops, some have the label customized but it will say Gold+. Also use the BSI kicker, it won't eat foam either. Attached photos show cowl made from blue foam. ( entire a/c is depron, all with Gold+ ) good luck, -Ernie-

mnewman

Have you tried hot glue? - most craft stores carry it. I gave it a shot after some advice from a flying buddy and it worked really well and cut build time in half. I had to be a little careful not to melft the foam but the bond was strong.

guyflys

Weskel, short PS, when using C/A on larger surfaces, use the insta-set (kicker) on one part, wipe it off, then C/A on the other part and join the two. The vapors of the kicker will assure a set on the large area. And for what it's worth, I did a lot of researching of glues, and only found two that worked (on depron or blue foam). BSI Gold+ and probond. Probond does fine but 3-4 hour set makes it impractical. Hot glue and epoxy will work but very heavy. -Ernie-

hardstop

Have you tried regular old elmers? Yes, it takes forever to set, but adds almost no weight and is very strong.

guyflys

Hi hardstop, elmers or any water based glue will work on open seams. Maybe 1/16th or so but no way on any seam or joint greater than that. The water based glues need air for drying. Most foams are closed cell to some degree and will not admit air for drying. Pro bond uses water as a kicker (directions advise wetting one part before assembly). C/A's use moister but the spray-on kicker or insta set is the only practical way to apply this moister. It's disappointing to test an Elmers glue joint that has "dried" over night and find the glue in the center of the joint area still wet. All said and done, Gold+ and Inst-set are the only combo that really works.
From BSI's web site:
Cyanoacrylates (CAs) have become the adhesive of choice for most hobby and household applications. High quality CAs such as INSTA-CUREâ„¢, when used properly, form bonds that in many cases are stronger than the material that is being adhered. INSTA-CUREâ„¢ is a highly refined CA which, combined with its freshness, gives a guaranteed 2 year shelf life. CAs are reactive monomers that chemically link (polymerize) when pressed into a thin film. The very thin layer of water moisture present on most surfaces acts as an alkali, or weak base, which is the catalyst that results in bonding; however, the presence of detectable amounts of water usually degrades the performance of CAs.
Good luck gluing -Ernie-

Scott Claboe

My Feedback: (9)

Elmers white glue,The same stuff you used in grade school.

mjblack

Hi all,

Maybe somthing different..for you....we use Wood PU glue for all our foamies....Light, strong, and a fantastic gap filler!

we use it for skinning wings.....glueing everything realy, we only use epoxy fro high load areas........Motor mounts etc....

also it takes only 1/2 hour to go off, and it penetrates into foam real well, have a look about see what you think....we swear by it..

heres a pic of our mig....it put together almost entirely with the PU glue...

best regards.

Mike.

www.greenairdesigns.com

HolgerS

Hi,

for bigger areas, i.e. glueing one sheet of Depron on another, you can use thinner (is this the right word in english?), that thinner you use for thinning paint. But beware, it is rather tricky.
Apply it with a piece off cotton (a little bit, you don't have to soak the piece of cotton with thinner), wipe over the areas you want to join and press them together immediately. Do not use a brush, it will not work. The thinner dissolves the surfaces of the foam pieces a little bit and makes them sticky.

As I said this is tricky and needs a lot of experience and trials, but this way you can join parts with zero weight penalty.

NOTE: This way of joining Depron (or Depron-like foam sheets) works fine for me and the materials I can get here. I can not assure it will work with YOUR materials, so make a few tests with scrap materials first! [8D]

Have Fun!

Regards, Holger

guyflys

Mike, thanks for the info. What would the PU stand for? Is it a polyurathane (spelling) based glue? Maybe read the specs or ingredients and post it for us. Or even a photo of the container, maybe available in the US ?? We do have a product called ProBond which is polyurathane but it takes forever to set, like 3-4 hours.
Holger says thinner but that's really tricky, I don't have the patients for it. -Ernie-

david.eschenbrenner

poly glue

guyflys

David, is there a trade for the poly glue? I'm only aware of ProBond. -Ernie-

Jack Gross

You have heard the rest ,
now try the best.

Low temperature hot melt glue!

Fast, cheap, clean-up is easy,
no harmful odors or chemicals,
etc, etc, etc
Will it hold? Well try it and you will
find the foam will break b4 the glue joint will!
Jack

crewchief_432

I use 15 min epoxy with a few drops of a alcohol to thin it more and the alcohol also makes the epoxy dry rubbery not briddle.

Flightcrew

Hey all. I'm new to foamies, but I am trying Perfect Glue 1 by Liquid Nails. I found it at The Home Depot. It seems to dry just like the glue that came with my Shock Flyer (clear and flexible). Also, it is thick enough to fill gaps, but I'm not a fan of gaps anyway. :-)

Has anyone else used this glue??

It says quick set in 10 min and initial cure in 1 hour. This works fine for me.

Steve

beldraak

One brand for polyurathane glue is Gorilla glue, also if you mix it with a couple of drops of water ( in a seperate container) It will cut drying time to about 30 to 45 minutes, moisture is what activates this glue.

guyflys

Hi Steve, I just tried the "Perfect glue 1". Overnight it cures to a flexible joint but will not pull foam. It peals off like masking tape, (from depron). It would make an OK repair glue but for construction, Gold+ is bullet proof and instant cure, Gorilla glue is strong but very slow (even thined as per beldraak) it's slow. There are other choices like epoxy and hot glue but here comes the weight. Keep it light, fast and strong. BSI's Gold+ using InstaSet kicker is still best. -Ernie-

Flightcrew

Thanks Ernie,

The tube of UHU por that came with my Shocky had a big 'ol bubble of air in it that left me with about 1/2 the glue. I used it for wing joining and carbon fiber mounting (etc), but the Perfect glue on fusalage joining.

I'll keep an eye on it and report back if I have a glue joint failure. Now it's time to head to the hobby shop and get some Super Gold +

Thanks for the info,

Steve

guyflys

Steve, good luck with the Shocky. Just a note on using the odorless c/a, when gluing a large area, spray one surface lightly with insta-set and wipe off, then apply the c/a to the other part and join. If an area is too large, and no kicker is used, the innermost area of the joint will take forever to set. same reason c/a won't set in the bottle, no moisture. -Ernie-

crewchief_432

Ive been using the perfect glue 1 for a few months and love it. I spread it on thin to both surfaces let it tac up and it isnt comeing apart after you put it together. another thing i use is 15 min epoxy with a bit of rubbing alchol mixed in, it makes the epoxy dry rubbery.

Flightcrew

Crewchief,

I'm glad to hear a good report about Perfect Glue since I have already used it. However, I think I will use Gold+ for those critical structures and Perfect Glue for not so critical stuff like wheel pants.

With me being new to R/C Universe, I want to say you guys are great. I don't get out to the field as much as I would like and this is just the sort of hanger talk that makes this hobby great.

Thanks again,

Steve

Flightcrew

I thought I would give an update on the glue joints where I used Perfect Glue. I've been flying the daylights out of my Shocky and everything is holding up fine. I've wacked it a few times and repaired what broke with Gold+, mainly for speed. All of the glue joints are holding up great with no sign of fatigue.

When I build my next one I will use Perfect Glue for the joints where I will need some time to place them together and Gold+ for the other stuff for speed.