epoxy debonder
 

Hello!
A friend of mine has a small problem with a trainer. He wants remoze the elevator and the rudder from it so he can ship it. The problem is taht he glued them on with 60 min epoxy. What can he use to debond them?
I'm sory if I'm in the rong forum or if this question was answered in another thread.
Best Wishes
Vlad

RE: epoxy debonder
 

The best de-bonder I can think of is the blade of a razor saw that has been removed from its holder. In 40+ years of modeling, I've never successfully un-epoxied (any set-time) anything any other way. Some people say you can soften epoxy with a heat gun. Maybe on a spot you want to remove, but not on a joint. Sorry.
Walt

RE: epoxy debonder
 

You can use a heat gun to remove the stab. I've done it with success. The problem is that it takes an awful lot of heat to soften the epoxy enough to get the stab off without breaking wood. You'll burn the covering right off the piece by the time you gte it hot enough. You can even burn the wood if your not patient enough and try to move the heat gun too close and speed up the process.

I had to cut the covering off the stab, and the fuse. Then use 2 heat guns, and a friend. It took better part of 30 minutes of constant heat on both sides to loosen it enough to pull off.

Then, you gotta get the rest of it off the stab and fuse before it gets stiff again. Otherwise, you'll never get it glued back on with all that gooped up epoxy on it. Lots more heat and plenty of acetone soaked paper towes and elbow grease.

Best thing to do it just keep the trainer. It's not worth selling. I just can't see a trainer being worth that much, and by the time you put all that work into stripping the covering--removing the stab--then recovering it so that you can actually sell it to the buyer without him having a cow over it--it's just not worth the time to ship it.

Too many modelers solo and then can't wait to get rid of the trainer. They are missing out on some great fun down the road. Keep it and put floats on it. Put skis on it. Tow gliders with it. Some day you will crash the whole fleet, and won't have a thing to fly for a month or two. That trainer starts looking awful good right about then.

RE: epoxy debonder
 

My friend wants to give that trainer because he dosen't fly it anymore(he switched to electrics).The trainer flew a couple of times. But we want to get the elevator and rudder off because he is in USA and I am way back in Romania and we are affraid that they will broke when shipping.
Any sugestions?
Thank's
Vlad

RE: epoxy debonder
 

Then have him build a crate for the plane and ship it. You can't get around using a big box. Thats just the facts of life when your shipping model airplanes. Don't take the tail off. You'll just screw it up.

READ this article or have your friend read it.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=241

Here's a few threads that you might want to read. Look at the pictures:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_38...tm.htm#3867545

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_36...tm.htm#3682555

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_30...tm.htm#3074786

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_30...tm.htm#3038819

http://www.forestlawn.com/funerals_c...oduct_id=15465

Is it cheap to ship a box this size? NO
Is it going to be rediculously expensive to ship a box this size to Romania? YES
Could you just buy a kit or ARF and build the airplane yourself? YES
Could your friend just ship you the motor, servos, RX, and TX? YES


All you have to do is perform a search at the top of the forums page. Search for "shipping crate" and you'll be busy reading for hours.

RE: epoxy debonder
 

read all, made a small brainstorm and came up with this:
wait a couple of months until my friend is going to come in visit in Romania and bring the plane himself.
Thanks guys
PS you cand close/delete this thread because I solved my problem.