Adhesives: What is you favorite and why?

[Donnager]

Mostly, I use Hysol E20, and E60. Both are excellent and make nice fillets. They don't run, and you can do them all at once.

I also use 3M DP420, which works almost as well as HysolE20.

West systems stuff is pretty much just for laminating.

 

[rocketace]

US composites for all the cheap, quick, or good enough jobs. Rocketpoxy and 820(from sollar composites) for the rest.

Then for the odds and ends….JB weld, Gorilla glue, GearAid, Titebond, Loctite, BobSmith…and the list goes on. They all have their uses.

 

[jderimig]

For fiberglass to fiberglass I have tried everything, never ever had an adhesive failure. Based on that I use the cheapest I can find, US Composites in bulk.

For wood or paper I have never had any adhesive fail. I use TB or big box store relabeled TB.

Its all in the prep and reinforcement.

 

[Donnager]

For fiberglass to fiberglass I have tried everything, never ever had an adhesive failure. Based on that I use the cheapest I can find, US Composites in bulk.

For wood or paper I have never had any adhesive fail. I use TB or big box store relabeled TB.

Its all in the prep and reinforcement.

I tend to build a little heavy, and on large cardboard rockets I will laminate the fin can with some fiberglass to make sure the fins are well placed and aren't going anywhere. Mostly, external fillets are an appearance thing.

I haven't had an adhesive failure, either. Not sure the selection matters too much.

I've actually had the best performance from rockets that I didn't care so much for..... The ones I baby tend to have more issues.

 

[Jeff Curtis]

I am almost exclusively a low power guy, generally using “traditional” materials.

My favorite water-based glues are Titebond II for most things, and Alleene’s Tacky Glue especially for motor mount installations (it is not as grabby), and especially when working on group builds. I use Alleene’s when joining tubes with couplers for the same reason (think Star Orbiter, for example).

For paper-to-plastic joints, there are water-based glues sold as “canopy glue” for the RC market which are good. And also @hcmbanjo’s favorite Beacon Fabri-tac and Foam-tac.

When epoxy is needed (motor retainers on PSII kits or when using the Estes screw-on retainers elsewhere, mostly) a 12-30 minute cure epoxy from Bob Smith is what I reAch for.

Thin CA gets used for hardening motor hook slots, the tops of body tubes where the nose cone/payload goes in (as a wear-mitigation strategy) and sometimes also the lower ends of motor mount tubes (same thing).


And seeing as it’s still Christmas morning where I am for a little less than an hour, Merry Christmas everyone.

I find Alleene's is great for gluing fins to a body tube. Grabs quickly so you don't have to hold the fin in place. Then I use Titebond II for fillets. For plastic to cardboard you can't beat Bob Smith Plastic Cure. I had problem with Fabri-tac joints giving out.

 

[4regt4]

Although I like the T-88 epoxy, I keep experimenting. In particular, I am looking for a pre-thickened epoxy for fillets. And, no, I would rather stay away from using cartridge guns and disposable mixing tips. The 2 plunger type dispensers (like JB 5 minute) work best for me. So... my latest attempt:

Devcon 5 minute epoxy GEL (they use caps, I guess so the buyer doesn't make a mistake.)

tl;dr version: Avoid. I'm not crazy about it. It seems to set up in less than 5 minutes (and I have a relatively cold house), and it's very sticky. It looks like vaseline. When I tried to dab some on to make a fillet for a launch lug, it wanted to stick more to my popsicle stick than to the body tube. If I "smoosh" it on to the surface and pull the stick away, about half stays on the surface, the rest on the stick, with a thick string connecting the two like slightly melted mozzarella. OK, I can work with that. Or so I thought. When I then attempted to smooth and level it out with another stick dipped in alcohol, it had already started to set up. If it had a little more working time, I think I could have made a decent looking fillet. And now it's been nearly 24 hours, the fillet is somewhat soft like silicon caulking. And it looks just like clear caulking. I suspect it will continue to harden given more time. Bottom line: Pass.

Next up: PC SuperEpoxy. From the advertisement, it looks like the 5 minute Devcon, but with 3 times the working time. Which should be OK. I hope.

Hans.

 

[g.pitts]

• Fin to motor tube, and internal fillets: Cotronics 4525N - its specs are rock solid.
• External fillets: RocketPoxy (when it's available) - its specs are not quite up to Cotronics 4525N, but its viscosity is excellent for producing really nice external fillets.

 

[charrington]

Hysol E120Hp

 

[teepot]

Although I like the T-88 epoxy, I keep experimenting. In particular, I am looking for a pre-thickened epoxy for fillets. And, no, I would rather stay away from using cartridge guns and disposable mixing tips. The 2 plunger type dispensers (like JB 5 minute) work best for me. So... my latest attempt:

Devcon 5 minute epoxy GEL (they use caps, I guess so the buyer doesn't make a mistake.)

tl;dr version: Avoid. I'm not crazy about it. It seems to set up in less than 5 minutes (and I have a relatively cold house), and it's very sticky. It looks like vaseline. When I tried to dab some on to make a fillet for a launch lug, it wanted to stick more to my popsicle stick than to the body tube. If I "smoosh" it on to the surface and pull the stick away, about half stays on the surface, the rest on the stick, with a thick string connecting the two like slightly melted mozzarella. OK, I can work with that. Or so I thought. When I then attempted to smooth and level it out with another stick dipped in alcohol, it had already started to set up. If it had a little more working time, I think I could have made a decent looking fillet. And now it's been nearly 24 hours, the fillet is somewhat soft like silicon caulking. And it looks just like clear caulking. I suspect it will continue to harden given more time. Bottom line: Pass.

Next up: PC SuperEpoxy. From the advertisement, it looks like the 5 minute Devcon, but with 3 times the working time. Which should be OK. I hope.

Hans.

I have been using PC Super Epoxy for several years. It makes great filets. I can do all the filets at the same time. It doesn't run or sag. It stays where I put it. What I do is put it on heavy and when all the epoxy is on I drag a large tongue depressor over the epoxy to make a filet. I like big filets. You can use whatever you want depending on the size of the filet you want. Working time is great. I have left the epoxy on for ten minutes and was still able to pull a filet. I found that if I pull right after I put the epoxy on I get a smoother filet. I have also used it for internal filets if I don't need an epoxy that sets quickly The PC Super epoxy sets hard in about an hour. So for many minutes with a little alcohol you can fix anything you don't like.