On the one hand, I'm a fan of making sure things are built to last, to take abuse, and with an extra measure of security if possible. It's a commonly held notion that using JB weld for mounting motor retainers is good practice, due to it's higher heat properties - fair enough.
But sometimes we (as rocket builders) go WAY overboard when it's simply not necessary. An example is the use of BIG, HEAVY eyebolts that are often many times stronger than the component they are attached to, or the shock cord that gets tied to them.
And so I wonder about the accepted wisdom of using JB Weld for motor retainers sometimes. While it seems to make perfect sense to use something that is more heat resistant, IS IT ACTUALLY NECESSARY? Let's put this question out to the community - has anyone here ever had a glue joint failure, wherein their motor retainer came off during flight because they used "regular" epoxy? I've never heard of any such occurrence (but of course my own personal experience is very limited compared to the greater whole).
I simply LOVE screw-on motor retainers - Aeropac and Slimline, and put them on just about all my rockets. But honestly, it's more of an ease-of-use and style thing than it is about absolutely holding that motor case in there. Heck, if we really needed something bombproof, than how would you explain simple friction fitting which has worked on a LOT of big powerful motors for a lot of flyers over the years? I myself do use JB Weld most of the time (it certainly can't HURT to use it), and I will definitely continue to do so on projects that involve bigger/hotter/longer burning motors. But on quite a few rockets I've used plain epoxy because that's what I had at the moment - and it's always worked just fine for those.
s6
