Anyone know of a glue that will stick to a LOC nose cone?

Title says it all. I'm trying to attach a small loop of kevlar to the inside of a LOC nose cone to connect it to the recovery harness (The base needs to be hollow to allow a bit of room for the chute bundle). I was going to go with 30 min epoxy, but I'm not entirely confident it will stick to the polypropylene or whatever that is that LOC cones are made of.

Ultimately I will be installing a bulkhead in the cone just above the shoulder, but I don't have time to get it finished before Saturday and I want to fly it! Might end up just roughing up the surface real well and making a U-harness that is epoxied to either side of the nose cone. It only needs to hold for one flight (Okay, maybe two... ).

Thanks guys!

I use the 30 m bsi all the time when I cut off the shoulder of my LOC cones and install coupler and centering rings and bulkheads for gps bays

Duplicate

Gorilla Glue (original urethane type) sticks really well. I've not used it for shock line mounting but it's fantastic for putting a bunch of BB's or other weight in the tip of the nose.

caveduck said:

Gorilla Glue (original urethane type) sticks really well. I've not used it for shock line mounting but it's fantastic for putting a bunch of BB's or other weight in the tip of the nose.

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+1. I used it to secure some lead fishing weights in a LOC 7.5" nose cone. They didn't budge.

Epoxy or Gorilla glue (polyurethane) will work, but a mechanical locking method is still needed, not only scoring the plastic but also using a cross pin method like bamboo skewers or brass rods. (see John Cokers video). Very few glues stick reliably or permanently to poly nose cones.

Have good luck by roughing up bond area with sandpaper, then using epoxy-wetted fiberglass pieces as attachment point. More surface area is better.

Thanks guys. I was trying to avoid any kind of cross pin if possible because the nose cone is already painted.

But after actually looking at it for two seconds it occurred to me that I could just drill two holes in the upper shoulder area, epoxy in a bamboo chopstick and tie the kevlar to that. That left plenty of room for the chute bundle and the holes were drilled in the shoulder so no repaint was needed. Shoulda' seen it right off!

Thanks again!

Roughed up inside (and I mean rough. Like gouged), Clean surface, Rocketpoxy

Gouge as stated, but don't use regular epoxy. Epoxy formulated for plastic bonding works better:

I've roughed up the inside, then used expanding foam, not the Home Depot stuff, and it has worked great. Just drop whatever you want down the hole and it will stay.

LOC appears to use Polypropylene for nose cones.

Which limits adhesive options.

Most “plastic” epoxies (JB Plastic for certain) explicitly says it doesn’t work on polypropylene or polyethylene. Remember, plastic is a lot like saying liquid. Adhesives that work great for many plastics are useless for others. Polypropylene, Polyethylene, and Delrin are examples of plastics that do not play nice with all but specialty adhesives that are expensive and not stocked in a hobby or hardware store.

The first options are not really suited for hobbyists: plasma or flame treatments. Both require expensive tools and experience - otherwise the bond will be no better than without treatment.

Next are some solvent treatments, but any solvent that can do anything to polypropylene is going to be very, very bad for humans, lungs, clothes, tools... avoid.

There are some adhesion promoter/cyanoacrylate combinations; Permabond sells one example. I’m reasonably sure the brittleness of CA is not acceptable.

Finally, there are products like , which is also an acrylic adhesive. It’s expensive, and you also have to get the dispensing equipment.

Try this very informative. Lots of other great ideas

https://www.jcrocket.com/plastic-nose-mods.shtml

Bite the bullet, drill a couple holes, stick wooden dowel across the front, attach your line or put some sort of leader on it as an attachment point for your shock cord, put some gorilla glue on it, cut the outside dowels flush, sand it down, and for the weekend flights cover the holes with decals or monokote or something, then repaint it when you get a chance.

Some things are worth the trouble to do right the first time.

Hope you have a good flight (or 2!)

clean out the mold release with a little acetone. Epoxy works fine then.

BABAR said:

Bite the bullet, drill a couple holes, stick wooden dowel across the front, attach your line or put some sort of leader on it as an attachment point for your shock cord, put some gorilla glue on it, cut the outside dowels flush, sand it down, and for the weekend flights cover the holes with decals or monokote or something, then repaint it when you get a chance.

Some things are worth the trouble to do right the first time.

Hope you have a good flight (or 2!)

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That's what I did, but I put the stick through the upper part of the shoulder (see post #8).

Only got in one flight but it was a good one! (Once the power company guy got it down off the wire! )

Mugs914 said:

That's what I did, but I put the stick through the upper part of the shoulder (see post #8).

Only got in one flight but it was a good one! (Once the power company guy got it down off the wire! )

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Smart man, having the power company help you out! Of course, you don’t win many Darwin Awards that way.....

Glad you got a good flight!

BABAR said:

Of course, you don’t win many Darwin Awards that way.....

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We all only get one shot at the Darwin Awards.

If I ever earn one, I want it to be crazy enough the BBC broadcasts it.

...and now I have the Schoolhouse Rock song about flying kites near power lines stuck in my head.

Pariah Zero said:

We all only get one shot at the Darwin Awards.

If I ever earn one, I want it to be crazy enough the BBC broadcasts it.

...and now I have the Schoolhouse Rock song about flying kites near power lines stuck in my head.

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By my math you have unlimited shots up until you contribute to the ongoing gene pool (stupidity has no known limits!) but you can only WIN a Darwin Award once

I still love the “I’m just a Bill” and “Hey Little Twelve Toes” songs!

See: https://thebestglueforplastic.com/Craftech-Adhesive-Guide.pdf