G10 fiberglass, yay or nay

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rocketsonly

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Hey, what do you all think about G10 fiberglass as fins? Is it popular or not?
Thanks
 
Yay!

tough to cut, but when you're done it's beautiful.

Make sure you scuff up all glueing surfaces well.
 
If you're thinking of another thing for the TARC team to sell, I'd say go for it! I love G10. One thing though, it is difficult to cut.. And don't breath the dust!!!

Justin
YAY.
 
I use G10 a lot, great stuff. I've cut it with a copeing saw, a hacksaw and a diamond edged blade on a mini tablesaw. Supposedly it wears tools fast but I've had no problem with that. Besides the blades are cheap especially for the hand saws. The dust is bad, definatly wear a respirator. It will give you the itch like fiberglass insulation does but not as bad.
 
Wow. That dust is scaring me now... I'll look for a supplier of G10 and see how they turn out. Let you all know when it's ready for sale :D

By the way, what thickness do you all prefer?
 
I use .062" mainly. Thats good for 2, 3 or maybe 4" rockets. For bigger rockets I'll go to .093". There is something smaller (forgot what size exactly) than .062" that I got by accident once. It might be good for indestructible LPR stuff but I doubled it up for a 2" HPR.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to mention to wear goggles especially if your cutting with power equiptment. I usually don't bother though if I'm hand sawing.
 
Originally posted by rocketsonly
Hey, what do you all think about G10 fiberglass as fins? Is it popular or not?
Thanks

I love it. I've used it exclusively for many years. Check the yellow pages for plastics suppliers in your area, they may have good deals in the cut-off bins. That's how I usually get mine.

On modrocs, if you can get the really thin stuff, you can just cut it with heavy duty scissors. Makes a terrific replacement for the standard balsa fins.

On rockets using H and I motors, I usually use about 1/16th thick G10. I use this on my G power camera rockets too, because they need extra stiffness. J power gets .93", or 1/8". 1/8" works fine for K power.

The dust should be avoided -- wear a dust mask when cutting. I use a sabersaw with a blade designed for metals and plastics. Usually I stack four pieces, tape them together and cut the fins all at once. Sometimes I cut them on a friend's bandsaw or tablesaw, if he has the right blade installed.

Recently I've tried the 1/8" honeycomb sheet material from Giant Leap. This is a lot easier to cut that G10, and the finished fin is lighter and stiffer than 1/16" G10. Very nice stuff!
 
Wow, there seems to be a ton of different materials out there! Balsa, Bass, Birch, G10, honeycomb...
Thanks.
 
I even save small pieces of G-10 scrap to use on low power scratch builds
 
I find that using a dremel is an extremely good way to cut it. But as said, wear a mask and goggles.
 
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