G10 fiberglass, yay or nay

[rocketsonly]

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

 

[DPatell]

Yay!

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

Make sure you scuff up all glueing surfaces well.

 

[Justin Horne]

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.

 

[Zippy]

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.

 

[rocketsonly]

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

By the way, what thickness do you all prefer?

 

[Zippy]

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.

 

[teflonrocketry1]

The dust from cutting G10 can be minimized by using a "wet" tile saw like:

http://www.toolbarn.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi/MK-145

or a wire saw like:
http://www.gryphoncorp.com/wiresaw.html

Mcmaster-Carr sells G-10 look on catalog page 3346 at:
http://www.mcmaster.com


Bruce S. Levison, NAR #69055

 

[Ray Dunakin]

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!

 

[rocketsonly]

Wow, there seems to be a ton of different materials out there! Balsa, Bass, Birch, G10, honeycomb...
Thanks.

 

[Bowhunter]

I even save small pieces of G-10 scrap to use on low power scratch builds

 

[phaar]

I find that using a dremel is an extremely good way to cut it. But as said, wear a mask and goggles.