Just saying Hi (I'm new here and to Rockets)

[Zericon]

Just wanted to say hi! I'm 24 and just now finding out how fun rocketry is. I hope to grow my collection slowly (without loosing too many) and to learn alot so please don't kill me if i ask too many stupid questions

My first question (sorry i'm starting already) what types of glue do ya all use to hold the fins on (balsa wood fins)?

 

[JRThro]

Originally posted by Zericon
Just wanted to say hi! I'm 24 and just now finding out how fun rocketry is. I hope to grow my collection slowly (without loosing too many) and to learn alot so please don't kill me if i ask too many stupid questions

My first question (sorry i'm starting already) what types of glue do ya all use to hold the fins on (balsa wood fins)?

Zericon, welcome!

Hey, I'm 47 and just now finding out how fun rocketry is.

The only glues I've used so far are white glue (Elmer's) and CA (cyanoacrylate 'super glue'. I use CA exclusively on everything except fin fillets and motor mount spacer rings (that hold the motor mount inside the body tube of the rocket).

Also, just so you know this: There are no stupid questions. Just ask and someone, probably several someones, will have an answer for you, and they'll be really nice about it, too.

 

[eugenefl]

Originally posted by Zericon
Just wanted to say hi! I'm 24 and just now finding out how fun rocketry is. I hope to grow my collection slowly (without loosing too many) and to learn alot so please don't kill me if i ask too many stupid questions

My first question (sorry i'm starting already) what types of glue do ya all use to hold the fins on (balsa wood fins)?

First off, a HUGE welcome to THE ROCKETRY FORUM!

It's refreshing to see some younger/newer blood in the hobby. I am 26 myself and enjoying rocketry to its fullest.

RULE #1 - There are no stoopid questions
RULE #2 - If you think it's a stupid question and don't want to risk the embarrassment, use the "search" function.
RULE #3 - You *must* share pictures of your rockets, flights, or construction progress. (Ok, not really a rule, but really cool!)

Er, I think that's about it. Ok, so there are no rules here, but it's a great place to talk rocketry and to ask questions.

I take it you are starting out with the Estes variety kits. Once you are comfortable and are ready to take on a different challenge, you should check out Aerotech composite motors.

We're glad you're here. Search the Forum. There is much wealth in knowledge hidden in these threads. Take care. We hope you feel welcome here.

 

[Stymye]

welcome aboard Zericon !
you will get plenty of answers here , ask away!

 

[JRThro]

Hey, somebody else answer his glue question!

I've only been doing this for 2 months!

 

[OKTurbo]

Hey Zericon...

Welcome to TRF.

I use Titebond Wood Glue or Elmer's Carpender's glue. (The yellow stuff). Good old white Elmer's school glue will also work just fine. The white glue takes a little longer to dry than the carpenter's glue.

When glueing on fins, I scuff up the body tube a little bit with some sand paper where the fins attach. The outer layer of most Estes body tubes is fairly slick. Rough it up a bit and the glue will "bite" better.

There is no such thing as a stupid question. Ask away....we're a friendly bunch.

Oh....and be sure to post pictures so we can see your progress.

John

 

[Zericon]

Thank you all for the Warm welcome!!!

Thanks also for the Tips on the Sanding of the body and for all the glue tips. I've been using CA glue to hold the fins inplace untill i could get Plastic model cement on the outer edges. this wasn't working, ususally not after a second flight I would loose a fin or two. I'll get some Elmers glue


As for pictures I have so far have one pic and one movie, sadly the one in the movie was it's first and only fligh Went alot higher than I expected and drifted far far into a marshy wetland.



This is my first rocket photo, taken by my wife.

 

[Justin Horne]

That's a really good photo, and I envy your field! looking good so far!

Oh, and welcome..

 

[nomopbo]

Originally posted by Zericon
I hope to grow my collection slowly (without loosing too many) and to learn alot

Well, if you are like the majority of us, forget growing slowly!
Hook up the black powder I.V. right now.

Once you start searching and find out how deep this rabbit hole goes, you just keep going down to see whats around the next corner.

You start thinking...I can do that...I can do that too... the rockets keep getting bigger and BIGGER and fly higher and HIGHER and faster and FASTER...shew *deep breaths, deep breaths*

Seriously, you will love it, much to learn and try. I have been flying for 1 year and have nearly finished my level one project and though I haven't flown it yet, I have gathered nearly all the materials for my level 2 project.

WELCOME!

 

[rocket trike]

Welcome

I use 5 min epoxy just because I can build a rocket in just a few minutes and launch it the next morning. When I get something in my mind I just go and build it and then launch to see how it works. I guess I do not that as much since I got Roc sim so I check them out there first.

I do use elmers for most evrything now that I have Roc sim I do attach the fins with super glue. Unless I am in a rush then I get out the Epoxy

Tom

 

[gerbs4me]

cool pic
Welcome to the Rocketry Forum

you can also use Elmers white glue(glue all) not school glue
Rocketry is a very fun and addictive hobby, wait till you get into the BIG Stuff

 

[kenobi65]

Originally posted by gerbs4me
you can also use Elmers white glue(glue all) not school glue

Agreed. Elmer's School Glue is a thinned-down version of Elmer's Glue-All. Works good for construction-paper projects, not really sturdy enough for rockets.

As I only do the low-power (A-C engines) at this point, I just use Elmer's Carpenter's Glue (the yellow stuff) for the actual bonding of fin-to-tube, then use Glue-All for the fillets (Carpenter's Glue tends to shrink as it dries, and it tends to leave lousy-looking fillets, as a result.)

In nearly 40 launches, I've only had two rockets have fin problems, and neither of those were due to failure of the glue joint. (In one case, the glue weld stuck just fine, but the top layer of the body tube paper tore away; in the other case, the fin balsa cracked in mid-fin.)

Welcome!

Mike

 

[kenobi65]

Originally posted by Zericon
I've been using CA glue to hold the fins inplace untill i could get Plastic model cement on the outer edges. this wasn't working, ususally not after a second flight I would loose a fin or two. I'll get some Elmers glue

Yeah, plastic model cement won't do you much good at all with a wood-and-cardboard model. Plastic cement works because it's a solvent for styrene plastic -- it melts the plastic, and when you stick two pieces together, it fuses them together when it dries. When you're not working with plastic parts, plastic model cement doesn't do much of anything. In your case, it was probably only the CA that was giving any sort of bond to the fins.

Estes recommends using plastic model cement for plastic-to-paper bonds (such as fins-to-body tube on a lot of the E2X models); I am still not convinced that that gives a durable bond.

 

[powderburner]

A whole bunch of the glues already mentioned will work great.

I think that even the Elmers school glue works fine. I have never had problems with it on low-power models, and it's just about 'back to school' time (this means: you will be able to buy gobs of it for real cheap).

OKTurbo gave you an important tip----scuff sand the outside of the body tube where the fin will be attached. This gives you a significantly stronger fin attachment balsa-to-cardboard, or else you will be trying to glue to the thin plastic film layer that is on the outside of many small BTs.

Another tip to remember: double glue. Glue (lightly) once to get the glue distributed along the fin root and the matching part of the BT. Let both sides dry. (Here is where the 'lightly' comes in----if you try to do the first step with a heavy coating of glue you will end up all day waiting for it to dry.) Re-glue lightly and press the two pieces together. The glue should grab and hold the fin in position within a few minutes. Let it get thoroughly dry (a couple hours) and then start applying glue at the root to create a reinforcing fillet. (You know, that description sounds suspiciously like a triple glue?)

Like someone else said, there are no dumb questions. All of us have wondered about these things at one time or another, and are happy to help (if we know). I don't think I have seen anyone tease newbies here on TRF . . . unless they already knew them, and they really really deserved it.

 

[kelltym88]

Welcome!! Look at this guy, 2 posts and he's already got a picture up. Awesome! I use Titebond wood glue, I can get it from work. It dries quicker than white glue. Never be afraid to ask any questions, the people here are sharp and you will learn alot, I know I did.

 

[shreadvector]

https://home.earthlink.net/~mebowitz/safety.pdf

Wood to cardboard or paper = Yellow Wod Glue.

Follow manufacturers instructions for kits. (Some kits can actually use "super-glue" (CA) but not Estes/Quest. Aerotech kits are engineered specifically for CA or epoxy as explained clearly in the instructions).

Originally posted by Zericon
Just wanted to say hi! I'm 24 and just now finding out how fun rocketry is. I hope to grow my collection slowly (without loosing too many) and to learn alot so please don't kill me if i ask too many stupid questions

My first question (sorry i'm starting already) what types of glue do ya all use to hold the fins on (balsa wood fins)?

 

[loopy]

Next major purchase - Aerotech Initiator and a 29mm 40-120 motor casing! Best purchase of my life!

Welcome to the club and the habit...err, umm...I mean hobby!

Loopy

 

[scadaman29325]

Welcome!

I like to put a bead of wood glue along the root edge of the fin except for about a 1/4" from each end.

I'll press this onto the Body tube and pull it away and wait a minute for it to get tacky.

Then I'll put a dab of medium CA at the ends of the fins (where there was no wood glue) and stick it to the BT. The CA helps set the fin in place quickly.

After a couple of minutes I'll put a small bead on each side and use my finger to make a nice fillet. I'll let that dry any where from a couple of hours to through the next day, Then I'll put a second fillet on it using a spent 18mm motor as the tool instead of my finger. I've been known to do a third fillet using a 24mm motor on larger fins (fat boy...).

Some time during this fillet process I'll coat and recoat both sides of the fins with wood glue.

If needed I'll smooth the fillets out with wood filler/finish to make it look good before primer and paint.

That's how I do it. It works pretty good. I've never lost a fin at the joint.

I'll second and third the "search" function option or just go to the techniques forum and start reading, about 6 months ago when I joined that's what I did, took the better part of 3 days to go through them but there is wealth of information there. Also propulsion and support ahve a good bit of information in them...

EMRR or rocketreviews has a bunch of good stuff about all the rockets out there (just about all)... good mods to make during construction... what to watch out for during construction...

 

[moocrew]

Welcome!

Some of the techniques that i use and have learned from others are. Tack on the fins with some CA glue. It dries quick and make a pretty good bond so makes thing move a little faster. And when you're done you make fillets with elmers..epoxy....just about anything you want (within intelligent ranges) epoxy is used mainly on mid and high power rocs. Its overkill for LPR.
Also another good thing to keep those fins looking good is coating them with CA glue...thin to medium works best in my experince. This actaully make the fin alot more rigid and make a real smooth painting surface. Or in place of the Ca surfacing you could use Elmers Fill n' Finish. This stuff is a dream work better than CA i would say..i dunno much about if it adds any strength at all thou.

Hey there are all kinds of things to do that work...read about em. Make up your own stuff and try it..do what ever you want mabey you'll discover a new technique.

-matt

 

[rokitflite]

Elmers Carpenters Glue works the best for me. Once it dries it is more moisture and humidity resistant than the Elmers white glues. On a nice hot humid day Elmers white glues tend to get a little soft. While the carpenters glues do shrink, I always fillet my fins with 15 minute epoxy. 5 minute epoxy is OK but it is not as strong as the longer curing ones, and it tends to yellow & peel with time (this lesson was learned with R/C airplanes). Welcome to the forum, and to model rocketry!!!

 

[ravenx99]

Originally posted by kenobi65
(Carpenter's Glue tends to shrink as it dries, and it tends to leave lousy-looking fillets, as a result.)

Now that's an understatement. When I first started doing this (just a couple months ago) my first fillets with wood glue were like, "Where'd my fillet go? It doesn't even look like made fillets at all!" One of my other hobbies is woodworking, but I'd never noticed just how much wood glue shrinks... it's a gap-filling glue and it works best in very thin layers in a tight joint. So it's not like I left globs of it laying around to dry out. I guess the shrinkage is why it's not a gap-filling glue.

I'm thinking a light-weight epoxy putty (maybe plumbers putty cut with a filler or similar) would be the way to go. Seems a lot easier than trying to pour fillets with thin epoxy.

 

[Zericon]

I'm so very gratefull for all of the wonderfull welcomes and tips

I got some elmers wood glue (yellow) on my way home used it today, it worked like a charm, much better than the way i was doing it. the fillets did shrink alot though, I'll try some more coats, if that doesn't fill in enough, i'll get some epoxy.

Again, Thanks sooo sooo much for the warm welcome.

BTW: I also bought an estees overland today, maybe a little difficult for me but i'm taking my time and trying(i'll post pics Soon)


This is what i've done so far... All level 1
(i know I know the decals aren't right I put them on half asleep)

 

[Zericon]

sorry, the post was soppost to have a pic, but I think I goofed.. here it is...

 

[moocrew]

nice lookin birds...keep em' comin!

 

[jflis]

Welcome to the forum and to rocketry. Yer gonna love them both!