lcorinth
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- Aug 5, 2014
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I'm currently building an Estes U.S. Army Patriot. The balsa fins were slightly - really slightly warped, so much so that if I'd posted a picture of them, you probably wouldn't see it. Still, I wanted to flatten them out.
So I tried a trick I've seen here on TRF. I sprayed the heck out of them with Windex, pressed them under heavy books for a few days, and let them flatten out.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, apparently the ammonia in the window cleaner can penetrate the wood cell walls, and help to restructure and reshape the wood more effectively than just using water or steam. I'm not crazy about the Patriot, so I figure this was a good rocket to try something new on.
Today, after several days, I took the fins out. The grain was slightly raised in a few spots, but other than that, the fins were nice and flat, and seemed to be completely dry. I sanded off the raised grain, and went to do some stuff for about 30 minutes.
When I returned all of the fins had curled up and warped much worse than originally. If I'm not mistaken, they all seemed to have curled away from the side they were laying on, which might be significant. In other words, they curled toward the exposed side.
I should have taken pictures, but I freaked out a little and threw them all back under a stack of books.
So, what happened there? Is it possible they weren't dry, and curled toward the exposed side as that dried out? Should I have treated them with something else after pulling them out from the books in the first place (like CA or something)?
If they're still curled (or if it happens again) when I get back home, I'll take pictures. I'm just wondering if anyone has seen this happen or knows why this happens. The scrap of warped balsa I had previously tested the Windex trick on flattened out nicely, and never re-warped.
So I tried a trick I've seen here on TRF. I sprayed the heck out of them with Windex, pressed them under heavy books for a few days, and let them flatten out.
For those who don't know what I'm talking about, apparently the ammonia in the window cleaner can penetrate the wood cell walls, and help to restructure and reshape the wood more effectively than just using water or steam. I'm not crazy about the Patriot, so I figure this was a good rocket to try something new on.
Today, after several days, I took the fins out. The grain was slightly raised in a few spots, but other than that, the fins were nice and flat, and seemed to be completely dry. I sanded off the raised grain, and went to do some stuff for about 30 minutes.
When I returned all of the fins had curled up and warped much worse than originally. If I'm not mistaken, they all seemed to have curled away from the side they were laying on, which might be significant. In other words, they curled toward the exposed side.
I should have taken pictures, but I freaked out a little and threw them all back under a stack of books.
So, what happened there? Is it possible they weren't dry, and curled toward the exposed side as that dried out? Should I have treated them with something else after pulling them out from the books in the first place (like CA or something)?
If they're still curled (or if it happens again) when I get back home, I'll take pictures. I'm just wondering if anyone has seen this happen or knows why this happens. The scrap of warped balsa I had previously tested the Windex trick on flattened out nicely, and never re-warped.