Gluing Depron

I'm starting work on a 1/10th scale Laird Solution, in Depron, balsa and carbon fiber.

I had forgotten just how long it takes for 'foam safe' CA to set on Depron (I well remember that nothing else seems to stick at all, however). Even with accelerator it's still slow to cure, and I'm not a particular fan of accelerator.

So, what are your experiences gluing Depron? Do you have any magic? Or should I just use foam-safe CA and expect it to take a while to cure?

Thanks.

Reply to
Tim Wescott
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On Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:01:44 -0600, Tim Wescott wrote in :

There are some good ideas here:

These folks say "use a kicker" with the CA:

And dozens of other similar pages:

Let us know what works for you!

Marty

Reply to
Martin X. Moleski, SJ

Thanks Marty. I really should have Googled...

One of the posts talks about using canopy glue -- I'm going to try that. Foam-safe CA seems to be doing well where I'm gluing wood or carbon fiber to the foam. But I recall the CA not wanting to set in the presence of the foam alone; even with accelerator it would set around the edges and take forever to cure in the middle. It'll be _very_ interesting to see how the canopy glue does.

They also mention some UHU Por -- I'll have to see if the local craft store has some, as it sounds ideal for some foam-to-plywood joints that are going to be problematic any other way.

This is going to be one fun plane -- it's actually #2 in a series. The first was a 1:10.5 scale to get the wingspan at exactly 24 inches. I learned a lot: about building with foam (don't use it for interplane struts!); Laird Solution aerodynamics (the rudder is too small -- my prototype flew sideways, and later I ran across a transcript of a talk by Jimmy Doolittle where he complains about marginal yaw stability in the full scale Super Solution); planning (you really do need to decide how you're going to attach the landing gear _before_ you build (I knew this, but had reasons for ignoring it)); and finally about painting foam (use Krylon H20, and paint the dark parts white before you paint them yellow).

This one ought to be vastly improved by the lessons learned from the prototype -- and even though it was ugly as sin once it really flew, it flew really well. So I'm expecting a good-looking, nice-flying, fast airplane that'll rise off ground for this revision.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

On Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:54:10 -0600, Tim Wescott wrote in :

A worthwhile experiment!

I've used Goop for some odd jobs. I imagine it would be too heavy and too slow-curing for your application.

WOW! And I thought Gorilla Glue was expensive!

Sounds like you learned a lot.

Marvelous!

Marty

Reply to
Martin X. Moleski, SJ

I think GOOP might eat Depron and it is heavy. Canopy glue cures SLOWLY in my experience. There are some really good foam safe CAs and kicker but it seems like it was expensive. Billy Hell rings a bell. mk (I may have al URL somewhere)

Reply to
MJKolodziej

The Arrow from Budget RC is a Depron biplane and its almost all glued using canopy glue. Means a lot of waiting for the glue to dry like back before CA.

Reply to
Fubar of the HillPeople

That's good to know -- I'm not a great fan of CA for a variety of reasons, and I often don't mind waiting for glue to dry.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Canopy glue works _really well_ if you don't mind waiting for it. It's pretty much like white glue for foam.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

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