CA GLUE

GLUEING THE WING AND TAIL ON THE TOP FLITE FS, I USED CA GLUE TO SAVE TIME. THE JOINTS ARE STRONG BUT THE WING AND TAIL ARE COVERED WITH A WHITE MIST, POWDER. HARD TO CLEAN OFF, SOME WILL NOT CLEAN OFF.NORMAL FOR CA GLUE? I DO NOT USE CA GLUE SO THIS IS NEW TO ME.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-16-03 AT 12:24 PM (CDT)
 
>GLUEING THE WING AND TAIL ON THE TOP FLITE FS, I USED CA
>GLUE TO SAVE TIME. THE JOINTS ARE STRONG BUT THE WING AND
>TAIL ARE COVERED WITH A WHITE MIST, POWDER. HARD TO CLEAN
>OFF, SOME WILL NOT CLEAN OFF.NORMAL FOR CA GLUE? I DO NOT
>USE CA GLUE SO THIS IS NEW TO ME.
>

Try a little acetone on a Q-tip and dont get any on the glue joint because it could soften the glue.
if that doesn't work maybe a little lacquer thinner
and if that doesn't work, sorry to say but you pretty much will have
to get used to your customized new look

I had the same problem, and it took a LOT of Acetone to get the white crud off! I think that it disappears with a bit of Castor Oil soaked in, thought

I used some CA de-bonder to get rid of that white fog on my FS ARF and Nobler ARF just last night. It worked really well... I just added a few drops to a paper towel and wiped that white film right off.

Tonight I'm going to see if the de-bonder will remove some stray CA from my wife's favorite faux marble coffee table... I sure hope it works!

I seem to remember somebody telling me that CA is not fuel proof. On my old models, the nose and wing joint seemed to catch most of the oily stuff from up front. Wouldn't this weaken the wing/fuse joint prematurely? If not CA, what is better to attach the wing and fuselage ? Does anybody use Ambroid or other fuel proof cements any more? If not, howcome?

I've heard the same thing about CA. So far as I recall, Ambroid was never fuel proof. Sigment tube says it is, but my experience is that it is not. I generally make those joints with epoxy.

It's been about 10 years since I experimented with it, but some (if not all) debonders at that time had nitromethane as a major component. In other words, fuel containing nitromethane can be a CA debonder.

Ambroid has always been advertised (and still is, as can be seen on their web site)as "hot fuel proof", meaning resistent to nitromethane fuels. To quote their ad, "Our most widely known adhesive, carried by most hobby stores. Mainly a wood cement, but bonds well to many plastics and metals. After more than 70 years in production, it is still the best material for sealing and surface-hardening balsa or wood. The bonds that are produced on balsa and hardwoods are yet to be duplicated. Strong, lightweight, waterproof, flexible and hot-fuel proof".

Ambroid is a great cement. It allows time for adjustments and squeezout at seams is easily sanded. Also, when using it to edge glue sheet balsa, any dry squeezout can be wiped away with a paper towel dampened with acetone. And, if parts aren't glued correctly, acetone can be brushed on the seam to loosen it for regluing. And it smells better then CA, too.

Bill Groman

It's my impression that present day Ambroid is much thinner and has a much stronger smell than it used to. What do you think?

Maybe, but I can't be sure. I've gotten in the habit of applying it by brush from a blob squeezed onto a file card. I dip a #2 round artists brush into acetone, then into the glue, then onto the part. This thins the glue to whatever degree I need by varying the amount of acetone, so for me the consistency is always thinner than I recall as a kid. Back then it was squirted straight out of the tube. For precoating end-grain I apply it very thin (for deep penetration), then for joint assembly I use it almost straight. With the brush and thinned glue, I can make neat little fillets to further strengthen joints like rib/spar etc..

To me, a shop can't smell better than when scented with Ambroid and dope, but these days I use a mask when doing a lot of gluing, such as for the bazillion ribs on my Cobra.

And Ambroid does chew better than CA......no contest there at all.

Bill Groman

Ambroid chews better!

[photo not recovered: 3e69bb3870f12ad5.jpg]

"A careful driver is one who honks his horn when he goes through a red light." -Henry Morgan

CA is satisfactorily fuel-resistant, hardly fuel-proof.

I don't know about all of the debonders out there, but the first ones I used looked and smelled suspiciously like nitromethane; later I was told by someone that is the case.

Since then I have been filling my Ooops! bottle with 98% nitro. Yes, the same as used in blending fuel. Yes again, I know that nitro is now a 90% mix, nitromethane to methanol. It still works, both for making pre-mix and freeing your fingers.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-17-03 AT 00:20 AM (CDT)
 
Hmmm. Could you mix the debonder with your fuel to boost the nitro content? Just kidding.
On my FS ARF I used epoxy, the 30 minute stuff. Just cut a very small section of the monocote away and apply epoxy just like the instructions say to. You did read the instructions, right?