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Author Topic: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa  (Read 1405 times)

Offline John Harman

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Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« on: September 15, 2021, 01:02:53 AM »
Hi Guys,

My enquiry is similar to the previous one on laminating balsa.
I am modifying the Fuz sides by laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa and wondering which is the appropriate glue to use.
I have titebond aliphatic and also gorilla yellow glues, also thin and medium CA. The area to laminate is 70 x 775mm.
I intend to cutout the wing profile after about 24hrs drying time.

Any advice is most welcome. Thanks.

John

Online Steve Berry

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2021, 06:19:36 AM »
Personally, I think I would use either slow, thick CA, which will give you some working time to spread it out (like around 30 seconds or so), or some laminating epoxy, such as Z-poxy, which is made for doing exactly what you're wanting to do. Working time on the should be boat 15-20 minutes, and it'll be cured in 24 hours.

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Offline Tim Wescott

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #2 on: September 15, 2021, 11:35:50 AM »
CA is brittle, so I'm not sure it'd be my first choice for that (but then, I've laminated big sheets with CA and it turned out OK).

Alphatic should work well.  A very thin coat of Gorilla foaming glue might work well -- I left that out of the balsa fuselage sides discussion.

Basically, you can build an entire airplane with alphatic and it works well.

What's the Gorilla yellow glue?  I looked on their site and saw a white wood glue (which is PVA -- pretty good compared to alphatic, but not alphatic).
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Online Brett Buck

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2021, 12:31:10 PM »
Hi Guys,

My enquiry is similar to the previous one on laminating balsa.
I am modifying the Fuz sides by laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa and wondering which is the appropriate glue to use.
I have titebond aliphatic and also gorilla yellow glues, also thin and medium CA. The area to laminate is 70 x 775mm.
I intend to cutout the wing profile after about 24hrs drying time.

  Of those options, I would suggest Titebond, being sure to clamp it against a flat surface to avoid warping. *Myself* I would probably use Medium CA, and the grid method, but yo have to work very quickly and surely or it will be a disaster. It works for me when I use Hot Stuff "Super-T", just because it has enough working time to take the pressure off the application and slapping it together.

           Working time is the big problem here, not the strength or durability of the finished joint - all these will give you a joint that is much stronger and tougher than the underlying balsa.

                 Brett

Online Brett Buck

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2021, 01:09:36 PM »
Once you use Zap Zpoxy you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

 Slow-set epoxy would definitely be ideal, if he had it. No warping and plenty of working time.

  Titebond will tend to warp things since it is water-based, and you might expect it to have trouble drying, but my dad used to build up hardwood blocks with titebond, clamp them together for 15-20 minutes, and then bolt them to his faceplate lathe and spin them up right away. Never flew apart. Titebond has amazing "grab", even uncured, if pressed together for even 30 seconds, it will be hard to get apart. It's actually bad for some model rocket tasks, like sliding engine mounts into close-fitting tubes, because if you ever stop for a second, you will never get it moving again.

  Brett

Online Ken Culbertson

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #5 on: September 15, 2021, 01:40:23 PM »

What's the Gorilla yellow glue?  I looked on their site and saw a white wood glue (which is PVA -- pretty good compared to alphatic, but not alphatic).
I think he is referring to Gorilla Wood Glue.  I grabbed a bottle of it by mistake when looking for Titebond.  It is yellow cream in color and grabs just like Titebond.  Sets a bit faster.  I used it on the ship I am building and I think I like it better.  Once it is set it is set you are not separating the pieces without some balsa coming with it.

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Offline Dave Hull

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2021, 10:31:45 PM »
TiteBond.

You can thin it a bit with water before use if you tend to have open working time issues or if you tend to put glue on too thick. I have very successfully done this by dumping a blob into a small dish and adding drops of water. Stir around with the small brush you will use to apply the glue to your wood. If you are laminating plywood to balsa, put a thin, even layer of glue on the plywood and set in place. I like to set the pieces on my flat workbench and then lay a piece of flat something on top to weight it down. For fuse doublers, I have a couple of large machinist's knees that each weigh a ton. With those on top, everything stays flat.

When I use metal in the "press," such as doing the job on the tablesaw surface or with metal weights on top, I always lay down a moisture barrier so I don't start rusting the press pieces. I have tried using a thin paper towel over the balsa, then some plastic sheet (MonoKote backing is excellent) and then the weight. I'm not sure I could tell if the paper towel "bleed layer" sped up the drying process. I would have had to do destructive testing to be sure.

Dave

Offline John Harman

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2021, 08:42:23 PM »
Hi Guys,

What a fantastic forum this is for giving your expertise and eclectic knowledge.
This octogenarian 'newby' thanks you and is very much obliged to you all. H^^

John
Brisbane
Australia



Online Dennis Toth

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Re: Laminating 0.6mm ply to 2mm balsa
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2021, 08:11:38 AM »
If you use Tilebond or similar after is has time to dry you can use a flat iron set to medium heat to heat seal the bond. Do this on a flat surface, you can also iron out any warps this way.

Best,   DennisT


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