>>>>>>Henkel Loctite Corp. has introduced two highly flexible cyanoacrylate adhesives for applications that must withstand vibration.
I realize that we are a ways off from using cyano as a structural adhesive in our chosen passion - my prediction is that someday we will. In the meanwhile, we can all benefit greatly from this unique adhesive in non-structural ways. As an aero modeler I have been using every brand name and species since 1978 - that is why I know that, correctly applied, they out perform most other adhesives on many materials including cured wood. Learn what they can do and save hours. I pal of mine was building a 1/3 size Sikorsky S39 flying boat - it was enormous. The fuselage is a typical boat hull. The guy was really struggling with the sheeting on the front section of this hull. Using one piece of ply it required all of his fingers on both hands to hold everything in the right place - no place for clamps - and it had to be done on both sides (in one go) for obvious reasons. He had tried several times with 10 minute epoxy - he would somehow hang on until the epoxy set (on a test piece) and then release. No bananas - the epoxy would let go peeling of a microscopic layer (almost a finger print) off the ply. By the time I arrived he was ready to burn the project. We made one more attempt using cyano (we used the thicker one). We forgot to do a test piece so he hung on for a full minute - bingo. That was 22 years ago - he has since lugged this behemoth from Johannesburg to the annual event in Las Vegas at least twice and flown it many times with a 60cc single cylinder chainsaw motor shaking every joint to the core. After seeing this he and I (and many others) used Cyano freely in all aspects of mode building including the spars and spar boxes (unless it simply did not make sense (like sheeting a big foam wing where a contact adhesive was obviously easier). Pins are no longer required, the bond is (almost) instantaneous - things happen real fast. Of particular note to netters is a Styrofoam friendly cyano. One brand call it UFO, others call it odourless. It is probably too expensive to use for big areas, but great for tacking a ply template to styrofaom or SF to SF - whatever within seconds. Keeping cabling tidy, placards in place, upholstery under control - the more you use it, the more you see possibilities. The plastic overlay on my Cherokee panel had cracks and some of the mounting holes were enlarged (broken out). The cracks were sorted out with a strip of glass tape placed over the crack (on the back) with a drop or two of the thin cyano species - 1 drop will cover a sq inch on the thinner tape - and that is it. The enlarged hole - this technique is good for a few instances where you screwed up and have an oversize hole (or a hole in the wrong place). For a thin material like plastic, temporarily put some electricians tape on the front side (over the offending hole). Sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda over the bad area (maybe 1/32 layer) and drop one or two drops of thin cyano - poof, instant skin. Keep the puff of smoke away from your eyes - does no harm, but it stings and makes them water - about like soap. Maybe build up a layer or two, or if the area is flat, add a small piece of scrap cloth - remove the tape from the front, drill a new hole and touch up the paint. The point is - you can do this as fast as explaining it. I once drilled some holes to the bolt clearance size in 3/8 hardwood before realizing that I needed to cut the thread in the wood - no room for a blind nut / anchor nut - isssssshh. I closed the bottom of the oversize hole with some tape and built up the hole - add a 1/16" layers of bicarb, drop of thin cyno, poof - repeated until the hole was full. Then drilled the hole to the correct size and tapped it 1/4-20. It was harder to tap then alli - these bolts kept the wings on my 1/4 size Stintson 108 and I still have it (12 years later). Finally (lest Mark throws his toys against the wall) I often Cyano two pieces of alli together for matched pair drilling /filing /shaping and even milling. Trick is not to do too good a job preparing the bond faces. If the surfaces are true to the extent that the two pieces have a gapless seam and you clean them with alcohol and clamp them - chances are that you will damage or distort something trying to separate them. I have heard about age, vibration etc - so far Cyano already beats the pants of anything. If the manufacturers are actually further improving Cyano - Issssshh Steve J [email protected]
