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Old July 16th 11, 01:53 AM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Adam
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Posts: 75
Default Glue for wingtip wheels?

On Jul 11, 8:28*am, RWW wrote:
Darryl Ramm wrote:
On Jul 6, 1:19 pm, weersch wrote:
Here is what I did.
I got a set of JJ's wing tip wheels from Williams.
These are some kind of cast acrylic.
JJ recommended to epoxy the wheels onto the wing surface.
I did not like that idea.
I preferred the removability with the fishline method as Darryl
described.
So I got the described 3M VHB tape from McMaster-Carr, but found that
it did not stick too well to the acrylic.
Also, I needed to sand the base of the wingtip wheel to conform to the
wing surface, which was difficult.
I did an experiment with different glues and found that the foaming
polyurethane (Gorrilla) glue adheres very well to the acrylic.
So, I used this expanding polyurethane both to create a conforming
surface to the wing and as a surface that the VHB tape adheres to very
well.
Just put some plastic kitchen wrap on the wing surface, apply the
polyurethane glue to the wingtip wheel, set it in place and let it
cure.
Make sure you have a good marking system for alignment of your wingtip
wheels.
Then put the VHB tape on the new polyurethane base on the wheel,
covering the complete base.
Leave the other side of the protective film on.
Pull a little corner off of the protection tape on the other side and
fold it back to the side such that you can grab it, once you put it in
place.
Put the wheel down on the wing surface with the little uncovered
corner of the VHB tape.
Now make sure that you are all ready for the final alignment.
Pull the little corner of the protective film to remove the rest of
protective film from in between the wing and wheel, while keeping
proper alignment.
Make sure that the protective film does not break as there is no
recovery at this point other than complete removal and restart.
(if I did it again, I would put a piece of sticking tape on top of the
protective film to pull it all off)
Press down and let sit for 24 hours to let the VHB tape adhere.


This has been sitting on my ship for 3 seasons now and each time I
check, it is still rock solid.
And it has been going through some very rough surface, like runway
cracks and course gravel.
(Some people claim the VHB tape will rather rip the wing skin off than
release)


I have not yet had the need to remove the wheel with the fishline
method.


3U


Excellent write up Hans. And I had a typo it's definitely VHB (Very
High Bond) not UHB tape. BTW its also available from Uline (in largish
rolls). There are also different versions of the VHB tape designed for
different surfaces but they are really hard to find some of the exotic
ones and even with the "right" type Hans' technique may still be
better. Read the directions, there are minimum temp requirements when
you mate the surfaces (if you are doing this over winter).


Darryl


Thanks to all for your excellent replies!
--
RWW


I would use Goop for this application. When you want to remove it,
drip some toluene on it and it will peel right off. Once I found that
that you can easliy remove goop with toluene, I have been using it for
many applicaitions It is very strong yet flexible.

For example, I do a lot of dynamic soaring with larger RC sailplanes -
a servo that is epoxied to a wing skin will almost always pop-off at
the worst possible time due to wing skin flex and the fact that epoxy
does not bond well to plastics. Goop is perfect IMO - it only takes a
small amount, it dries fairly quickly, it flexes, and I can easily
remove the servo for service with a few drops of toluene. It does not
look all that elegant but it works.

/Adam