I use it to strengthen BT at cone end as well and wick it into exposed thrust block/kevlar lariate where I suspect it works to reduce burning.

At the nose cone end, I apply with a sandwich baggie. I put a finger inside at corner, place a drop of CA outside bag at corner and smear it around the inside lip from tip down about 3/4 inch. No stick, even distribution and baggie is reuseable if you wipe it off. Sanding for cone is easy with some margin for error. CA will wick into tube edge and can be sanded to a knife sharp edge if you are not careful. This is murder on shock cords.

I rarely store it as I buy the 4 for $.99 cheapy tubes that last about a day ort two when opened. No great loss over waste, but I still try to save the occassional jobs for one sitting.

I use white glue or yellow glue (depending on which one is closest by at the moment) for coating the bottom 4" - 6" or so of kevlar cords to give them extra protection from ejection charges, and they hold up longer with the glue coating.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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NAR #54895 SR

I cover them in heat-shrink tubing. It has no effect on the Kevlar fibers. As strong and heat-tolerant it is, Kevlar is surprisingly vulnerable to abrasion. Also, it is claimed that CA will weaken Kevlar.

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SAM # 0011

Do you use the kind of heat-shrink tubing (for covering/protecting/tightening wiring harnesses) that All Electronics and Radio Shack sell? Also, what heat source do you use (a lighter, a hair dryer, etc.)?Thank you for jogging my memory--I've heard or read that, too. In addition:

Speaking of glues and their effects on shock cords, I found that in the Estes Gnome/Sky Dart/Mini Customizer/UP Aerospace SpaceLoft kits (all of which use a forward plastic external shock cord anchor ring with a molded-in launch lug), while the tube-type plastic cement will weaken their provided rubber band shock cords, there is a way to use this glue for another, associated good purpose *without* weakening the shock cord. Here's how:

If these rockets are built according to their kit instructions, their shock cords will often pull out of their body tubes after just a few flights (sometimes on their first flights). However, using just a drop of the tube-type plastic cement to "tack down" the far end of the 1/4" (6 mm) long protruding end of the shock cord to the body tube (after the rest of the shock cord is fed through the forward slit in the body tube) keeps the shock cord from pulling out; also, it makes it easier to slide the forward plastic ring into place on the body tube by ensuring that the "tacked down" end of the shock cord will better fit into the slot in the plastic anchor ring. (I usually use Kevlar/elastic shock cords instead of the provided rubber shock band cords even in these little rockets, but now that Estes is--*finally*--providing longer shock cords in their kits, the rubber band shock cords work okay [in smaller, lighter rockets] and are easier to install in Gnome/SpaceLoft-type rockets than the thinner Kevlar/elastic shock cords.)

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
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All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I agree that, if you want to shield the kevlar down near the ejection blast, the heat shrink tubing is a better way to go.

In my case, I use a heat gun to shrink the tubing. But I prefer instead, in the rocket, to simply use heavier kevlar down near the motor. IMO, shrink tubing makes it too stiff.

As for glue, I use that to affix the cord to the motor tube and to secure the knot, but my take is that using it to coat the cord will make the cord weaker and more prone to breaking.

In short, I usually use heavier cord inside the rocket, a nomex ribbon thru the opening, and a lighter kevlar shock cord going to the nosecone.

Doug

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YORF member #11

When you strengthen the ends with the CA thin. Do you have sand them so the nose cones fit? I tried it and the end of my tube looked like one I saw in a picture. I tried putting the nose cone on and had to sand and sand. Is there something I am doing wrong?

Radio Shack. I turn on a burner on my electric stove and carefully hold the area up high overhead until the plastic shrinks. I tried using a hair dryer, but it didn't get hot enough. A heat gun would be the best tool to use, but I don't have one.

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SAM # 0011

Nope, that's the procedure. As I mentioned in that post, the CA causes the material to swell a bit and it also leaves a crust on the surface. The good news, though, is that paper treated with CA is capable of being sanded without being shredded. Cured CA is quite hard, though, so it does take a bit of work to sand it down smooth.

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SAM # 0011

Thank you for this information. While I also like and implement Doug's idea (using heavier-gauge Kevlar--I've used the 400# variety in BT-50/ST-10 and larger rockets), heat-shrink tubing on 100# Kevlar cord (the gauge that Semroc and Quest include in their kits) should take up less space inside small BT-5/ST-5 and BT-20/ST-7 rockets.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

I used that technique with the 700 lb. tubular Kevlar in my Javelin XL. I used several pieces of it (overlapping the ends) to pad the cord where it passed through the upper centering ring and for a few inches above it.

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SAM # 0011