Model Forum / General / Rockets / August 2007

Ahh, scrounging the C&B box-'o'-goodies for usable stuff!  Cool! ;-)
If it were mine, I'd use a sanding drum and dremel-type tool to grind the
Epoxy down.  I have a little battery-powered Craftsman rotary tool, and
that's
what I would use.

It goes 5,000 RPM on 'low' and 10,000 on 'high'.  I find it much easier
to use than a Dremel in delicate situations where you want tweak something
and don't need
speed or raw power.  I had to ruin a couple of items with the Dremel before
I learned that sometimes
it's just too fast and powerful, and can remove too much material too
quickly.

I'd think a Dremel would work well for you.  Hold it steady and go slow.  If
you have the better Dremel
that you can change the speed on, (I have the cheap-one speed model) then
start on a slower speed.

HTH,

Joe Michel
NAR 82797 L2

Ted,

Beings the normal bonding of epoxy to plastic is mechanical in nature,
the strength of the bond is, for the most part, dependent on the
prep/surface roughing done to the plastic/quantom tube, prior to the
gluing process.

This is the process I use to attempt removal of mechanically bonded
epoxy glue joints: Use a high speed dremel tool and cut-off wheel to hog
out as much of the epoxy, without cutting into the plastic. If the speed
is high enough, heat will be generated and may cause the glue joint bond
to soften and weaken, allowing the epoxy to be pealed from the glue
joint with some degree of difficulty. If that process fails to work,
your only hope is to keep cutting on the glue, to the point you know you
are getting to close to the plastic, then stop and see if the glue joint
will break using a little brute force, scrape off the remaining glue
with a utility/hobby knife, and/or carefully use sand paper to remove
the remaining epoxy.

Sometimes, if it's just a drop of epoxy on an unprepared surface, you
can just pop it off with a sharp utility/hobby knife.

In reality, there aint no fool proof or easy way to git-r-done.  (:-)

Fred

How about using Eldorado solutions? they can dissolve epoxy...

Or a heat gun... oh wait you might warp the QT...

I use course sand paper & a dremel.

Phil

heh, all your replies are forgettign something.

sand off the paint. a couple of days under a good UV lamp will do the
trick