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FIX-IT Epoxy Clay
Size: 1/4 pound tubs
P/N: 29590
Price: $11.95
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This is a special synthetic modeling clay impregnated with epoxy. Like other epoxies, it is a two part mix. You take an equal glob of both "A" and "B" clays, and simply knead them together for a few minutes until the color is uniform throughout.
Once mixed together, the clay is still pliable for about 1-3 hours, so you have plenty of time to use it in your rockets. While still soft, it can be shaped, rolled, stretched, or sculpted. It sets rock-hard overnight, and then can be machined, drilled, tapped, sanded, or painted. It is water-proof, and has 0% shrinkage.
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First, it is an adhesive epoxy, so it bonds most materials together: wood, ceramic, metal, stone, glass, cement, foam, fiberglass and many plastics. Just make sure the surfaces are clean, and you're in business. I'm told that it will even set-up under water. You'll probably find a lot of uses for it around the house to make repairs.
But since it combines features of clay and epoxy together, there are some neat "rocketry" things you can use it for:
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- The first thing I thought of was "fin fillets," and it works great for that. Just tack down the fin with a drop of CyA adhesive. Then take a little of the clay-epoxy and roll it into a long snake. Push it into the root-tube intersection, and mold it into a fillet shape with your finger. To get a smooth surface, dip your finger into some alcohol, and run it along the fillet. The next day, they're rock hard and ready for paint.
It saves a lot of time over the conventional method of making fillets with liquid epoxy or wood paste. First, you can do all the fillets on your rocket at one time, without worrying about liquid epoxy running all over everything. And since it has a smooth surface, you don't have to spend time sanding them down afterward. When you're done, the fins aren't coming off; the tube will break before the fillets.
- Anytime you have gaps that need to be filled, like through-the-wall fins or gaps around loose fitting centering rings, this stuff is fantastic. The bigger the gap, the more you need this clay, as nothing else has the capacity to bridge large cavities.
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- How about shock cord mounts? Take a blob of clay, embed a piece of 300 lb Kevlar® cord in it; and push the clay against a bulkhead or the side-wall of the tube. Then feather out the edges of the clay (remember the alcohol tip...) to increase the bonding surface area.
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- Another thing this epoxy clay would work great for is adding sculpted details to the surface of the rocket. In five minutes, I made a bunch of neat airplane canopies and other cool looking do-dad details. And you could implant other items like antenna and depressed details into the clay for added realism. Once attached to the rocket, they aren't coming off.
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- I have a vacuum-form machine, so this could be a cheap and quick way to make molds.
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- Need to add some nose mass to your rocket? Shove some of this clay into the nose, and you're done. It will bond to the inside of the cone, and won't rattle around.
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- How about reinforcing the inside of tubes in front of the motor? Just a very thin layer of the clay protects the tube from the heat of the ejection charge. It can take the heat with ease. I was told that this clay was used on automotive tailpipes and doesn't let go. Plus it adds some thickness and rigidity to the tube.
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- In the same stiffening manner, if you have a model that uses paper transitions, you can stiffen them up with a thin layer of the epoxy-clay on the inside of the transition.
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- Have you ever used wood fillers to fill spirals in tubes, and then have it pop out later? With this epoxy-putty, you can fill the spirals and trim it off with a razor blade before it hardens. Just some light touch-up sanding once it sets up, and the spirals are smooth and bonded to the tube like cement.
Probably the best reason to at least try this epoxy-clay -- is that it is no muss, no fuss, and has barely any fumes. If you hated the mess you have with regular epoxy, like the mixing cups, the drop cloths, mixing sticks, nasty stink, runny goo, and toxic chemicals for clean-up, you'll like this stuff. About the only thing I do use for it is a pair of rubber gloves -- just to keep the clay from getting under my fingernails. However, it does clean up easily off your hands with a little soap and water.
I recommend the money-saving 1/4 lb tubs for starting out. You'll probably want to play with it and see how many other uses you can find for it.
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Why is it "money-saving?"
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...because a little bit goes a long, long way. Unlike regular epoxy, you don't waste any material. Nothing gets left in the mixing cup, because there are no mixing cups.
I've found that the first time you use it, you find that just a small amount makes a lot of fillets, especially when you can really feather out the edges to increase the bonding surface.
That's why I like this stuff over regular epoxy; you don't need to add a lot of material (i.e., "weight") to the model to substantially increase the strength.
Once I got the hang of feathering out the edges, I found that I had to cut back on the amount I mixed up. So instead of mixing one big blob of clay to do all the fins at once, I'd mix up smaller batches. That way, I didn't have any leftovers. But even if I did have leftovers, I can always find other projects to use it on. I even fixed my laser printer when a little plastic part snapped off. It's stronger now than it was before I broke it.
After adding fillets to more than five rockets, I've barely made a dent in the 1/4 lb tubs. I call that money-saving!
I think that once you try this item, you'll be very, very happy. It is one of those really neat adhesives that I get excited about and am happy to recommend. It is useful for all types of rocketry: low-power, mid-power, high-power, and "gonzo-powered" rockets.
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"I really like using "Fixit" epoxy clay for fillets. It gives you a couple of hours or better to work with it, then sets up like a rock when its cured. Here's the tip: After mixing up the two part epoxy clay, I roll a little more than I need and press it into place with my fingers. I use the rounded end of a popsicle stick (dipped in rubbing alcohol to keep it from sticking to the clay) to scrape off the excess clay. This creates a very uniform fillet shape. Then I wet my finger with alcohol and run my finger along the fillet to get a very smooth surface (see photos). It makes NASA mil-spec-perfect fillets the first try. No bubbles, no multiple applications of glue, it works great. You can also use different radius implements to shape the clay. For example a tongue depressor stick makes a thicker, even more robust fillet." -- Bret E. Simpkins, P.E.
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Kevlar® is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company for its brand of aramid fiber. Only DuPont makes KEVLAR®
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