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Ok guys I have another problem. I've designed my tower to be about 7.5 grams but after building it came out to 9 ish (probably a little higher). I was astounded at the weight of the glue (CA Medium) and probably figured that I was being too wasteful (directly placing the glue bottle onto the joint with no microtip). Is there another method besides the stick-staples-in-a-piece-of-wood capillary action method?

Yeah. Toothpick.
Seriously. Use a toothpick, dip it in a drop of superglue, and apply it. That's how we do it, and it works out very well.

foreverphysics wrote:Yeah. Toothpick.
Seriously. Use a toothpick, dip it in a drop of superglue, and apply it. That's how we do it, and it works out very well.

Toothpick? So...what happens if it gets stuck onto the balsa lol?

...It won't? All you're doing is passing a bit of glue over the balsa. It's not like you're pressing down wood to wood...we have never had problems with this method. I am quite certain it works--very miniscule amounts can be applied very precisely, and it WILL NOT get stuck to the balsa.

Oh ok then! Thank you so much! I'll be sure to use this method next time!

I just use the end of a push pin. Works well but you have to scrape off the excess glue once in a while.

Actually, I would not suggest using a toothpick nor a pin because it creates for too much open air exposure of your glue. Instead of applying your CA directly onto the joint after the wood is already in place, I would actually suggest a careful (and minimal) application onto the piece itself and THEN placing it onto the bonding area. If you apply the glue while the pieces are already it place you might end up using a lot more glue than you'd like. However, 2 grams worth of glue for a 70 centimeter tower isn't the most ridiculous thing I've heard. You should be able to conserve more, and probably are over-applying, but just remember that you can be very sparing with CA.

dragonfly wrote:Actually, I would not suggest using a toothpick nor a pin because it creates for too much open air exposure of your glue. Instead of applying your CA directly onto the joint after the wood is already in place, I would actually suggest a careful (and minimal) application onto the piece itself and THEN placing it onto the bonding area. If you apply the glue while the pieces are already it place you might end up using a lot more glue than you'd like. However, 2 grams worth of glue for a 70 centimeter tower isn't the most ridiculous thing I've heard. You should be able to conserve more, and probably are over-applying, but just remember that you can be very sparing with CA.

I do the exact same thing.

I do the same thing as the two above and to add on to what they said I apply the CA glue to the wood with a pin so I don't use too much.

Ok thank you guys! I also have another question. So I tested my tower yesterday and it held about 11kg and broke at the chimney. I'll release the design cause its commonly used anyways /\/\/\/\ and each 1/16 by 1/16 /_\ is spaced about 7 cm. I want to increase the chimney's capability of support to 15 kg. The legs are 3/32 by 3/32 and chimney is 56 cm long and weighs about 5g.

I have thought of a few options and would like to know what is best.

1) Increasing legs to 1/8 by 1/8
2) Another trial because the 3/32 by 3/32 was not perfectly straight
3) Decreasing spacing to about < 6 cm.
4) Adding a horizontal brace midway.

Any other suggestions?