Building A Boomilever

[UQOnyx]

Just for building the boomilever itself. No design or calculations, just building. So my first question will be, how do you prevent the boomilever from sticking to the template or workstation, and is there any way to keep the watery CA glue of of your hands? Whenever I finish working, my fingers feel like there is a solid shell around them.

[iwonder]

Wax paper is good at not sticking to CA, and you just have to be careful with your hands

[UQOnyx]

I have been using wax paper, and it does work pretty well usually. But sometimes it gets stuck to the wood, and when I peel it off, it comes off with it. I can't risk filing it down as it might unnecessarily weaken the structure. Do you think proctors will allow a little of the wax paper on the structure? Any ideas on how to prevent that?

[retired1]

1. Switch to a medium weight glue and 2. Use less of it by putting a drop or two on the dull side of aluminum foil and then touch your stick to the puddle only to the extent of the area that needs to be glued.
Start a new puddle as required-do not add to the original one.
Option- Get some of the long tube extensions for the end of your CA tube or bottle.

[UQOnyx]

Will the glue not stick to the aluminum foil?

[Balsa Man]

Believe retired1's suggesting the aluminum foil for putting source glue on- a puddle/big drop you pick up some from with a stick, and transfer it to the joint surface- not as a "build surface."

Number of good thoughts/suggestions above.
The very fine tip approach works really well.
Unless you really know how (and when) to use the thin CA, leave it alone. Medium is much easier to manage; slow even more so.
Wax paper works well- important to realize it's 2-sided; one with a wax layer, one where the wax has....soaked through some from the waxed side. The soaked through side tends to stick a lot more than the really waxed side.
Using wax (as in wax for cars) works well- your build surface needs to be impervious (glass, plexiglass, melamine-coated particle board, etc.) Rub on, then polish slightly for smoothness..
A piece of HDPE (high density polyethylene) plastic works great if you have a plastics store around.
Using a razor blade (pressed down against your build surface works well to pop things loose without any damage.
Glue on the finger- hard to avoid some; we call it dragon skin. Soaking hands for a few minutes, to soften the skin, makes it easy to peel off.

[UQOnyx]

So far I don't have too many problems with the thin CA glue. What my problem is though is when I peel the boomilever off the wax paper, there is a bit of wax paper stuck to it. Will it count as a violation though in the real contest?

[retired1]

That will totally depend on the event supervisor. Some might allow it. More likely in regionals than nationals.

Balsa man is correct in that CA does not stick to UHMW PE. It's slipperiness is very similar to teflon. You can buy this in the tape form if a sheet is out of your budget.

[noobforce]

I also have a question regarding the construction of the boomilever. How should I contruct the bracings in between the two sides? Because for towers last year the jig was on the inside of the sides and I just attached the sides with the bracings, but the boomilever is different because it has bracings on the inside rather than the outside. So I can't really use a jig similar to the one for towers. How should I construct it?

[retired1]

If your bracing is on the outside, you will have more glue contact area.

Consider building the two sides on a wax paper covered template. If you use foam under the template you can use grip pins. Push pins work well, but it is harder to get more than one use out of them because the pin is much wider. If you use steel under the template, your balsa can be held in position with small magnets.