Flite Test | Hot Glue Tricks 

Ok I've been using hot glue for over 20 years and never once thought about glueing the end of one stick to the other to make it feed so I don't have to sit there and keep pushing back in. Awesome thanks for the tips!!

Love the alcohol trick. Immediately went into the workshop and "saved" a pile of glued up servos. For the Aussies, Diggers Methylated Spirit from Bunnings works great!

My most used application for hot glue: mold simple connectors. *Hot glue won't stick to baking paper*, at least it worked with all the slightly translucent paper types (the brownish one wasn't working as well). I solder wires to pins of normal pin headers for example, then put a small dab of hot glue on the baking paper and push the connector in. I try to use an amount of glue so the connector is half done. *This is the most important part* don't try to remove or even move anything until the glue is cold. If you move the paper on still soft glue it will stick even after it has become cold. I then remove the cold connector, put another dab of glue on the paper and push the other side in. After cooling I now have two quite flat sides and the excess left and right can be cut away with flush trim cutters (works much better than a knife). The result looks almost like a factory molded connector including wire kink protection.

Oh neat. Didn't know about the denatured alcohol!

Super glad I came across this old Flite Test video! Wow, so many great tips in just a few minutes. Time well invested as I set about to repair my Turbo Timber after a 'transmitter malfunction'.

Peter is full of knowledge and is so modest, doesnt matter where you learned something if you apply knowledge thats being wise. Great job guys, keep bringing up all the cool tips!

Well, guys, regarding the part where you take the excess hot glue with your finger.... I did that several times. It works when theres not much hotglue. BUT when there is a bigger ammount, its a different story! I have burned the hell off my finger once with that.... So I'd suggest Josh's other trick with the scrap piece of foam laying around that you'd throw away otherwise. But that trick with the alcohol is really amazing!!! Thanks Peter!! :D Thanks for the good videos guys! ;)

This video was randomly recommended to me, I love this video. Peter seems like such a nerd lol the good type of nerd, you guys are awesome!

that alchohol trick blew my mind i do architectural models all the time, if i mess up with hot glue its over restart but with this i lost my mind

thank you FliteTest for getting me into the RC hobby!!

"If you don't mind dropping $40.." "I've dropped this one a few times." 😂

Thanks guys...great tips!! Not only do I have RC as a hobby, but I do a lot of woodworking. And I have a ton of denatured alcohol for cleaning & working with stains. Never knew I could use it for hot glue cleanup & removal! Great tip guys...thanks!! Keep up the great work! :)

I usually keep broken props and use the single blade as spatula when applying hot glue instead of my finger :D

This is the kind of stuff I like to see on Flite Test! Great video!

Really nice batch of tips and tricks for dealing with hot glue! Stick with it!! Thanks!

Wow, that's awesome, love the tip about refilling hot glue sticks and the alcohol tip!

Some tricks I used when re-building my simple cub that I scratch built with dollar store foam board are to use spray shelac as a sealer for the paper and water based poly varnish on the edges only , as it is too heavy to do the whole part. That and when the rudder hinge got completely torn off in a crash I cut back about 1/2 inch on both sides of the old paper hinge , leaving 1/2 " of paper on both sides. I glued linen gun cleaning patches on the paper and put the foam back over the linen. use C.A. or some other low viscosity glue to help the foam lay flatter. I also made new control horns from 1/16 aluminum. Lighten them with some extra holes and they weigh the same as the wooden ones. I didn't have much faith in hot glue and aluminum so I put them in with JB weld.

Who else gets the chills when someone rubs styrofoam together

For hot glue guns I have one from Ace that has a high/low switch. For long runs I'll switch it to High during the run and then back to low when I'm done. I've never had a problem that way. IMPORTANT: Do not lick your fingers if you've been soldering or in the area where you solder. If your solder has lead, you could consume lead from licking your fingers. Like Bixler suggested, keep a dish or cup of water near by. The removal of hot glue is truly amazing! I had no idea. Great knowledge to have in this hobby! Thanks for being AWESOME!

Thanks for this! Was trying to decide what type of hot glue gun to get and this was a big help.

Wow! THANK Y'ALL! That was GREAT information. I think I may have learned more in your one short video than I have in the past month! :)

Great glue tips and Peter is the best addition to Flite Test besides David when he was there. Keep up the Great work Guys

Thank you ! Thank you! I use hot glue guns with most of my art work...the part about foggy/cloudy glue stick was very informative...I knew there had to be a difference but no one knew, and sd no difference etc ! Thanks again!

Some nice tips there. You could have also mentioned the polyamide hot glue sticks for high temp applications (rarely needed, more stiffer connection) which I've never used but I was think of trying for some applications. I was amazed how soluble the low temp glue sticks used in this program were to IPA (aka Isopropyl alcohol, Isopropanol, Propan-2-ol, rubbing alcohol etc).

Amazing stuff. Very good work. Thank you for the tipps. They'll really help.

Those are some great tips. I can think of several times I could have used the alcohol trick. Cheers!

Going to build one of your kits. Amazing tips to know before I start!

Best vid ever! Need to redo this for 2018/19, lots of new folks like me digging into the hobby :)

The denatured alcohol tip is so useful. Has been great recently for removing servos without taking half the plane with it.

Great vid, guys. Loved the Alcohol trick.

I always used freezing spray and crack the glue. Those sprays are quite expensive. This tip with the alcohol is great! Have never heard about it before. Gonna save me money that's for sure.

Try tongue depressors for spreading glue. We use them all the time filling with flox or micro balloons in composite repairs. Also for the alcohol you could use the cotton swabs on a wooden stick also in the medical area of a store. Thanks for the tips!

I think I'll listen to that book next week or so. :P

Josh and Peter, Thanks for all the great videos. Always looking forward to next one. Ad Tech has many glue sticks listed on their website. What is the part number of the correct glue sticks you use?

Wow, thanks for the denatured alcohol tip! I had no idea it would work so well and minimize dammage…I wish I knew this a long time ago!

great, good info, I use hot glue when carving birds to set wings in different poses to hold till setting with dowel rods and wood glue. you guys have great personalities.

What really need is more quad videos!

Come on flitetest! I have bought everything for my mini cargo plane, and I really want to build it. It looks very promising at the background hanging from the sealing, but it would look even better in my basement. Very nice design Peter!

Great glue gun available at Harbor Freight. It even comes with an extended glue tip and it's a very high heat gun. I have two of them and they work great. They cost around $21.

Thank you guys for this great tips!

I love my Adtech, wouldn't ever change

I got to this video by a link from someone @ Quad Me Up. just so you know - this very useful video lives on since 2014!!! Russ from Coral Springs, Fl usa

FliteTest -- RU-vid's most family friendly gun channel

outstanding video, one of the best from ft!

thanks for the tips, especially the alcohol for removing hot glue!

Good tips. Thanks guys - you taught an old dog some new tricks!

Missed the notchy drag trick first time round, very slick to add durability thanks.

I actually did the rubbing fingers method to avoid burning. It was self-discovery but I think the sliding with foam board method will be way better than to risk burns.

Love that alcohol trick. Wish i would have known that before . Will it work for when taking off damaged servos from foam also or will it eat into the foam .

Great, great, great. Thanks a lot dudes, for this really helpful episode, that just discovered this morning, after I noticed that I had to remove some glued in things from my sportster... Now I don't have to rip out any glued in items anymore and destroy the foam boards.

Wow, what a great video, thanks for all the great information. This the kind of things that I like about Flite Test. Thanks, Andre

Thanks guys. Excellent tips, especially the alcohol tip.

really good tips guys, love videos like this.

Great video...didn't know about the denatured alcohol trick!

i always use the spit trick. i used to make diy bongs out of gatorade bottles. and even made a percolator out of a medicine bottle, the cap of the gatorade and a pen tube/sharpie tube whatever. its amazing the amount of uses for hot glue it like liquid duct tape

Peter is a mad scientist. Please keep him busy and give him lots of hugs. I shudder to think what might happen to the world if he ever turned to the dark side!! (just kidding, buddy - glad you joined the FT boys!)

Awesome info. Thanks for sharing!!!!!

The denatured alcohol thing (called methylated spirits where I come from) was amazing. Some people also used Isopropyl Alcohol... which is best?

Thank goodness I watched this video, I work with hot glue everyday and that specific gun is getting hard to find but now I guess I can get them online 😆. I use about 10 to 20 kg a week on that Gunn and I have been using it for about 5 years now, hopefully I can get a new one now 😆... Thx for posting this

When is the shinden coming out? Please, it looks so cool!

I use hot glue a lot, but it turns out I didn't know much about it. I wonder if I could use isopropyl alcohol instead of desaturated alcohol to remove glue.

Great removal tip!

Great tips thanks guys!

Please teach Peter to look at the camera! He is an amazing guy he just needs to learn how to talk to the camera like the Josh and Josh!

the glue gun I bought was 2 dollars and it works fine sure the heating element isn't that big but it does get the job done for smaller projects.

I do a lot of caulking and we keep a container with water and a little bit of dish soap around so we can dip or fingers in it to smooth out the caulk. The addition of the dish soap in the water keeps the caulk from sticking to your fingers. I’m assuming it’ll work for this application. We’ll see when I start to build my explorer kit I just bought.

Awesome tips. Thanks for the info.

Extra tip: If you havefoam/styrox fuselarge and you want to glue something on it without damagin it, put aluminium tape (aircondition tape) on surface that you want to glue on. afterwards you just remove the tape and there is no markings on plane. (warning aluminium makes hotglue cooldown a lot faster but because it's removable you can retry :) )

I somehow never have a fresh scrap piece handy for scraping excess glue, so I like to use a silicone caulk scraper that I got from the hardware store, there's a regular 90 degree corner and different sizes of curves or chamfers, so you can leave behind exactly as much glue as you want.

Great tips

You Go Peter!!! that alcohol idea is brutally good! thanks! say thanks to your dad for me!!

WoW! Never seen such a brillantly made Video before! Pure joy, guys! ......and excellent tips, too! I appreciate!

Great Glue Tips! TFS!

awesome tips guys love your videos

Amazing tips. 👏 Thanks for sharing. 👏

Great tips guys.

How do you guys cut your foam? I tried to build my own Bushwacker outta foam but the shape came out odd, I traced it perfectly but when I cut it out with a exacto knife

I love the alcohol trick! I'll remember that well!

Thanks...some good tips. In regards to the denatured alcohol, I used it to remove a partially loose servo and it worked great! But be careful...this type of alcohol is much harsher than rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. READ THE LABEL WARNINGS! BTW- it did not damage my foam...EPP foam anyway, do not know about other types.

That's awesome glue tricks thank you

THINK FOR A SECOND: Every manufactured glue and paint has a solvent. Here's the hard part: most solvents are dangerous because they're flammable, explosive or poisonous. The most common are alcohols, ketones, and the petros; that covers 98% of ev'thing on the market. P.S. I'm sorry that Chad left FT; he was really the creative force. JL

Isopropyl alcohol that you find at your local pharmacy works also to remove the bond of the "hot" glue

Thanks! Great tips. Denatured alcohol is incredible.

Amazing tips!

I saw the new fpv vapor in the background!!! Hope to see a review on it very soon!!!

Great tips. Thanks, guys! #make #fpv #rc #flitetest

Great info guys....I learned a lot!

You can also use a can of air to cool the joint and it will pop right in half

That melt the glue stick trick is brilliant.... I've often had to hold sticks into the end of the little guns (because the sticks are only like 10cm long). Now I know how not to.

The point about not pouring denatured alcohol on a powered circuit made me laugh out loud.

Great video!

great tips, thanks

great tips!

Sweet! I have a DJI Tx that I have to "Un-Mod" and that glue removal tip will save me from going bald !

very cool tips, espesh the removal with alcohol.

Very helpful tips.. thanks guys

I can see that hot hot glue is your favorite tool:))

You can get the Ad Tech Hi Temp Pro 100 at Harbor Freight for about $20.

Great vid ! Thanks chaps.

Do you recommend hot glue to do large foam repairs vs super glue? Just crashed my E flite sukhoi :/ Basically have to glue the body back together. clean break down the center, I plan to use hot glue, do you agree? Love the videos. Cheers!