"You Used Up ALL THE GLUE...."

 The Thrifty Rocketeer blog continues...

No, this isn't another glue war thread.

You know how when you mix up 5 or 15 minute epoxy and you're applying it, and you've just about run out, and wish that you had just a little bit more?

But you can't stop and mix a little more, cause the stuff you've been applying is setting up or will surely set up before you can get the new stuff out of the tube?

Well, there's a simple solution for that.

As I've suggested before, one of the BEST mixing cups/surfaces for mixing epoxy turns out to be those simple paper cups that come with condiments at Captain D's restaurants. Sometimes you can find them elsewhere, like at 5 Guys Burgers or other restaurants that have/had serve-yourself-condiments like ketchup or tarter sauce.

I also have found that those thin wooden sticks that they mount corndogs on in the freezer case work the best for stir sticks, and I'll tell you why... (No, not the round sharp dowels that you get at the county fair or food vending truck... You want the old style coffee stir sticks.)

Imagine you've mixed your epoxy in a small plastic cup, and you're running low/out of the stuff as it sets up.  Now, you can swipe the flat wooden stir stick around the outside of the cup to squeegee the last of the glue onto your small paddle... but more than likely, the stuff is going to run or drip off your stick...unless it's already set up too much.

The great thing about those paper cups is that you can pull the folds apart, and flatten them out like a sheet of paper.  

If you're ready to do this, AND you've got your wooden stir stick ready, you can literally scrape the platter clean, and squeegee all the last drops of the glue OFF the paper and onto your small stir stick. It might take a pass or two to get it all, but you can frequently get one, two or three more applications off the paper.

This means instead of mixing up another batch and wasting time and glue, you can get the last of what you've thoroughly prepared and finish that centering ring, launch lug or fillet that you need to.

Now, you may think this is incredibly cheap and going to an extreme, but remember, this IS the Thrifty Rocketeer blog...

And remember, don't try to use your finger to smooth the epoxy... use the rounded end of the stir stick for that perfectly curved fillet.

"'Notta FINGER!"**

(**Fans of the movie "A Christmas Story" will recognize this strained joke...)

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