Aerolite Sources
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Aerolite Sources |
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Some of you have contacted us to inform us that Aircraft Spruce and Wicks Aircraft are no longer offering Aerolite glue. I have been working on this and attempting to find out if this is a temporary or permanent situation. I contacted Ciba-Geigy, who said that in 1989 Ciba-Geigy sold the Aerolite product line to:
I have also contacted the manager of Wicks Aircraft and he says he is interested in continuing to offer Aerolite if he can get it. I've supplied Wicks with the information on DynoChem, so let's hope they work it out. Alfred Scott David Almey owns a home builders supply company here. I mentioned
your request to him, and he says he is willing to supply USA builders.
He can be contacted at skycraftltd@aol.com. I too contacted DYNA-CHEM, and they were not at all helpful. The receptionist claimed they did not make Aerolite, according to her another company in Scotland was the producer, although when I rang them they denied it. I will try again this week and get back to you. Stuart Gane
A friend and I bought our Aerolite from DynoChem UK. But we waited nearly three months. Finely we got it in September 2000. But I spoke with another company:
They told that I could have all the Aerolite I want. I got the address from Mr. David Dawson, Aircraft Spruce UK I hope this can make the sun shine again!! Uffe Hjordt Brink,
In reply to your e-mail dated 18th January, I can confirm that Aerolite 306 is still the most common glue approved for use in wood aircraft building in the UK. We have not had problems with this glue in hot weather like the Australians have. We find it excellent. I suggest you discuss buying Aerolite from the UK centre for Aircraft Spruce & Speciality, telephone 01462 441995. Or you might try CP Industries at www.custompak.com who are already supplying Aerodux 500 in the USA. Francis Donaldson I'd suggest that you visit the following website which might be what you're looking for. http://www.dynoasa.com/dynoweb/dynoweb.nsf/pages/dynooc On this page the company references "Dyno Wood & Speciality Adhesives". Hope this helps, Steven Woolgrove
A company called Gluelines (http://www.gluelines.co.uk/) is now an Aerolite distributor in the UK and he sells the glue in six-pack kits of 375 grams each -- guess about five pounds. John Kahrs
Thanks to Robert Bird, we have located a company in Florida that will import Aerolite, however you must be willing to commit on a fairly substantial order. It usually means that you get at least five Falco builders to split the order. We have used our website to help builders who place and order and then split it up, and that has worked well so far. We have also been working with Wicks Aircraft to get them to once again offer Aerolite in their catalogue. At this point, we don't have a final decision, but they are interested. We will keep you posted as things develop.
Falco builder Bill Hoffman bought some Aerolite from Skycraft in UK, but Skycraft could not ship the hardener. Skycraft provided the following recipe for making GBPX hardener.
Aerolite is a urea/formaldehyde glue, and formaldehyde was used the making it, obviously. It's always been our understanding that the Formic acid hardner was chosen because it is just decomposed formaldehyde, and they used it because they got it automatically as part of the process. The hardener with Aerolite is a true catalyst, and thus is causes the chemical reaction but does not become part of the chemical process. Probably any acid could be used, but I wouldn't want to try that. Now, where to get Formic acid? Formic acid is used in taxidermy and beekeeping.
We contacted the manufacturers of Formic acid (BASF and Hoechst Celanese), and managed to get through to the product managers. To buy Formic acid in small quantities, they suggest buying from a laboratory supply company. Our local yellow pages list five companies under the "Laboratory Equipment and Supplies" category, so you might start by checking with your local supplies. It's easy to get if you want to buy a 55 gallon drum, but I made a number of calls and finally got the product manager for Formic Acid with BASF on the phone, and told him I was looking for a source in small quantities. After a lot of conversation, he suddenly said that I just needed to contact a laboratory supply company. He gave me three names to try: BASF suggests the following three sources:
Our suggestion is to buy a supply of four bottles. If you end up on the telephone with someone, for God's sake don't say "airplane" or they will panic and hang up on you. It's for your chemical laboratory, you're a high school teacher, and you just ran out...
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