lml@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> << Lancair Builders' Mail List >> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<--->>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Posted for CHBAviation@aol.com: No chemist here but...I've been building Lancair's since '93 and I've built both standard and fast builds and have used Acetone, MEK and MC. Acetone - cleans well. Doesn't remove grease very well, kinda just smears it around. Not to often is there grease on the parts. Acetone tends to dry slower and needs more time to evaporate before you do a lay up. MEK - does not seem to clean as well as Acetone but it's OK. MC - evaporate very quickly. Cleans grease very well and seems to do an overall better job of cleaning. The most important thing to remember about doing joints is that the surface has to be prepped. These parts come from a mold and has some type of mold release or wax on them. Other wise they would never get them out of the molds. So first sand surface fairly well. Clean. Take resin on a paint brush and impregnate it, just enough to make it shiny. This impregnates the part with the resin. Now do a lay up on top of it and you'll find this will work. Any of these cleaners will do. But you MUST sand and clean. I've taken apart 2 aircraft's that had very poor bonding. On a 235 the joint tape on the outside of the airplane peeled off in one continuos piece. This even had about 3/16" of bondo on it. I took the aileron, flaps, hor. stab and rudder apart in less than 2 hours and did zero damage to any of the skins. I was able to do this since the owner did not sand or clean before lay-ups. His work looked great. He just failed to take the time to prepare the surface. Needless to say we had to scrap the entire aircraft. So the moral of this story is ...if you don't have time to do it right the first time, you don't have time to do it. Chuck Brenner CHB Aviation LLC LML website: http://members.olsusa.com/mkaye/maillist.html LML Builders' Bookstore: http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair Please remember that purchases from the Builders' Bookstore assist with the management of the LML. Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.