All, The sun burn spots on my glare shield has bugged me since I finished my airplane. Most of our airplanes have these. (if you you are flying them Gary Edwards...)
I tested many materials and found something that works. My glare shield is covered with black "Ultra Leather" which is a premium quality man made leather. It is very tough stuff and looks beautiful until you focus your canopy glass in the right position and you will quickly burn a spot in it..If Left for a few minutes, it will burn a hole in it..
I have tried to be careful and watch where the sun is but there will come a time when the sun is focused perfectly and it will burn in 5 seconds. Dang!!!
Anyway, I found that carbon fiber will not burn in this scenario. I believe this will work on any type of fabric not just Ultraleather. So, I made two patches for my dust
cover ( approx 10" x 6.5") using the light weight bidirection weave carbon fiber material. One for each side of the dust cover where the burn marks have been have been congregating. (The patches are kind of like you would see on the elbows of a sport jacket. These serve 2 purposes. One, they cover up the burn marks I have now and they hopefully will prevent new ones from happening.
The procedure: I just covered my glare shield with saran wrap and tape to protect if from the paint. I laid 2 patches (slightly larger than the final ones) made from light carbon weave cloth in position on the saran wrap on the curved glare shield. I then painted them with high temp black Krylon barbecue paint and let them dry. (several coats especially on the edges. That makes them black to match and it also stabilizes the fibers so they wont fray out especially on the edges. Additionally it also keeps the pieces to shape while you cut them to the specific size
using a paper pattern. They are also formed to the shape of the dust cover. I then just used upholstery spray spray adhesive on the back of each ( now hardened with paint) carbon fiber patch and glued them down. Some of the glue bled through the weave so I masked them off after gluing them to the dust cover and gave them another light coat of high temp paint. Shazam, heat shield complete.. See attached pics..
My test pieces held up well when I tried to burn a spot with a magnifying glass. I hope it works as well now I have it on my glare shield..
Best, Randy Snarr N694RS (sporting new virgin dust cover) 235/320
"Flight by machines heavier than air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible" -Simon Newcomb, 1902
--- On Thu, 3/3/11, Gary Edwards <gary21sn@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Gary Edwards <gary21sn@hotmail.com> Subject: [LML] Re: Burned dust cover looking for material that wontburn. To: lml@lancaironline.net Date: Thursday, March 3, 2011, 1:37 PM
Actually, since I put the EAA sticker on, there is no burn marks on it; but
others near it. I just need a gross of those stickers and cover the whole
dust cover. I'll just change my name to Edward Allen Anderson (or
something similar).
Gary
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 6:31
PM
Subject: [LML] Re: Burned dust cover
looking for material that wontburn.
Gary, I thought of that too. Anything but black
reflects in the window. Colors to varying degrees but foil is too
much..
Carbon fiber is the stuff. I have tested it and it will
not burn or make a mark. I am planning to make some patches for the
sides of the dust cover like the elbows on a sport jacket. I plan to
glue them down with spray adhesive. I just need a good way to finish the
edges so it has a nice clean look. My dust cover is flat black so
black carbon fiber may by my answer. Still working on a solution to
make it permanent... I will post what I end up doing.. Randy
Snarr 235-320 N694RS
"Flight by machines heavier than air is
unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly
impossible" -Simon Newcomb, 1902
--- On Wed, 3/2/11,
Gary Edwards <gary21sn@hotmail.com> wrote:
From:
Gary Edwards <gary21sn@hotmail.com> Subject: [LML] Re: Burned
dust cover looking for material that wontburn. To:
lml@lancaironline.net Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2011, 5:58
AM
How about using a patch of Zetex in the areas prone to
burning?
Gary
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Tuesday, March 01, 2011 12:19 PM
Subject:
[LML] Re: Burned dust cover looking for material that
wontburn.
I have tried to do the same. I really would like a
better solution though. Sooner or later it is going to happen again.
i just picked up some cloth material that will not burn. I will post
my findings to the group if it works. Randy Snarr
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
From: "Gary Edwards" <gary21sn@hotmail.com>
Sender: "Lancair Mailing List"
<lml@lancaironline.net>
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 09:50:35 -0500
To: <lml@lancaironline.net>
ReplyTo: "Lancair Mailing List"
<lml@lancaironline.net>
Subject: [LML] Re: Burned dust cover looking for
material that wont burn.
My second re-covering of the glare shield lasted about 48 hours
without a burn mark. Got distracted when a TV camera crew
walked up with the camera rolling (my 15 minutes of fame). So,
I said, "screw this". I put an EAA sticker over the burn
marks. It's been there for 9 years. I try to not
park with the sun behind the plane and try to keep the canopy
closed. A bit difficult when I pull the plane out of the
hanger and it's facing north for taxi.
Gary Edwards
LNC2
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Thursday, February 24, 2011 8:13 AM
Subject:
[LML] Burned dust cover looking for material that wont burn.
Everyone has seen the burn marks on your dust
cover over the instrument panel from the canopy glass caused
by the sun when it hits at the right angle. Mine was
really nice. It was covered in a sinthetic black leather.
Anyway, I have already recovered it once and tried to be
really careful with it. In short, it has about 20 or so burn
marks in it in 2 years.
I am looking for a black
material (or could be painted black) that will not burn that
is thin that two 8" patches could be made to protect the
sides of the glare shield where the sun is hitting it.
Basically I would use an adhesive to glue down these
patches where the sun hits to stop the burn
holes...
Any ideas? Randy
Snarr N694RS 235/320
"Flight by machines heavier than
air is unpractical and insignificant, if not utterly
impossible" -Simon Newcomb,
1902
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