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Dave,
This topic comes up all the time on the RV
list. I did a quick seach of the archieves and here are some of the
responses I found. Hopefully, one of them will fit your needs. You
can search the RV arhieves for other approaches, but these seem to cover most of
the solutions.
Ed
There was a message posted to the list
on removing old, dried spraylat, a
latex rubber like protectorant, from a
canopy without scratching the
plastic. Pressure washing, soaking in
water, air pressure etc. was used to
remove it. I had the same
problem. Spraylat is supposed to be sprayed on
in heavy layers but I
brushed it too thin which caused the product to dry
out fairly severely over
time. Removal was accomplished with less than a
quart of "3M Adhesive
Remover" obtained from an auto parts store for $8 +
or-. The "Remover"
is a clear petroleum based product with no abrasive
qualities, does not react
with Plexiglas, and is clean to work with but
smells and seems like fuel oil
or a kerosene type product. Squirt it on a
small area, leave it sit for
a few minutes, and wipe the spraylat off with
a clean, soft rag. You
may have to repeat the process a couple times to
get it all but no mechanical
means are needed. My next project will have
the same treatment as the
plexi had absolutely no scratches and I was able
to drag air hoses and
extension cords across the plexi as well as drop
(accidently) clecoes,
rivets, etc. on the plexi with no effect while
spraylat shielded the
plastic. The spray late was only applied exposed
areas of the plexi and
not under the aluminum or FG fairings. 3M Adhesive
Remover does not
harm cured paint but may be difficult to paint over so I
painted the canopy
frame complete before application. The remover will
easily removed dried
masking tape residue as well. I highly suggest
both
products.
Since the Goo Gone was trying to break down the Spraylat I
decided to follow
the posted advice of using 3M brand adhesive
remover. It cost me $9.96 for a
quart. I found that by keeping the
surface nice and wet I was able to 'roll
back' the Spraylat with my
thumbs. It slowly came off....kind of like peeling
sunburn from
your shoulders. In about 3 hours I removed ALL the Spraylat and
used
only about 1/4 of the can of 3M adhesive remover. The plexi looks like
a million bucks.....so the stuff does work.
The canopy with the problem was 11
years old and the coating had dried so
bad it was no different than
thin dried latex paint. Spraylat and Vans
both
had no
other suggestions than trying to wet the coating with hot soapy
water
to soften it. This helped but the coating still required
scraping which
would scratch the canopy surface. Some listers on
a Long-eze list
mentioned
using high pressure air and a small nozzle to
blow the coating loose. This
was also unsuccessful but
gave me an idea! I soaked the canopy in water
for
3 days then
rented a 3500psi pressure washer and my problem was solved.
The
pressure washer removed the coating quickly and easily and was
welcomed end
to a problem that had started to delay the progress on
my kit.
Pat Perry
Dallas, PA
RV-4 fuse almost
done
Engine being rebuilt
Usually the problem occurs because the original coat was
too thin. Recoat
the spraylat with another 2 thick coats, wait 24 hours for
final cure and
remove. The new coat should remove the old
one.
Bruce
www.glasair.org
bruce is right on. I removed
some 2 year old spraylat with two liberal coats
of new stuff then peel.
Whenever I use it now, I mask the boundary so it
doesn't feather near the
edge and become a pain to remove. Also I gave up
spraylat brand for borden...
yup, I ran out and substituted with some of the
kids elmers glue. Ever since,
I buy it at the art supply store for about 20$
a gallon. I'd swear it's the
same stuff...just a tad thinner.
Steve DiNieri
N221rv
I also found the cause was too thin of
a layer but Spraylat was about
$12/quart + shipping as well as a delay
waiting for it so I used 3M
Adhesive remover from NAPA for $8, used only
about half the quart, and it
just wiped off with a soft rag. Neither
product harmed the plexiglas, I
was done in one evening and I had coated both
inside and out of both the
canopy and the windscreen. It was
worthwhile, however, as I had no
scratches or marks in the plexiglas at all
after some two years and
literally hundreds of "opportunities" to mare the
finish.
> Subject: RE: RV-List: Spraylat
removal
>
>
> Usually the problem occurs because the original
coat was too thin. Recoat
> the spraylat with another 2 thick coats, wait
24 hours for final cure and
> remove. The new coat should remove the old
one.
Dick DeCramer
N500DD RV6 Flying
Northfield,
MN
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 7:54 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Spray Lat removal
help
> This is cross
posted to all the groups I am on.. my apologies if anyone
> is bugged by
it.
>
> It appears that we are experiencing some problems with
Spray-Lat.. in
> that it is being difficult to remove.
>
>
In our instance, it has been on for greater than 2 years.. (i know.. the
> website says after one year it becomes difficult to remove.. too late
> for that now..)..
> and we are having difficulty removing it
without damaging the underlying
> plexi.
>
> What are some
safe techniques for removing well-cured spray-lat from the
> canopy? Soak
it under wet linen? Cover it with KY or some other water
> based
substrate? (Spray lat was water based.. thats where they KY idea
> came
from..)..
>
> Any help would be appreciated.
> Dave
>
> --
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