Tapes - pinked or plain?

[TahoeTim]

I'm going with Oratex and am wondering if pinked edges or plain is preferred.

[avidflyer]

Hi Tim, never got your last name in the private message.... Pinked tapes were supposed to hold better with old covering methods. I believe originally they frayed the edges of the cotton fabric. I have no idea if it matters with the Oratex though. Jim Chuk

[AirFox]

Oratex uses strait edge tapes. I hear you should double up the glue layer to stick the tape on.

[jrevens]

My belief is that straight edge tapes are best with Oratex. I think one of the main reasons for pinking the edges of any fabric is to minimize raveling. You don't have that problem with Oratex because it is pre-finished/sealed, and raveling is mostly eliminated. Since there isn't a layer of paint applied over the whole covered surface after finish tapes are applied, helping to hold down all those little pointy edges, the straight edged tape makes more sense to me. There is less exposed "edge" also. There were airplanes in times past that used straight edged tapes, but pinking is "standard" now. I've grown to like & prefer the look of the straight tape on my project, but you can't tell if they're straight or pinked from 10 feet away anyhow. You can get them either way from Oratex.

[Peteohms]

Ditto what John Evans said. He was a big help when I covered the elevator on my Kitfox as a test piece. ( Thanks John ) I like the smooth edge.

[TahoeTim]

I placed my order today with plain tapes

[efwd]

Tim, have you got your order of Oratex? I spoke to Paul and Lars this past week and one of the questions I had was what the lead time was.
I received an Estimate that was not entirely complete as Paul states he didn't have sufficient data on the SS7 and its measurements. Have you done research as to how much it would actually cost you to do the paint yourself with all the incidentals like putting a paint booth together, respirators, Paints and thinners etc. etc? I realize paint products can vary in price depending on the product.

[TahoeTim]

I am doing a two color scheme so the total yardage is over the typical need for a single color. I haven't gotten my stuff from Germany yet. It seems to be a longer lead time than I thought.

I got a pattern from John Evens and it was very close dimensionally. I probably have the file on my pc. The only confusion came when I was laying out the width. Oratex has a couple of widths noted on their site. They guarantee 71 inches of usable width even though the actual width is wider. I think the manufacturing process ends up with waste on the edges. You can use it to pull as long as you only glue down no more than 71 inches of width.

Cost was $4800 so it's cheaper than the last plane I had painted for the paint job alone. It was an easy decision for me. If you are going to paint your plane yourself, it might not pencil out but for us builders that have never done fabric or painted before, it's an easy decision. I'm going to attempt a tricky two tone scheme. I will document my progress.

[amerkarim]

Hi Guys,

I am planning to cover my 7 SS with Oratex 6000.

Need to know how much stuff to order though as the guide doesn't tell you.

I am planning on ordering about 25m x 1.8M of the fabric
4 quarts of the glue
The recommended tool kit

How much straight tape will I need and what width should I order?

Thanks in advance

Safe flying

Amer

[efwd]

Hello Amer
I have my invoice. unable to attach it now but if need be I can later when on my own computer.
I can report what it says verbatim. Sorry, different measures are used.
I am building a SS7

I am using Silver and Yellow. Yellow is for the rudder and elevator. I suppose you'll have to add those together.

Oratex 6000 Fabric 1800mm x 1m silver qty 33
Oratex 6000 Fabric 180cm (71") x 1m (39.37") qty 3
Hotmelt Adhesive 1L qty 3
Oratex pinked edge tape silver 100mm (4") x 25m (82') qty 1
Oratex pinked edge tape silver 50mm (2") x 25m (82') qty 4
Oratex pinked edge tape UL600 silver 25mm (1") x 25m (82') qty 2 I am using 1" tapes on my false ribs of the main wings only.
Oratex pinked edge tape yellow 50mm (2") x 25 m (82') qty 1 I believe I will be ordering another. I don't think I have enough to finish the perimeter of the control surfaces.
Unwaxed stitching thread 166m roll qty 1

I will PM you with the invoice later tonight. Just in case there is an error in my transcription. Plus it has all the misc. coding.
Eddie

[amerkarim]

Many thanks Eddie

That will help guide me a lot as to quantities

Good luck with your build, look forward to seeing the pics soon

Kindest regards

Amer

[TahoeTim]

One warning: I am using red and white. I had planned to buy 4 inch tapes and cut down for the 2 inch and one inch tape locations. It does NOT work for any colored covering. The edge is white. I also used waste material to try to make tapes. It works fine if you glue a wide sheet and then cut the tapes from that. Gluing a 2 inch wide tape does not work well. I used it on the belly of the plane (so don't look under my plane if you see me). The factory tape that is pre-glued works better anyway and is much quicker to apply.

White works fine from home made tapes but as I said the pre glued tapes are better. Spend the few extra bucks.

I would also say to only order one bottle of glue at a time. I got caught with an early winter so my glue has now expired. :(

[bumsteer]

With the $100+ paper weight I look at occasionally, I second being careful on how much glue you order.

Rick

[jrevens]

With the $100+ paper weight I look at occasionally, I second being careful on how much glue you order.

Rick

Hi Rick,

If you haven't, you should talk to Lars. If it hasn't been mixed with the hardener/catalyst yet, and if the glue wasn't stored in a real warm place or with wildly changing temperatures, I believe I was told that the glue would be fine for quite a bit longer than the "use before date". If you had any doubts, you could mix it up & do some test strips, let them cure for a week, And do some peel & shear tests. I'm not saying it's the case here, but sometimes dates like that are very conservative because the manufacturer has no control over storage conditions. Don't quote me, but I think Lars might have said that they have used the glue something like 6 mos. to a year after the date with good results. Talk to Lars. If he says it's OK, test it. "Trust but verify".

[efwd]

Two points to add. First, I spoke to Lars on Monday as I was trying to order new glue. The glue now is apparently premixed by the way. My glue came in three bottles and I don't have to mix anything. Lars advised that the expiration date is given as a worse case scenario on storage. I have stored them in the fridge and mine seems to be working well.
Second, I attempted to cut a four inch wide tape for the leading edge of my rudder. No matter how careful I was the edge is not straight. Not horrible but even the least attentive person would notice the edge being slightly off compared to the precut tape. I am ordering tapes of appropriate width for everything. Not inexpensive but worth it.
Just a pic of the horizontal I am working on.
Eddie

[bumsteer]

Thanks for the info John, I'll give Lars a call.

Rick

[jrevens]

Two points to add. First, I spoke to Lars on Monday as I was trying to order new glue. The glue now is apparently premixed by the way. My glue came in three bottles and I don't have to mix anything. Lars advised that the expiration date is given as a worse case scenario on storage. I have stored them in the fridge and mine seems to be working well.
Second, I attempted to cut a four inch wide tape for the leading edge of my rudder. No matter how careful I was the edge is not straight. Not horrible but even the least attentive person would notice the edge being slightly off compared to the precut tape. I am ordering tapes of appropriate width for everything. Not inexpensive but worth it.
Just a pic of the horizontal I am working on.
Eddie

That looks very nice, Eddie! I really like the look of the silver. That's surprising if they only offer the glue pre-mixed. I think that if you didn't specify before, you'd get pre-mixed... maybe they changed the formulation? The shelf life of non- pre-mixed was considerably greater. The catalyst was in a very small bottle compared to the glue.

[Cherrybark]

That does look very nice. Silver 6000 was one of the colors in the swatches Lars sent as samples. It looks very traditional.

[efwd]

The silver tapes are very well matched. The yellow tapes match but I believe once applied, the density of two layers makes it look darker. Lovin the silver.

[foxbait]

Like your colors Eddie, I'm just getting into the covering as well, have decided to cut my own straight edge tapes and seems to be working out, using an Olfa cutter with the proper mat and a long straight edge. Have not tried home made tape around curves yet.
12486

12487

[efwd]

You just pointed out another reason to use straight edge tapes. Ive seen that tool at fabric places and unfortunately the pinked version is rounded off instead of sharp points.
Eddie