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Thread: Covering struts kf5

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  1. #10
    Senior Member HighWing's Avatar
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    Default Re: Covering struts kf5

    I just checked the thickness and it measures to .0095. I got it at Lowes as theirs is a bit thinner than Home Depot. I wanted light weight. Originally I was planning on lots of "NO PUSH" stickers but found that with the 2 Part Urethane foam inside, they are quite tough. For the first two or three sections, I Hysoled the trailing edge wrap, but found eventually that if the inside of the aluminum skin is prepped, by sanding lightly with 400 grit and wiping with Acetone, the foam adheres very well and none of the other sections are Hysoled. It saved a bunch of time as the foam cures much faster than the hysol and I could un-mold more quickly.

    Another note, My sections are only 30" long and they will twist into a corkscrew very easily so I had to make up a curing jig for the foam insertion to keep them straight. Some sort of jig would be necessary in any event as the pressure from the expanding foam will create some distortion of the thin aluminum skin.

    One more thought on the skin lengths. A friend came by recently and he has a very large fabrication shop with some full sized sheet metal tools. We talked about five foot sections - joining at the jury strut location. Then thinking about the two part foam inside, I still haven't figured out just how to pour in the foam. I used one oz. increments for my application - it filled roughly 20 inches of fairing so the subsequent pour overlapped my joints. Where the unexpanded foam touches as it runs to the bottom of the fairing, it will expand there and progressive pours may eventually seal off the fairing well above the solid foam level if a full length pour is attempted. Mix time is critical as you only have seconds before the stuff begins to swell.

    Two merged photos of the jig below.
    Lowell
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    Last edited by HighWing; 03-29-2013 at 10:16 AM.

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