Dacron/Ceconite tape: use of epoxy to attach to woodwork.

[Ian Law]

The control horns for the rudder and elevators on my project have 3/16” mahogany epoxied and “faired” to the steel surfaces.

An epoxy type varnish finish – minimum thickness - will be used to seal the mahogany, but I am unhappy about the narrow edge of steel that is exposed at leading and trailing edges of the fittings.

I wish to give these edges extra protection from abrasion and corrosion and had in mind “laminating” short strips of narrow epoxy woven fabric tapes at front and back edges, to give some measure of reinforcement to the epoxy finish, where most needed. I would like to preserve the varnished mahogany finish of the horns as far as possible, so ideally do not wish to cover all the mahogany with fabric.

Weight at the tail end is a critical issue with most Boredom Fighters. I need to minimise any added weight in the tail area, so disregarding the aesthetics, wish to avoid simply slapping woven glass fabric all over the place.

After experimenting with trial pieces, I had to remove the 2 pack etch primer from the steel surfaces to ensure the epoxy adhesive would bond properly, when attaching the mahogany fairings, so have lost that protection against corrosion at the leading and trailing edges.

I now find, having trawled the web and various local model shops & “glassfibre” suppliers, that suitable narrow lightweight woven glass fabric tapes are not available. I have lightweight woven glass fabric, but the edges end up in a mess when I try cutting it into narrow strips.

I do have some narrow ceconite type tapes that look as though they might work. Before I muck up endless hours of work, has anyone else successfully epoxied dacron/ceconite fabric to wood surfaces? The alternative is to slap extra layers of epoxy/ epoxy varnish on the leading/trailing edges.

Ian

[simba62]

Probably too late, but any glassfibre shop will have "fine veil tissue " just what you need and can be cut into strips withouth feathered edges.

[Ian Law]

Many thanks Simba and I will bear your suggestion in mind for future use. Would save time.

In the end, to stop the edges fraying, I used 4 strips of masking tape attached to one side of the very lightweight woven glasscloth I already have, to mark out a suitable small rectangular section of cloth. I then cut along the middle of the taped edges to end up with a narrow strip of glass cloth, with about 3/8" of masking tape around the edges. I wrapped this around the leading and trailing edges of the control horns, bedding it into the epoxy. When cured, I peeled off the tape ( a bit of a fiddle ), applied another thin coat of epoxy and sanded down / epoxied again when cured.

This seems to have worked quite well and I'm happier with the integrity of the result.

Ian