Primer Wars

Ok so i have a pretty good idea about primers / priming and have read much of the available info and articles on the subject. I have my own opinions but I am curious to hear yours as well.... (sorry if im beating a dead horse on this one)

818 AV8R said:

Ok so i have a pretty good idea about primers / priming and have read much of the available info and articles on the subject. I have my own opinions but I am curious to hear yours as well.... (sorry if im beating a dead horse on this one)

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You COULDN'T have read all the "available info and articles" contained simply within the archives of this forum......you'd need to be over 100 years old to have done that.

And if you HAD read all the archives then you certainly wouldn't be asking for any more opinions.

Truly, it's all been discussed a million times. Type "primer" into the Search Box at the top of this page and you'll get literally 500 threads to scroll through.

Remember that when you click on the "Primer" forum, by default, it only shows the last moth worth of threads. Change that to "from the beginning", and you'll have way more than you'll have time to read.

Ya know the funny thing is I was totally set on my method of priming, until i started reading all the discussions. Now im completely lost. LOL

818 AV8R said:

Ya know the funny thing is I was totally set on my method of priming, until i started reading all the discussions. Now im completely lost. LOL

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Jason,

I am with you!!! I just received my preview plans for a 7. I have most things worked out in my head except primer. Saying that before I start is a little naive I know! I have a question that might help me with this. If I prime everything internal before I do the final riveting will electrical current pass from one piece of metal to another? I ask this for two reasons. One for good grounds a long way from the battery and also static dispersal through the whole fuselage. I would like to prime everything especially where two pieces are fastened together and trapped water, grease ect? where corrosion is most likely to start.

I was using the Stewart Systems EkoPrime water based primer for my tail section. It worked pretty well, easy cleanup with water and it shot fairly easily. I liked the white color too. The problem I have with it is it isn't that durable. That may be because I'm always trying to assemble the parts right away but that's the way it is. So I'm planning on changing to an epoxy primer for my wings.

I've been looking at the DP epoxy primer and the mainstay AKZO epoxy primer. From what I've read the AKZO primer seems to be the best for what we are doing. I was trying to aviod the Alodine step in the prep process but I think I',m going to start doing the Alodine and see how it goes. I was reading the DP documentation and it says it requires a self etching primer base. That is just too many steps for me, but again I wanted the white color. The other downside of the AKZO is you have to buy two gallons at once. That isn't that big of a deal I guess just bite the bullet since it is cheaper than the DP primer. So, I'm probably going to go with AKZO from now on.

Just my two cents.

Mike,

I would say if you are intending to do complete internal priming, and concerned about electrical continuity, add bonding straps where applicable. Similar to what can be found on modern cessna flight controls. Essentially they are small braided metal straps to allow for positive transfer of static electricity as current always flows through the path of least resistance.

Thanks Jason for the advice. I am still not 100% sure how much priming I will do and with which type. My concern is, if I do a complete primer job, the ground paths to remote items like lights, a good ground plane for radio antennas, and the external static flow from skin to skin. Am I over thinking all this? I have not started yet and am trying to get my brain around this. I have read the posts and am as confused if not more then I was before I started.