another paint booth

[Arablenz]

Hi Steve,
Thanks very much for taking your time to show us the painting of your plane . It is very valuable for those of us who haven't done it before. I have been wondering how you applied the alodine to such a large non flat areas with success?
I have been alodining my internal skins with a sprayer as my dip tank is to small for such large pieces and I find I have to use a lot more alodine to keep everything wet.

[A2022]

Originally Posted by Arablenz

Hi Steve,
Thanks very much for taking your time to show us the painting of your plane . It is very valuable for those of us who haven't done it before. I have been wondering how you applied the alodine to such a large non flat areas with success?
I have been alodining my internal skins with a sprayer as my dip tank is to small for such large pieces and I find I have to use a lot more alodine to keep everything wet.

I used a pump sprayer to alodine the overall airplane. it's the same sprayer I use to spray water on the booth floor prior to painting. the alodine finish was not uniform. the question I have is, did I really need alodine? I don't live by the ocean. PPG recommends 4 hrs to prime after alodine and the primer has a 7 day window for painting. that puts you in a time box for getting it done.

and thx for the kind words. there is usually nothing to do between coats of paint so I take pictures. posting helps keep me motivated. so I am using all the levers at my disposal to help myself. it is a big job and I'm taking small bites.

[A2022]

left wing, two coats on bottom, three coats on the top. I picked up a little dirt on the top. for some reason the wing was hard to paint for me. not sure if it is the orientation of the wing and crawling on the floor or that I am tired. I am beginning to see the end of the painting, right wing still to go and a couple stripes on the rudder. outside air temp = -4C. baking wing at 65F.

my first paint coat direction was airfoil cordwise and the second coat was spanwise. cross coating prevents paint striping effects.

edit: upon 12 hr inspection, it turned out well. I'm happy with it. no solvent pop. looks like glass.

[06ktrv6]

Arablenz,

You can easily alodine 2 RVs with a quart of alodine using my procedure of dipping a 2" brush into a cup of alodine and applying on maybe a 2' x 2' block and then continuing to rebrush the same area keeping it properly wetted during the recommended dwell time. Then rinse and dry off, then continue on to the next block. This procedure optimizes a uniform, goldfish tinge on the aluminum which promotes a tanecious bond to the epoxy primer if primed within the four hour window, are else re- alodine.
Even brushing/scrubbing the alodine won't bite thoroughly without first using the phosferic acid wash ( the blue stuff) to clean the aluminum.This is after scotch padding and wiping down with a gun cleaning solvent. If I remember correctly, the acid wash is diluted with four parts water, alodine used full strength.
So, what I'm recomendind is: scotch padding, wipe with solvent, acid wash, alodine, prime within 4 hours. BTW, I always sand the primer. It's work but yields a nicer paint job and helps minimize orange peel. Oh, I forgot, before scotch padding, wipe down using a oil/wax/contaminant cleaner or else you're just working the contaminants into the metal making it difficult to properly clean for a good alodine.
One may ask if a proper alodine is worth all this. I say absolutely. I once saw a nice RV8 at a Flyin that was painted with a gunn steel metallic paint that had actually partly blow off and had to be repainted. The paint was beautiful, it just had no bond.
I'm currently rebuilding a 6 that was damaged where the process I'm describing was used. Even where the skins were creased abruptly (destroyed) the paint did not let go or peel back, just cracked open.
For us builders who want to paint your on aircraft and are maybe jack legs like myself, we first must understand that accomplishing a good bond on aluminum is a different ball game. All the efforts will show 5 years down the road after your aircraft has endured some wear and tear. Don't skimp on the prep!!!

Kelly

[Champ]

Kelly - Did you find it better to separate the scotch brite step from the acid etch instead of scotch briteing & etching together?

[06ktrv6]

Originally Posted by Champ

Kelly - Did you find it better to separate the scotch brite step from the acid etch instead of scotch briteing & etching together?

Definitely, as the scotch padding dirdys the process thus weakening the acid wash. Also, scotch padding dry enables you to see how good of cross hatch you are creating on the aluminum surface. For that reason I prefer dry scotch padding.

Kelly

[Arablenz]

Thanks Steve for your reply and your latest photos look like you are doing a great job.
Thanks for your method Kelly , the only questions I had and I don't want to hijack Steve's thread but your method of doing a 2' by 2' then allowing to dry before doing the next section must be quite time consuming? Do you get the alodine adequately dry before painting within the 4 hours?

[A2022]

right wing, I rotated the plane instead of the booth. it just fits.

[06ktrv6]

Originally Posted by Arablenz

Thanks Steve for your reply and your latest photos look like you are doing a great job.
Thanks for your method Kelly , the only questions I had and I don't want to hijack Steve's thread but your method of doing a 2' by 2' then allowing to dry before doing the next section must be quite time consuming? Do you get the alodine adequately dry before painting within the 4 hours?

It's not time consuming, just blow away your rinse water with shop air and move on to next area. Two to three minutes each area. Just git'r done. Right before spraying primer make one last pass with shop air along any laps and crevises and blot any remaining droplets of water using a lent free cloth. Prime away.

Kelly

[A2022]

right wing. painting is complete except for a couple of stripes on the rudder.

outside view and my neighbors still speak to me. that's the most important. and no overspray in the hangar.... none.


right wing


pull this down with tape stuck to bottom side for ease of painting


goodbye booth


assembly begun, battery charger is ON. I'm feeling the need for speed. first primer applied 11-4-2015, ~12 weeks ago.






thanks for watching and commenting. see you at Oshkosh!