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  #1  
Old 03-28-2012, 03:45 AM
Bootscooter's Avatar
Bootscooter Bootscooter is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 56
Default Sikaflex question

G'day All

Just Sikaflexed slider canopy today, not having done it before was quite stressful but so far so good.

This may seem an obvious question but now for the cosmetic touch up over the existing sikaflex fillet, does it get cleaned and primed as well?

Does the Popsicle stick make the best "eye pleasing" fillet?

Chad
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  #2  
Old 03-28-2012, 05:24 AM
chipf chipf is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Austin, TX
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Default

For the touch up filet, I did not reprime. It seems to have worked well.
A popsicle stick is OK, but sometimes the radius may not be what you want.
A finger works pretty good. Wear a latex glove, Sika will take about a week to completely scrub off your skin.
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  #3  
Old 03-28-2012, 11:06 PM
justplanecrazy justplanecrazy is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Posts: 30
Default Nice Fillet

A boat builder once gave me great advice for using sikaflex and creating a nice fillet that worked really well on my canopy.

1) Glue small squares of rubber hose of appropriate thickness for part standoff as per sika instructions.
2) Clamp the canopy to the roll bar and pick a bolt socket that suits the fillet radius that you want in the particular area.
3) Using the socket with carbon paper wrapped around the socket, run the fillet dry with no sika to scribe the fillet radius tangent point on the two parts in-situ.
4) Tape the scribed lines with 3 layers of good electrical tape
5) Scuff parts as required for sika adhesion and clean using prescribed sika cleaner
6) Remove the first layer of electrical tape and prime with prescribed sika primer
7) Once the primer has flashed off, remove the second layer of electrical tape.
8) Apply sika using using the caulking gun and nozzle.
9) Using the same socket diameter as step 3), wet the socket in a bucket of water and create the fillet that you want.
10) Once the sika has partially set (approx 4-6 hours dependent on temperature and humidity), remove the final layer of electrical tape.

With this method, no touch up of the fillet is required. Also note that sika can be sanded although I would not recommend this process to create the fillet radius that you want to end up with.

Best of luck.
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  #4  
Old 03-29-2012, 10:19 AM
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RV7Guy RV7Guy is offline
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Chandler, AZ
Posts: 2,904
Default Sika tip

Those are some great tips!!!

Just a word of warning when doing Sika. DO NOT USE STANDARD ELECTRICAL TAPE!!!

The reason is simple. The primer has the potential to seep under the tape and soften the glue leading to more extensive seeping. Electrical tape is not designed to withstand some chemical exposure.

Go to a specialty auto paint store and buy the best tape you can buy for masking. 3 M Fine Line comes to mind. It is expensive as far as tape goes but cheap in comparison to the cost of your canopy.

I have done the back glass of my tip up and helped two others do their entire canopy. I used 3M tape and one of the other guys used it as well. The lines were crisp and clean with no sign of bleeding. The guy who didn't use 3M had evidence of bleeding and a few areas of greater seeping.

The appropriate tape to do an entire canopy will probably run you $40 as compared to less than $10 for cheap electrical tape. Definitely not the place to save money.
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  #5  
Old 03-29-2012, 03:08 PM
Lars Lars is offline
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Davis, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RV7Guy View Post
Those are some great tips!!!

Just a word of warning when doing Sika. DO NOT USE STANDARD ELECTRICAL TAPE!!!

The reason is simple. The primer has the potential to seep under the tape and soften the glue leading to more extensive seeping. Electrical tape is not designed to withstand some chemical exposure.

Go to a specialty auto paint store and buy the best tape you can buy for masking. 3 M Fine Line comes to mind. It is expensive as far as tape goes but cheap in comparison to the cost of your canopy.

I have done the back glass of my tip up and helped two others do their entire canopy. I used 3M tape and one of the other guys used it as well. The lines were crisp and clean with no sign of bleeding. The guy who didn't use 3M had evidence of bleeding and a few areas of greater seeping.

The appropriate tape to do an entire canopy will probably run you $40 as compared to less than $10 for cheap electrical tape. Definitely not the place to save money.
Scotch Super 33+ (surprise!) electrical tape withstands Sika 209 & 206 primer, in my experience. I used a bunch of it to mask for my windscreen installation last month; it pulled away cleanly with crisp lines. No evidence of bleeding under, either on the acrylic or aluminum. It's twice as expensive as the no-brand stuff but, as with the masking tape, it behaves much better in exchange for the higher cost.
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