Has anybody Sikaflex'd a RV-6 Slider?

[Tumper]

Has anyone tried a ?hybrid? method? Rivet the sides and glue the top. It seem to me the top is where most of the problems will be (clearance between the frame and canopy and possibly movement) and side is where the strength could really come in.

Thoughts?

[Pittsartist]

Now I can answer my own question. "Yes", I have ........ and I'd recommend it

www.flickr.com/photos/115470196@N06/

[WingsOnWheels]

I just recently finished the slider portion. I haven't done the windshield yet. Using the sika on the slider was actually really easy. It went way better than I expected, no where near the mess as building the tanks. I didn't get even a speck on my clothes. I went through a lot of gloves and paper towels, but that was it. Just be sure to invest in the 3M fine line tape, it it way better than even the best paper masking tape. I used no fasteners of any kind. The only hole I drilled was for the latch. I used just under two tubes, but the curve of the spine of the frame wasn't even close to the canopy so I have a very thick section in that area. Plus I made pretty wide fillets all around. Ill probably need a forth tube for the skirts. Well.see how the windshield goes.

[Pittsartist]

Originally Posted by WingsOnWheels

I just recently finished the slider portion. I haven't done the windshield yet. Using the sika on the slider was actually really easy. It went way better than I expected, no where near the mess as building the tanks. I didn't get even a speck on my clothes. I went through a lot of gloves and paper towels, but that was it. Just be sure to invest in the 3M fine line tape, it it way better than even the best paper masking tape. I used no fasteners of any kind. The only hole I drilled was for the latch. I used just under two tubes, but the curve of the sline of the fram wasn't even close to the canopy so I have a very thick section in that area. Plus I made pretty wide fillets all around. Ill probably need a forth tupe for the skirts. Well.see how the windshield goes.

This mirrors my experiences exactly. the only things I'd add are that I did mine in 2 stages - a "rough" bead just to hold the thing in place then a cosmetic stage the next day to make it look nice.

My only real problem was that after the 1st stage I managed to get the fineline tape trapped in a few places under the initial layer of sika - a real PITA to get out.


Pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/115470196@N06/

I compressed the frame by 12mm as it dried - the "springback" was about half this (so the frame at the rear was narrowed by 6mm (1/4").

[WingsOnWheels]

Originally Posted by Pittsartist

My only real problem was that after the 1st stage I managed to get the fineline tape trapped in a few places under the initial layer of sika - a real PITA to get out.

What I did to prevent getting the tape trapped: I took a razor blade and dulled&smoothed it using a durburring wheel so that it wasn't sharp anymore. I ran the thin but dull edge through the Sika using the tape edge as a guide. Just in those places I was worried it may get trapped. This cut the wet sika and made it easy to pull the tape later. The blade was not sharp enough to scratch the plexy without a good amount of force.

As an update, here are some pictures of the finished slider. Not perfect, but I am happy.

[Pittsartist]

Originally Posted by WingsOnWheels

What I did to prevent getting the tape trapped: I took a razor blade and dulled&smoothed it using a durburring wheel so that it wasn't sharp anymore. I ran the thin but dull edge through the Sika using the tape edge as a guide. Just in those places I was worried it may get trapped. This cut the wet sika and made it easy to pull the tape later. The blade was not sharp enough to scratch the plexy without a good amount of force.

As an update, here are some pictures of the finished slider. Not perfect, but I am happy.

Gotta hand it to you tackling black sika on a white frame. Mine was black on a black frame and I still found it almost impossible to get the masking perfect.

Well done

[WingsOnWheels]

It was more laziness. I was going to paint the frame to match my interior, but didn't want to go through all the trouble of making another temp paint booth.....

[martyh]

I'd sure be curious to read a response from the original poster. I agree that Goof-Off probably was not a good idea. Was it applied in the area that cracked?

Originally Posted by Captain Avgas

In January 2010 you stated on VansAirforce that you had used "Goof Off" on your canopy to remove paint overspray "with no ill effects".

It may be possible that the Goof Off contained a solvent that weakened the acrylic on your canopy even though you did not know it at the time.

In reality there are very few chemicals that you can safely use on acrylic to wash/clean it without damaging it at the molecular level.

If you have applied a solvent based cleaner to your canopy previously then it may well be that your canopy would have cracked regardless of whether it was held on by Sikaflex or by fasteners.

[N62XS]

Try Helmans Mayo and a cloth diaper.

[Pittsartist]

I've pretty much got my slider canopy finished now - got to say I'm delighted on how it turned out.

For what it's worth here's a few things that worked well for me in getting around some of the snags that can crop up.

1) Problem - I struggled to get the canopy side skits to lay flat on the fuz side.

Solution - I Sikaflexed the skirts to bottom edge of the plexi and the lower canopy frame rail underside edge only at first.

Once this had dried it formed a "hinge" that I could use to hold the skirt in the correct place against the plexi and canopy frame but at the same time allowing me to force the lower edge of the skirt down against the fuz.

I then put a bead of sika along the top edge of the frame, used the above to force the edge down before it set and hey presto, once set it holds against the side perfectly.

2) Problem - The lower front edge of the side skirt scraped along the top side deck of the fuz as the canopy slides back

Solution - I cut some 1" wide strips of 30 thou aluminium and shimmed up the slider track along the rear half of its length. As the canopy moves from open to closed it lowers along the track by 60 thou (2 shims) and the canopy skirt moves down just enough to cover the gap where the notch is at the front edge

3) Problem - Getting a seal around the 2 halves of the canopy between the "bows"

Solution - When I smeared the sika in to bond to the frame it left a nice 1/2 round depression. I bought some 1/4" closed cell soft neoprene round extrusion and found that it fits perfectly into this recess. Glued in with thick Cyno it makes for a perfect seal (Not yet flight tested though mind). I've therefore not bothered with the external cap strip at all.