Adhesives

[Sam Staton]

Folks -
I am in the process of repairing the left elevator of my -6, where a previous owner tried to modify an early manual trim to electric trim (without moving the hinge line). Obviously, this didn't work well. Now, I am trying to graft in the new sheet metal to cover the hole and mount the servo. My question to the brain trust is this - I have en edge that will not be well supported by rivets, and I would like to attach it with an adhesive. What is the best (easily obtained!) adhesive for aluminum? Do I just use 5-minute epoxy, or is there a better alternative? Thanks in advance, guys!

[KRviator]

I've just closed out my right elevator and on the riveted trailing edge, I used standard T-88 epoxy adhesive. Make sure you scuff the aluminum if you go this route, as theres a couple of places where it delaminated a little due to the diverting process. Nothing a syringe and a little more glue can't fix though.

[rv7charlie]

There are 'industrial' adhesives from 3M (and i'm sure, others) that are designed for bonding AL. My exposure was through a friend who owns an auto body repair shop. But if you're talking about a relatively short 'unsupported' distance, with the rest of the panel properly riveted, you might just consider 'proseal'. It's not labeled as an adhesive, but if I understand what you're describing, I'd probably be comfortable with proseal.

Charlie

[larryj]

Neither 5-minute epoxy nor T-88 bond well to aluminum. Proseal was suggested and would be a good option. Another would be 3M 2216 (structural adhesive Boeing uses in its aluminum structures). If you are in doubt you can always prepare samples and conduct your own simplified "pull tests".