Fiberglass tip advice ???

[GuppyBob]

I've pretty well wrapped up the empennage and in waiting for the QB I figured I'd knock out the fiberglass tips. Got some spare 1/8" countersinks for throwaway use after the fiberglass details. The question is that the fiberglass tips I have don't have the required edge distance with the 1/8" CS4-4 pop rivets. I'm planning on using aluminum backing strips...so I dont think this is necessarily a problem ??? Also, any adhesives that have worked really well for anyone on joining the AL strips to the fiberglass tips? Any help would be really appreciated...thanks!!!

[Rick6a]

Originally Posted by GuppyBob

I've pretty well wrapped up the empennage and in waiting for the QB I figured I'd knock out the fiberglass tips. Got some spare 1/8" countersinks for throwaway use after the fiberglass details. The question is that the fiberglass tips I have don't have the required edge distance with the 1/8" CS4-4 pop rivets. I'm planning on using aluminum backing strips...so I dont think this is necessarily a problem ??? Also, any adhesives that have worked really well for anyone on joining the AL strips to the fiberglass tips? Any help would be really appreciated...thanks!!!

Proseal is an excellent material to bond aluminum strips to the inside of the tips. I added aluminum strips to the inside of my (removable) wingtips to head off any possible sag in the future that others have encountered. What I did on my 6A and now my 8A was to make ALL the tips removable by using #4 and #6 nutplates and screws. It is slightly more work but having the tips removable greatly eases painting chores down the road if your paint scheme warrants it. Just last week, I removed the empennage tips from my mostly polished 6A, flying for a year now, and brought them home for prep and paint. Very easy to do off the airplane.

Rick Galati RV-6A "Darla"

[walter]

JB weld works pretty well but make sure you scuff the aluminum very well
before applying the JBW. It's cheaper than proseal and you can make the
batches in small quantities. You only need a very small amount. Proseal
probably does work better in the long run IMHO.

I did all my backing strips with JBW, so far, nothing has fallen off.

[RV7Guy]

Originally Posted by GuppyBob

Also, any adhesives that have worked really well for anyone on joining the AL strips to the fiberglass tips? Any help would be really appreciated...thanks!!!

Scuff all parts and clean with acetone. I used 5 minute epoxy with some microfiller to bond the strips to the glass. Clamp the strip in place. You can do them all in about 3 minutes.

If you want to finish off the tips nicely use epoxy and microfiller when you rivet them on. Same deal, scuff and clean everything before epoxying. Scrape oozed epoxy with a old credit card to get a good fill in the gap.