R

rapid_ascent

Well Known Member
I'm curious how people protect their canopy during the construction stage? I'm partway into my canopy ordeal. I have the canopy glued to the frame and the cover strip glued in place. At the moment I'm working on the fiberglass Aft Skirt. To do all of this I had to remove some of the protective covering. At the moment I have a mixture of different types of painters tape along the edges where I removed the original plastic for my Sika gluing. I don't want to create a problem with adhesive that is stuck to the canopy that later I can't figure out how to remove without damaging the canopy. Hence my question. I'd appreciate any comments on what people have found that works.
 
If you leave on the masking tape, the adhesive will transfer to the plexiglas it stays on for a long time. It will be difficult to remove it unless you use some strong solvent which can discolor the plexiglas
You can replace the clear plastic film using the shipping stretch wrap from Home Depot. I used it after trimming the flashing from the canopy. I left the film on until I did the final assembly at the airport.
 
Be careful on protective films from the big box stores. I used a clear carpet protective film home builders use that left adhesive on the canopy when I tried to remove it a couple months later. It was so bad and labor intensive to remove I almost gave up. The next time I used electrical tape around the edges about 2", then a sheet of bubble wrap to cover the whole canopy taped to the electrical wrap. I then covered everything with HD packaging tape for added durability. The electrical tape does not leave a residue after its peeled off.
 
When I finally peeled off the factory plastic wrap on the plexiglass it was really stuck on and left lots of residue. I used some specialty cleaners like Novus to get it cleaned off.
 
rapid_ascent said:
I'm curious how people protect their canopy during the construction stage? I'm partway into my canopy ordeal. I have the canopy glued to the frame and the cover strip glued in place. At the moment I'm working on the fiberglass Aft Skirt. To do all of this I had to remove some of the protective covering. At the moment I have a mixture of different types of painters tape along the edges where I removed the original plastic for my Sika gluing. I don't want to create a problem with adhesive that is stuck to the canopy that later I can't figure out how to remove without damaging the canopy. Hence my question. I'd appreciate any comments on what people have found that works.
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Polyethylene tape specifically made to mask Drivit( stucko) is your answer. Very good adhesion, no adhesive transfer after years of building tim. Pretty tough to abrasion and and I like the idea of bubble wrap. Google the drivit/ stucko tapes. I think mine was Uline or like that and it is 2” Red.
 
Odd. I've left Yellow Frog tape on parts for over a year and it came off clean. My original clear plastic is still in place too. I peeled some off the other day and it came off clean with no residue.
I have seen that tan masking tape Vans uses leave all kinds of crud behind.
Frog Tape always comes off clean. I never put Heavy Packing tape directly on anything. A layer of Yellow Frog Tape is always down first.
 
Well... It sounds like there are a variety of opinions.

I've seen old electrical tap get super gummy so I'm not going with that approach. Maybe for shorter time frames it is ok. I do have some of the frog tape down now. No real experience with it and I'm not sure if it is any different than the standard blue 3m painters tape. It does seem to stick a little better. For most things I still prefer the standard blue painters tape but for this application I don't love it. I also wouldn't use the tan masking tape that Larry referred to. I did try some low tack protective tape that I got from Amazon. It didn't stick well enough to be useful.

The majority of my original protective plastic is still in place. It can be removed with a little effort and there doesn't appear to be any adhesive residue so at least at the moment I'm not worried about that.
 
I used this product during my build. Roll on a couple coats and let dry, simply peel off when you are done, and as a bonus to protecting the glass, it takes off any dust that was on the glass prior to the application. After about 6 months to a year it starts to peel off on its own so you have to tape the edges down or re-apply.

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Discoat 4220 Plexiglass Protector | Aircraft Spruce

Discoat 4220 Plexiglass Protector General Chemical's Disccoat 4220 is a CLEAR water resistant; water based peelable temporary protective coating for Aircraft windshields & windows which provides a long lasting durable protective layer t
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regards,
Jason
 
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