N546RV
Well Known Member
Disclaimer: I am a fiberglass neophyte, like many here, so I've been drinking from the information firehose the last couple months. Still need to get some practical experience at some point.
Anyway, on to the real question. I've seen where some builders glass over the transition between the fiberglass tips and the aluminum of the actual control surface itself. From the couple of build logs I've looked at describing the process, it seems like people are laying up a single layer of light cloth across the transition and then doing the normal micro/pinhole/etc dance.
What I'm wondering is - why bother with the cloth? Before reading those build logs, I'd imagined in my mind just roughing up the tip and aluminum as needed and adding just enough micro to get a smooth surface.
The main thing that comes to mind is potential adhesion issues between the micro and aluminum, but offhand it seems like these issues would exist for the cloth as well. The other is having something more substantial than micro to bridge the intersection. But I don't have enough practical knowledge to do more than sort of guess here.
What it really comes down to is: do I need to place an order for some light cloth to get this done?
As always, appreciate any insight.
Anyway, on to the real question. I've seen where some builders glass over the transition between the fiberglass tips and the aluminum of the actual control surface itself. From the couple of build logs I've looked at describing the process, it seems like people are laying up a single layer of light cloth across the transition and then doing the normal micro/pinhole/etc dance.
What I'm wondering is - why bother with the cloth? Before reading those build logs, I'd imagined in my mind just roughing up the tip and aluminum as needed and adding just enough micro to get a smooth surface.
The main thing that comes to mind is potential adhesion issues between the micro and aluminum, but offhand it seems like these issues would exist for the cloth as well. The other is having something more substantial than micro to bridge the intersection. But I don't have enough practical knowledge to do more than sort of guess here.
What it really comes down to is: do I need to place an order for some light cloth to get this done?
As always, appreciate any insight.