Kobwo

Kobwo

Active Member
Hello,

I gave my first go at removing the blue vinyl along rivet lines with my soldering iron. I laid down tape and moved along the edge fast. 2"/Sec or so. It leaves a mark in the skin that I can feel very lightly with my thumb.

Advice?

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Cheers in advance!
 
blunt the tip...

I just removed the blue vinyl as I assembled parts... if you really want to remove strips you will get better results if you blunt soldering tip significantly making it round and smooth.
 
Polish the tip with a scotchbrite wheel. I've had no problems with any scratches.
 
Sorry didn't mention but I did blunt the tip. My iron has a 30 and 15 watt setting. I was using the 30 maybe 15 will be better
 
FWIW, I used a butane soldering iron with the rope-cutting tip on it. It's got a wedge-shaped tip for cutting nylon rope. The point is reasonably pointy though, yet I didn't have any problems with marks on the skins. I can't say what the heat setting was, other than "about medium". The blue vinyl just "backed away" from the tip as I moved it along, I was barely touching the skin.
 
I had a similar issue even after blunting and polishing the tip. I found that I could eliminate the scratching by not applying pressure on the soldering gun. Merely guide the gun and let the tip melt the vinyl while moving the tip about an inch/sec. YMMV.
 
Bend your tip

If you heat the tip and bend it into a crescent shape you can then use the side of the tip instead of the tip of the tip?
Anyway, it works well. After I saw what the painter did to my beautiful unscratched skins when he prepped for paint I just laughed. The plastic does reflect the occasional dropped cleco though so I am not going to say it is not worth keeping it on, but if you are going to paint....
 
The bent tip works great or if you have an old gun with the two prong tips, just bend a coat hanger wire in a loop.

In the end, I considered it a total waste of time and that crud is hard to get off the longer you wait...The painter is going to attack that metal anyway. It took me a full day with a heat gun to get all that blue stuff off the day before my inspection.
 
Scratch

Yep, it's a scratch. I use a soldering gun with a plastic cutting tip that I thoroughly deburred and polished and it still leaves a scratch. I had a metallurgist friend put it under a microscope and confirmed it is a scratch (looks really horrible under high magnification). However, all of the skins are Alclad which means a thin layer of pure aluminum is the outside surface. Pure aluminum is very soft and very easy to scratch, so as long as you use a very light touch with the iron it doesn't affect the underlying 2024-T3. As pointed out above, the painter is going to rough up the Alclad coating anyway.
 
Jon Jay hit the nail on the head. After the alminum parts leave Van's shop, the protective film is useless. Your painter is gonna scuff the skins mercilessly anyway.

Besides, the longer that film is on, the harder it can be to remove.

You guys should see the kit that is in my shop now. It was stored in a barn for several years while construction was paused. The plastic film is absolutely heck on the metal under such conditions. There is corrosion film under the plastic and it was/is a bitch to remove the film. It would have fared much better sans film. (Obviously, an extreme example. Consider it a warning if you're gonna store a kit in a non-climate controlled area.)

I'm sure there will be all sorts of trepidation among first timers, but my 2 cents as a repeat builder is to remove that stuff immediately and don't waste valuable time with a soldering iron.

I've even seen guys rivet the plastic film between parts and then wonder why I freaked out about it. Ooooow, stuff like that makes my head hurt.
 
vfrazier said:
Jon Jay hit the nail on the head. After the alminum parts leave Van's shop, the protective film is useless. Your painter is gonna scuff the skins mercilessly anyway.

Besides, the longer that film is on, the harder it can be to remove.

You guys should see the kit that is in my shop now. It was stored in a barn for several years while construction was paused. The plastic film is absolutely heck on the metal under such conditions. There is corrosion film under the plastic and it was/is a bitch to remove the film. It would have fared much better sans film. (Obviously, an extreme example. Consider it a warning if you're gonna store a kit in a non-climate controlled area.)

I'm sure there will be all sorts of trepidation among first timers, but my 2 cents as a repeat builder is to remove that stuff immediately and don't waste valuable time with a soldering iron.

I've even seen guys rivet the plastic film between parts and then wonder why I freaked out about it. Ooooow, stuff like that makes my head hurt.
Click to expand...

I second that!

I have just completed my empennage and my wings will be here tomorrow....I used the solder gun method to remove strips of the blue plastic then prime those areas with acid etch primer in a shaker can. After completion I was worried about leaving the rest of the plastic on for an extended period of time. I decided to go ahead and remove the rest of the plastic, acid etch the metal and prime it with epoxy primer. I felt like this would protect the surface as good or better than the film, plus I'd have the priming out of the way. When I applied the treatment to the bare metal it softened the areas that I had already "strip" primed with shaker cans of acid etch primer and made a complete mess. I then had to remove those areas, re-treat and prime the whole parts anyway! No more "strip priming" for me!
 
sapeloson said:
I second that!

I have just completed my empennage and my wings will be here tomorrow....I used the solder gun method to remove strips of the blue plastic then prime those areas with acid etch primer in a shaker can. After completion I was worried about leaving the rest of the plastic on for an extended period of time. I decided to go ahead and remove the rest of the plastic, acid etch the metal and prime it with epoxy primer. I felt like this would protect the surface as good or better than the film, plus I'd have the priming out of the way. When I applied the treatment to the bare metal it softened the areas that I had already "strip" primed with shaker cans of acid etch primer and made a complete mess. I then had to remove those areas, re-treat and prime the whole parts anyway! No more "strip priming" for me!
Click to expand...

You may not have the priming out of the way.

Primer needs to be a component of the paint system that you use for final finish. Most epoxy primers also have a time "window" (usually less than 48 hours) where the primer can accept and bond with the finish coats without needing sanding.

Best method is to leave the alclad alone and stripped of vinyl until ready for paint. The alclad is very capable of protecting the skins while the project is under construction. Primer needs to be applied immediately prior to application of the finish coats.

When in need of primer and paint info, download the data sheets for the system to be used for final finish.
 
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I got cute on my first build and made a double-tipped gizmo to cut both lines on the plastic at once. It probably saved about as much time as it took to make it, but it was clever. This time around it will be just strip the whole thing and forget it. The plastic does offer some slight protection, but very little. Take it off while it is easy and use the extra time to do something constructive, IMHO.

Bob
 
People are always claiming the blue vinyl is oh so hard to remove. That may be their experience but it is certainly not my experience at all. In fact, I left the vinyl in place on my RV-8 until after logging nearly 4 hours of flight time, likely the first RV to ever do so:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=471046#post471046

Some of that vinyl covering was at least 6 years old. That oh so hard to remove vinyl took maybe one hour for me to completely remove using my hands and fingers only....no broomsticks, no gimmicks. Much of the vinyl pulled off in large sheets...literally. For a pic, see post #10:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=476077#post476077

After completing Phase One and especially since the plane is going to be mostly polished anyway, the pristine aluminum that was finally exposed to the light of day when I finally got around to removing it...again some of it over 6 years old...is going to be MUCH easier to polish.

2v9c0ox.jpg
 
Sam Buchanan said:
Most epoxy primers also have a time "window" (usually less than 48 hours) where the primer can accept and bond with the finish coats without needing sanding.
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Thanks Sam,

I should have said "1st coat" of primer. I am using PPG K-36 "high build" primer and will "block sand" and most likley shoot another lite coat before my base and clear finish. And the protection I was referring to is scrapes and scratches, not corrosion. Sorry for the confusion. A few years ago I got the bright idea that I could paint our own airplane. So I did a lot of research, read a few books and I did it! And had a ball in the process. That project is what has lead me to this place, build an RV and learning a whole lot more from you guys! With all the talk about primers and such, I didn't really want to elaborate on that too much and probably gave you the wrong impression, anyway thanks for caring.........

Tim
http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll239/timharris2008/N3159F/?albumview=slideshow
 
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Rivet line vinyl removel

Buy a metal yardstick. One end will probably already have a hole in it for hanging it on a nail. Drilled a 3/32 hole in the center of the other end. Cleco the metal yardstick in one of the holes at the end of the rivet line, and I hold the yardstick down, centered over the holes in the rivet line. Then it is easy to use your soldering iron up against the edge of the yardstick, with a soft touch, to melt the blue covering without scratching the skin. You will also get really strait lines.

As others have stated, dull and polish the tip of your iron.
 
sapeloson said:
Thanks Sam,

I should have said "1st coat" of primer. I am using PPG K-36 "high build" primer and will "block sand" and most likley shoot another lite coat before my base and clear finish. And the protection I was referring to is scrapes and scratches, not corrosion. Sorry for the confusion. A few years ago I got the bright idea that I could paint our own airplane. So I did a lot of research, read a few books and I did it! And had a ball in the process. That project is what has lead me to this place, build an RV and learning a whole lot more from you guys! With all the talk about primers and such, I didn't really want to elaborate on that too much and probably gave you the wrong impression, anyway thanks for caring.........

Tim
http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll239/timharris2008/N3159F/?albumview=slideshow
Click to expand...

Tim, it sounds like you are familiar with paint systems.

I would still hold off on the primer on exterior skins. The high-build stuff is great for attracting oil and stuff that resides in the shop and the alclad really doesn't need protecting unless the shop and storage environment is especially hostile (using the wings for a cutting board? :eek:). There are advantages to applying the entire finish system at the same time.

Enjoy your project! :)
 
I think I'll go with the strip it and forget it method.

Cheers and thanks for the replies
 
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