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prkaye

Well Known Member
After applying proseal to trailing edges and clecoeing down through aluminum angle, how long should I wait before removing the clecoes? How long before I should do the back-riveting?
 
depends

on if you got the mixture right.

If you did (and its warm) you could set the rivets in about an hour.

But I have guessed at proseal mixes and its taken 24 hours to set before.

I left mine for about 2 weeks as I could not see the hurry.

If I were doing it again I would wait till the rubbery stage (i.e not quite set but pretty gooey)...Remove the clecos and get all the excess proseal off.

Then re-cleco it with fresh clecos for 24 hours.

That way you get max strength to prevent warping/pillowing but you wont have to remove the hard proseal.

Frank
 
You might be able to do it sooner as Frank suggests, but I waited about 5 days in a 60 degree garage. All of my trailing edges are arrow straight. You will have no problem taking the clecoes out later, especially if you didn't use an excess of proseal.
 
I waited a day. I kinda wish I'd waited less time because pulling the angle off was a bit of a PITA with the cured ProSeal. You have to be careful to make sure pulling off the angle isn't pulling apart the seams of the trailing edge too.
 
Bob Collins said:
I waited a day. I kinda wish I'd waited less time because pulling the angle off was a bit of a PITA with the cured ProSeal. You have to be careful to make sure pulling off the angle isn't pulling apart the seams of the trailing edge too.
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Good point Bob. How I solved this problem is by running my Boelube over the angle to which I clecoed the trailing edges. Proseal doesn't stick to Boelube. Worked great.
 
I wished I'd thought of that at the time. Great idea. Building a plane, I'm starting to realize, is like growing up. Near the end you realize that maybe you'd like to do it again, now that you know what you know.
 
Phil,
I waited 3 days - the proseal wasn't fully cured (I even brought the parts into the warmer basement than the garage shop). It was enough to keep it straight when I backriveted - just follow Van's rivet sequencing recommendations and hold the elevator (or rudder) flat on your work surface. I actually shimmed the elevator on wood planks the same thickness as the steel back-riveting plate, and slid the plate side to side under the trailing edge to rivet. Some folks have put on weights to the elevator to hold it flat (lead shot bags, sand, boards), but I held it as I riveted and frequently checked the TE. A tip on removing the angle that will likely be stuck to the TE - I rolled it off from front to back to unstick it so it wouldn't debond the trailing edge.
 
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