Hi everyone, after lurking for months, I'm hoping to begin my own RV-12is project very soon, and I've got many questions. To get the ball rolling, I'm trying to arrive at a decision on interior priming that I can live without second guessing myself for years. Before I start my build I thought I'd experiment with some primers on the practice toolbox kit I've built.
I'm very conflicted: I tend to feel like others who don't want to damage the protection of the alclad surface to add a different kind of protection (not to mention all the effort to thoroughly rough up each piece -- did I hear 200 hrs added build time?), but I also like the look of the primed surface and the possible corrosion benefits. So I tried something I haven't seen discussed here yet: I cleaned one surface with Dove soap and when that failed to prevent the water from beading, I used a cheap supermarket clone of Windex since it's what I had hanging around to clean the surface then one more wash with detergent. Then I primed it with SEM primer without doing the usual sanding.
I guess this was the first time I've used a decent primer as I was stunned by the toughness of the coating. 24 hours after two passes 10 minutes apart, rubbing the surface with a dull edge of a piece of metal didn't leave any noticeable mark.
So now I'm wondering just how important scuffing up the surface is to getting a good bond? Seems like cleaning was most important. And what about the simple household cleaner I used in the prep? I wasn't expecting it to be so simple or effective, so I started looking around and couldn't find any reliable information on whether it would have an adverse affect on the metal or paint.
Any thoughts about this prep process? I'd rather not prime than prime in a way that damages the surface, or is just wasted effort.
Many thanks!
I'm very conflicted: I tend to feel like others who don't want to damage the protection of the alclad surface to add a different kind of protection (not to mention all the effort to thoroughly rough up each piece -- did I hear 200 hrs added build time?), but I also like the look of the primed surface and the possible corrosion benefits. So I tried something I haven't seen discussed here yet: I cleaned one surface with Dove soap and when that failed to prevent the water from beading, I used a cheap supermarket clone of Windex since it's what I had hanging around to clean the surface then one more wash with detergent. Then I primed it with SEM primer without doing the usual sanding.
I guess this was the first time I've used a decent primer as I was stunned by the toughness of the coating. 24 hours after two passes 10 minutes apart, rubbing the surface with a dull edge of a piece of metal didn't leave any noticeable mark.
So now I'm wondering just how important scuffing up the surface is to getting a good bond? Seems like cleaning was most important. And what about the simple household cleaner I used in the prep? I wasn't expecting it to be so simple or effective, so I started looking around and couldn't find any reliable information on whether it would have an adverse affect on the metal or paint.
Any thoughts about this prep process? I'd rather not prime than prime in a way that damages the surface, or is just wasted effort.
Many thanks!