ArVeeNiner
Well Known Member
Well, it's been a very busy weekend for me but I can now say that I too have bonded my canopy with Sikaflex. I've looked at a lot of websites and corresponded with a few folks and got enough info to take a stab at it myself. I wanted to share with y'all what I've learned and what info I've gathered. The majority of what follows are tips and techniques that others have used before me. I'm just putting them all in one place for the next guy. I'm going to randomly throw in some pictures as well:
-Masking tape: I played with several different masking tapes. I tried yellow electrical tape, 3M blue paper masking tape, and some very old Permacel P366 plastic tape. All tapes mask pretty well but line created by the paper tape was just a bit less crisp than the vinyl tapes. However, I found the electrical tape much harder to work with due to the fact that it stretches. I leaned toward the Permacel tape, which by the way, appears to be obsolete. Mine has a 2001 date on the roll!
-I decided to use a very cheap foam brush from the dollar store for painting on the primer. Not a good idea. The foam wasn't very dense and got floppy real fast. I haven't tried denser stuff from a real hardware store but I would imagine that it would work better. I used a regular paint brush for the frame itself and that worked better.
-I bought myself a $9 caulking gun. I've only used El Cheapo caulking guns in the past. Do yourself a favor, spend some money on the gun. I got a dripless one made by a company with the imaginative name of Dripless, Inc. Boy, they sure worked hard on THAT name eh? Anyway, I really like their gun because when you stop pulling the trigger, the caulk stops. No more being a quick draw with your thumb on the lever. It made this easier and easy is what you want.
-Lay down the primer in one pass. OK, I said it. It was said to me. Making that happen, really tough! I have one run that looks beautiful, the rest, not so much. When you go over it again, you get brush strokes that no way no how you can get out. Like I said, I was warned and I tried but no dice. I'm not making a show plane so it is what it is.
-You don't need any V tips for your Sika flex tubes. The supplied standard tips work just fine.
-Don't try to pull out the spacers. Cut them small, Crazy Glue them to the canopy, and prime and caulk right over top of them. I used small squares of rubber hose for most of the spacers. They have a wall thickness of a hair under 3/16". Along the sides of the front bow, I used these 3/16" spacers down to about 6" up from the bottom of the front bow. Then, I used a .190" screen door spline next. It's a tube and squishes down smaller than .190". Then, my next to the last spacer was a piece of .125" screen spline. Finally, down at the very botton of the bow I used a piece of 40 pound test fishing line as a spacer. I can't believe that I didn't take a picture of that but you get the idea.
-I cut the sides of the Plexi about between 1/16" and 1/8" up from the side bows. I primered the top of the side bows and the sides of the Plexi. Then, I put a piece of aluminum outside of it all temporarily and ran a bead right there between the top of the side bow and the Plexi. Later, I will glue the side skirt to the Plexiglass.
-I found that it was difficult to get the frame right back in the same place as it was previously after removing it. So go conservative on the trimming of the sides of the Plexi. You can always sand some more down just before you bond as I did.
-The Harbor Freight oscillating tool, in addition to be useful in making the BIG CUT, also did the best job of adjusting the side cuts I made to the Plexi. I used the sanding attachment and it sanded quicker than my actual sander. I even used a fine grit paper on it for the final sanding and it did quite well. If I were doing this over like Lars did (sorry Lars, I couldn't resist), and I hope I don't, I'd consider using the HF tool for all the sanding of the edges. It will probably come in handy when I do the windshield.
-I measured the Plexi spread of the frame while it was all clamped up. Using a strap, I pulled in double the amount of the spread and I am holding it throughout the cure. This has worked for others. My Plexi pulled the front and the rear of the frame by different amounts. Check them both.
-You can never have enough clamps. I went to the flea market and bought every clamp a vendor had for less than a buck a pop. Metal spring clamps were recommended but I couldn't find enough so I went with the plastic spring clamps. I found that the plastic ones had stronger springs than the metal ones that I found.
-I initially clamped the frame by extending the clamp tips past the bar I was clamping and to the Plexi on the other side. Can you picture that? I did this because the clamps didn't like to stay clamped onto the metal tubes. They would every now and then jump off with a loud bang! I thought for sure they would crack the Plexi but they didn't. However, they clamp much better when the tips of the clamp are on the frame tube. I found somewhat of a fix by taping the ends with the cheap, white masking tape. My white tape has more traction than the blue tape and the clamps don't slip off so easy anymore.
-Somebody called Sika, black death II. I concur. You will go through lots of gloves, blue paper towels, and brushes. Don't wear anything that you cherish (like a VAF shirt) when you do this. I cleaned as I went with Plexi friendly kerosene.
If I can think of more tips I'll post them.
I want to thank all those that have given me Sikaflex advice. You guys were a real help. I'd like to thank Lars Pedersen, Bret Smith (who has an excellent web site), Sam Butler, Jim McChesney, Jim Bray, Brian Dal Porto, and my awesome wife Melissa for all the help and advice. You all were so very helpful.
Now, I need to wash more of this "black death" off my hands!
-Masking tape: I played with several different masking tapes. I tried yellow electrical tape, 3M blue paper masking tape, and some very old Permacel P366 plastic tape. All tapes mask pretty well but line created by the paper tape was just a bit less crisp than the vinyl tapes. However, I found the electrical tape much harder to work with due to the fact that it stretches. I leaned toward the Permacel tape, which by the way, appears to be obsolete. Mine has a 2001 date on the roll!
-I decided to use a very cheap foam brush from the dollar store for painting on the primer. Not a good idea. The foam wasn't very dense and got floppy real fast. I haven't tried denser stuff from a real hardware store but I would imagine that it would work better. I used a regular paint brush for the frame itself and that worked better.
-I bought myself a $9 caulking gun. I've only used El Cheapo caulking guns in the past. Do yourself a favor, spend some money on the gun. I got a dripless one made by a company with the imaginative name of Dripless, Inc. Boy, they sure worked hard on THAT name eh? Anyway, I really like their gun because when you stop pulling the trigger, the caulk stops. No more being a quick draw with your thumb on the lever. It made this easier and easy is what you want.
-Lay down the primer in one pass. OK, I said it. It was said to me. Making that happen, really tough! I have one run that looks beautiful, the rest, not so much. When you go over it again, you get brush strokes that no way no how you can get out. Like I said, I was warned and I tried but no dice. I'm not making a show plane so it is what it is.
-You don't need any V tips for your Sika flex tubes. The supplied standard tips work just fine.
-Don't try to pull out the spacers. Cut them small, Crazy Glue them to the canopy, and prime and caulk right over top of them. I used small squares of rubber hose for most of the spacers. They have a wall thickness of a hair under 3/16". Along the sides of the front bow, I used these 3/16" spacers down to about 6" up from the bottom of the front bow. Then, I used a .190" screen door spline next. It's a tube and squishes down smaller than .190". Then, my next to the last spacer was a piece of .125" screen spline. Finally, down at the very botton of the bow I used a piece of 40 pound test fishing line as a spacer. I can't believe that I didn't take a picture of that but you get the idea.
-I cut the sides of the Plexi about between 1/16" and 1/8" up from the side bows. I primered the top of the side bows and the sides of the Plexi. Then, I put a piece of aluminum outside of it all temporarily and ran a bead right there between the top of the side bow and the Plexi. Later, I will glue the side skirt to the Plexiglass.
-I found that it was difficult to get the frame right back in the same place as it was previously after removing it. So go conservative on the trimming of the sides of the Plexi. You can always sand some more down just before you bond as I did.
-The Harbor Freight oscillating tool, in addition to be useful in making the BIG CUT, also did the best job of adjusting the side cuts I made to the Plexi. I used the sanding attachment and it sanded quicker than my actual sander. I even used a fine grit paper on it for the final sanding and it did quite well. If I were doing this over like Lars did (sorry Lars, I couldn't resist), and I hope I don't, I'd consider using the HF tool for all the sanding of the edges. It will probably come in handy when I do the windshield.
-I measured the Plexi spread of the frame while it was all clamped up. Using a strap, I pulled in double the amount of the spread and I am holding it throughout the cure. This has worked for others. My Plexi pulled the front and the rear of the frame by different amounts. Check them both.
-You can never have enough clamps. I went to the flea market and bought every clamp a vendor had for less than a buck a pop. Metal spring clamps were recommended but I couldn't find enough so I went with the plastic spring clamps. I found that the plastic ones had stronger springs than the metal ones that I found.
-I initially clamped the frame by extending the clamp tips past the bar I was clamping and to the Plexi on the other side. Can you picture that? I did this because the clamps didn't like to stay clamped onto the metal tubes. They would every now and then jump off with a loud bang! I thought for sure they would crack the Plexi but they didn't. However, they clamp much better when the tips of the clamp are on the frame tube. I found somewhat of a fix by taping the ends with the cheap, white masking tape. My white tape has more traction than the blue tape and the clamps don't slip off so easy anymore.
-Somebody called Sika, black death II. I concur. You will go through lots of gloves, blue paper towels, and brushes. Don't wear anything that you cherish (like a VAF shirt) when you do this. I cleaned as I went with Plexi friendly kerosene.
If I can think of more tips I'll post them.
I want to thank all those that have given me Sikaflex advice. You guys were a real help. I'd like to thank Lars Pedersen, Bret Smith (who has an excellent web site), Sam Butler, Jim McChesney, Jim Bray, Brian Dal Porto, and my awesome wife Melissa for all the help and advice. You all were so very helpful.
Now, I need to wash more of this "black death" off my hands!
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