Author Topic: Lazy way to clean up wings  (Read 4685 times)

PonoBill

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Lazy way to clean up wings
« on: June 05, 2020, 06:43:59 PM »
Admin spent an hour or so rubbing a wing that I would consider unmarked with various grades of scotchbrite pad in grits starting at 400 and ending at 1000. Sounds delightful, but that isn't what I do. I don't even get close to 400 and the only thing I've ever rubbed with 1000 grit is a pool cue.

Here's my method. Start with three wings that look like they've been dragged behind a car for a few miles.



Sand with 120 grit to take out the ridges on the scrapes and restore general smoothness, then 240 to remove the 120 grit scratches. All I want to do is make the surface reasonably flat. A deep scratch raises ridges on both sides of the valley. I'm taking off the ridges. I use a Festool disk sander with vacuum dust collection and I wear a mask. Carbon isn't good for lungs.

If I wanted to eliminate the scratches I'd fill them with spot putty. I think even deep scratches are mostly cosmetic but bumps on the surface are not. Spot putty wouldn't be pretty. That sounds like part of a country western lyric.


Spray with one coat of gloss clear acrylic. This is a fairly heavy, covering coat that flows out and turns the sharp-edge valleys into dips.



Spray with one coat of matte finish clear acrylic. This eliminates shiny spots and further fills the valleys. Again. I'm not looking to make this like new, just reduce whistling and not make people point and laugh when they see my wings.

Done--took less than an hour for all three wings. Time to go beat them up again.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2020, 06:46:53 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

SUPeter

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Re: Lazy way to clean up wings
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2020, 10:27:59 AM »
Looks good PonoBill.  Another method that I call the wipeoff works also.  Since You have already sanded the wing well, put dabs of epoxy resin on wing and massage it in with your gloved fingers. Keep spreading it around as thin as you can possibly get it.  Do the whole side at the same time.  Then take a dry rag and now rub it all off till its completely dry. Repeat for other side of wing.  Let it cure.   The resin will fill in the scratches and leave a matte finish with a little sheen.  Further repairs are easier since there is only epoxy resin on the surface and nor other risky contaminants. 

Admin

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Re: Lazy way to clean up wings
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2020, 10:50:02 AM »
I modified my technique and did all of our foils.  Orbital sander w/340 grit (finest they had at the store for orbital disks).  5 minutes a foil and they are scratch free.  We had less scratches that Bill but the same type of stuff as those deeper white ones in his image.  They all came out great.  I am sure I could really clean them up with a second pass at a finer grit.

 


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