twiggy

I am building a wet wing and I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with glow fuel eating epoxy resin. I am going to layup a little 2" square sample part and set it in some fuel to see what happens, but I just thought I'd check and see if anyone has had any experience with this. Thanks

Flypaper 2

Epoxy is fuel proof. Makes a great fuel proofer for firewall and fuel tank bay areas.

twiggy

I laid up a glass fuel tank for a test stand, using west epoxy resin (crappy resin, I know). After about an hour of use I noted a definet change in the color of the cloth, it looked dry. While it still held fuel, I was concerned about the structual integrity of the plys. For this application strength really did not matter but in the plane I am building the fuel will be against the spar. If it attacks the resin the structure would be comprimised. I will be using ProSet epoxy Resin for the plane. I agree that epoxy works well for fuel proofing an engine compartment, but it does not need to be structual in that application. There was a lot of structual analisis put into this wing that will all be for not if the fuel attacks the resin.

Flypaper 2

Don't know about it in that situation, wouldnt trust it. What about a surgical rubber baggie such as an I.V. bag?

twiggy

A surgical baggy is a good idea but I fear it may add a lot of weight. The airplane I am building is for a distance competion (CA Marathon in Baker), so weight is everything. Currently my plane has a span of 120" with a dry weight of 2lbs. It will carry 3lbs. of fuel. I am trying to maintain or improve this ratio of fuel to airframe. I was thinking today of applying a thin coat of proseal to the front of the spar (that is the part that will see the fuel). The skins are only taking up a small part of the load, so if they are slightly attacked by the fuel it should not harm the structual intergrity of the wing.

Thanks for the suggestions!

doctor jason

Iuse epoxy all the time for fuel proofing my models totally fuel proof .

049flyer

My Feedback: (18)

Concerning sealing a "wet" wing fuel tank:

Have you thought about using Polyester resin instead of epoxy?

ace2002

Go to this site and ask for the 9700 epoxy, its fuel proof. I need to make some intakes for a motorcycle engine.
mike
http://www.jeffcoproducts.com/

goony

motorcycle race tanks used to be made from polyester with out problems but i dont know about glo fuel, also there is the stuff you use in car fuel tanks when they have gone rusty which seals them again it may be worth a try

regards goony