best place to purchase hing tape and gap seals
11-30-2007, 12:39 PM
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RE: best place to purchase hing tape and gap seals
HobbyLobby has some, but you can make your own if you want...
I use 3M #190 tape that you can get at Ace Hardware, on the little rolls (comes in all the primary colors, plus black, white, and clear) and I've had very good luck with it long-term. I get it locally at Tap Plastics for $1.10 a roll.
To make gap seals, you'll need a clean metal yardstick or a piece of shelf. Cut a piece of tape about 1" longer than necessary on each end. Stick it to your clean surface so about half the width overhangs the edge. Sprinkle talcum powder on the exposed edge to make it non-stick.
Peel it off and carefully apply it to your gap with the adhesive edge on the wing, and the non-stick side on the control surface. Trim off the excess on the ends with some sharp scissors and press the tape down along its length.
If it's a "wiper" you can reverse the direction, and stick the sticky side on the rounded part of the aileron, and tuck the non-stick side under the bottom skin (assuming its a tip hinged, hollow molded wing). Its own natural springiness will keep it pushed out so it seals against the inside of the lower wing skin. I did one of these for a friend's V-tail that the manufacturer forgot to include the wipers on- and you'd be hard pressed to see it was home made. I have the exact same plane and it was a seamless replacement.
The nice thing about that 3M tape is with a light sanding with steel wool or a scrubbing sponge and some acetone, paint will stick to it really well. I have a plane I did this on and it's going on four years now.
Tape hinges and seals are rapidly becoming a thing of the past with skin-hinging. I have an older slope racer that has some REALLY nice heavy mylar gap seals that I'd love to find, but I'll probably end up making.
I use 3M #190 tape that you can get at Ace Hardware, on the little rolls (comes in all the primary colors, plus black, white, and clear) and I've had very good luck with it long-term. I get it locally at Tap Plastics for $1.10 a roll.
To make gap seals, you'll need a clean metal yardstick or a piece of shelf. Cut a piece of tape about 1" longer than necessary on each end. Stick it to your clean surface so about half the width overhangs the edge. Sprinkle talcum powder on the exposed edge to make it non-stick.
Peel it off and carefully apply it to your gap with the adhesive edge on the wing, and the non-stick side on the control surface. Trim off the excess on the ends with some sharp scissors and press the tape down along its length.
If it's a "wiper" you can reverse the direction, and stick the sticky side on the rounded part of the aileron, and tuck the non-stick side under the bottom skin (assuming its a tip hinged, hollow molded wing). Its own natural springiness will keep it pushed out so it seals against the inside of the lower wing skin. I did one of these for a friend's V-tail that the manufacturer forgot to include the wipers on- and you'd be hard pressed to see it was home made. I have the exact same plane and it was a seamless replacement.
The nice thing about that 3M tape is with a light sanding with steel wool or a scrubbing sponge and some acetone, paint will stick to it really well. I have a plane I did this on and it's going on four years now.
Tape hinges and seals are rapidly becoming a thing of the past with skin-hinging. I have an older slope racer that has some REALLY nice heavy mylar gap seals that I'd love to find, but I'll probably end up making.
11-30-2007, 01:47 PM
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RE: best place to purchase hing tape and gap seals
This is where I am trying next, although i agree with the suggestion made above. I am trying the stuff below from George Voss simply because so many speak so highly of him and his experience...
http://www.soaringspecialties.com/hi...psealant.shtml
Enjoy.[8D]
http://www.soaringspecialties.com/hi...psealant.shtml
Enjoy.[8D]
12-02-2007, 05:08 PM
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RE: best place to purchase hing tape and gap seals
Hello TWOOD.
Hinge tape ? You just use good old Scotts Tape 810 - it lasts for years - and you can get it in 10mm & 13 mm width - and most book stores and suppliers for offices stock it.
As for Gap seal you can get it from a GRAUPNER supplier - i do not remember the ordering number - but it is in theyr main catalogue. It is dfammed expensive but just as good as the price.
KR
hld - OY-9901
Hinge tape ? You just use good old Scotts Tape 810 - it lasts for years - and you can get it in 10mm & 13 mm width - and most book stores and suppliers for offices stock it.
As for Gap seal you can get it from a GRAUPNER supplier - i do not remember the ordering number - but it is in theyr main catalogue. It is dfammed expensive but just as good as the price.
KR
hld - OY-9901
