We have a club member that wants to sheet foam wings for his senior telemaster. I use Dave Brown's sorgum but I know that there are other methods out there. What do you do and how does it work. This is a big wing. Cord about 12" WS close to 100".

"Mornin, Irish.

How is your grandson making out at Marine boot camp? I hope all is well.

I have a set of instructions that a friend gave me that I am using to put the skins on a set of foam wings. He uses long curing epoxy.

Dick.

Morning CG. Grandson doing well. Said only 63 more days but who's counting. I know the Dave Brown product you have to work pretty quick, once it touches it's stuck. Afraid with this big wing if everything is not just so, then you end up with a mess. When you use the slow cure epoxy how are you holding the skin down. BTW Lost 53lbs. Getting down to playing weight.

Hi Irish.

WOW!! What did you do to lose the weight? I need to shed about the same amount.

His instructions call for the slow cure epoxy followed by the, I believe they call them the "shucks". The foam that remains from the large block that the wing blanks were cut from. He puts these down on a long flat table top, puts the wings with the skins set, then sandwiches the wing core within these "shucks". (I hope that's right.. the name that is). Then he puts a straight plank over that and then about 50 pounds of bricks on top of the plank. He said the more weight the better. Then he leaves it set up for a day before he removes everything.

Dick.

I've had great results using Gorilla glue. Spread a thin layer of it on the skins with a credit card and follow that with a small foam roller to pick up the excess. Place the skins on the core, in the shucks on a flat surface and weight it down over night. It's inexpensive, adds very little weight, and results in a very strong bond.

Mornin' gents!

Ditto on the Gorilla glue and Russmall's method

Are you spraying with water after you have it spread out. Also, are you putting the glue on both the foam and the skin.

Ah.. Gorilla glue. Wasn't there something here in this forum a while back about that? From what I remember, someone posted that the only problem with it is the foam it produces when it expands and can warp the wing, but I don't remember all the particulars. Perhaps it's worth a little search.

CGr.

Guess I will hit the old search button.

I rub the foam with a damp rag before applying the glue. As long as you keep it flat and weighted down in the shucks, you shouldn't get any warpage

Ok. I know that Gorilla glue is easier to work with than Epoxy, that's for sure. I'll look more into it and maybe use on the one I am putting together.

Dick

3M 77 is also a good glue for sheeting foam wings, but it is hard to beat Sig Sorgum. Good Luck, Dave

Try Duck vinyl flooring tape from Lowe's. It weighs next to nothing and sticks well. You do need to weight the core down in the shucks overnight for a good bind.

You can carefully remove and replace if you haven't used much pressure.

What do you mean, Ed? Is that a double sided tape or something? You stick the sheeting on with tape?

Just wondering because that's the first time I ever hear of doing it that way... not that I am any sort of expert, a novice at best, but this is interesting.

CGr.

I gotta follow this one.

I want to hear this too. I use carpet tape for a lot of things but have never sheeted with it.
I have never sheeted a wing that size, I think the biggest I have done was about 70 inches. I use the water based wood glue sold through the tower brand name. Thin a bit with water. This time of year it works great but during the summer the wood glue starts setting up a lot faster. I have used Gorilla glue for repairs but never done a complete wing with it. I have had some sheets on repairs shift due to the expansion. I had several hundred pounds of lead on hand in 25 pound bags just for sheeting and that worked out very well.

Waiting for ED to come back on and tell me how to do what he is suggesting. I'll try anything once.

I have used water based liquid latex to skin wings. it is really close to the sorghum. You can find it at auto upholstery supply. Spread it as thin as you can with a bondo spreader or other plastic scrapper. Let dry, then it sticks like crazy. If you use to much it just adds weight.

I still like the 4 plus hour epoxy and vacuum bagging the best. The next is the slow epoxy and the pieces the foam core was cut out of. I lay the balsa on the bottom, then the core, then the top sheet, then the top cut out. Weigh it down or clap it between thick boards for a day. I bought a cheap weight set from Wall mart just to have the extra weight around.

You can use a small aquarium pump as a vacuum pump. I used some thick plastic sheeting from the depot as the bags. I fold the edge and heat with a seam sealer. You can use a covering iron to melt the two pieces of plastic together. I then just bunch up one end end use a hose clamp on a piece of brass tubing to attach the hose to the bag and pump. It is NOT the easiest way to do, but it does clamp very well.


Buzz.

Ditto on the slow set epoxy. If you do it correctly, nothing is near as strong or as light. It is a little more work than some methods, but the results are more than worth it.Spread the glue as thin as possible. Vacuum bagging is the best as it draws out excess glue, but weights work also.

Gorish, I use Z-Poxy Fnishing Resin, 3/4 ounce for each panel of a 1300 square inch wing. Beware the Gorilla glue. Too much and you're in trouble. Dan.

There an how to a couple of years ago in MA about sheeting big wings. It said to put the epoxy into something you could squeeze it out of and make crossing lines with it. So you'd be laying beads about an inch apart, then come back in the other direction. The reason for it was to save some weight, and since the epoxy squeezes flat when you put the weight on it was just as strong. Using this method kept so much from being absorbed by the wood, so the theory goes.

Gorish, That's 3/4 ounce of the hardner and 3/4 ounce of the resin. Dan.

I see most everyone is using the white foam. what about the pink or blue?

I use a thin coat of West Epoxy on the balsa skins, and clamp it all together. Works great. I do the work in a spot in my garage on the concrete floor where I have determined the floor is absolutely flat. For the top, I use a piece of 30mm granite from a sink cut-out I saved from a kitchen remodel. This stone is heavy and flat to a very high degree. After placing the granite, I set four 5 gallon full water bottles on top of that. This adds about 330 lbs. to the 75 lbs. or so for the stone.

Sufficient clamping force and flat surfaces are critical for having wings set up without warps!

I only sheet foam cores when the plane is a kit. So far every kit I have done uses the white foam. When you cut your own foam core wings I would think it depends on how well the shucks/sheds come out. How good have you gotten with your own foam cutting?? Has the machine worked out well for you??