beachbrada

My Feedback: (17)

Is there a trick to doing this or what?? I recently got a hobbico iron, and I was trying to take out some wrinkles on my Twist. It seems like Im doing something wrong. How hot should I make the iron? Give me some tips. Thanks

rogsteele

Ironing out wrinkles does not work very well, you need to use a heat gun

ChuckW

According to Horizons site, the adhesive on Ultracote is activated at 200-220 degrees and it shrinks at 300-350 degrees.

Be careful around edges and seams with Ultracote, the higher shrinking temps can cause the covering to pull away in those areas. Just try not to apply heat directly on the seam if possible or cover the seam with a layer or two of masking tape to insulate it.

Sometimes a heat gun is helpful when shrinking too.

bingo field

You want to start adding heat slowly. If you don't have the little thermometer that you put on the surface of the iron to tell the temp, you can start with the iron on about 1/2 way, and put just 1 drop of water on it. Once you get a single drop to just sizzle when it hits, you are right around the boiling point of water, 212 or so. Begin at the edge of the wrinkle, the covering should start to change color as you get it hot enough. Make adjustments slowly until you see the looser covering change color, then start to shrink. If you have any old scraps of covering, you can just keep laying them on the iron until you see them start to shrink. Too hot, and you will get a hole or melt the covering, that's why you want to work slowly on getting the iron hot. I marked mine where the setting was when I first started to shrink the covering, and the highest adjustment where the covering would start to melt. I go just below the setting for starting to shrink the covering when applying it, it will only make it stick where you apply direct pressure at that temp. A little higher, and then it starts to shrink it, which is what you want to do after it is stuck down. Be careful at the shrink temps when you get near a seam, you can make them pull back with too much heat. Go slowly at first, and little practice, and you will be able to do nearly anything you want with it.

Good luck!

Jester241

As Rog said.....its almost impossible to iron out wrinkles once you've wrinkled them. A heat gun will usually work,just be careful not to burn through it. Your only hope with an iron is to make it about as hot is it gets and VERY lightly hoover the iron over the wrinkles just BARELY touching the covering if not just over it using the heat to hope it shrinks it up. But if you plan on ever trying to mess with covering again.....get a heat gun. Heat guns are a covering persons best buddy. Irons just make your blood pressure higher,but they are a key part of covering just like a heat gun.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

You can iron them out of Ultra, Mono and some of the stuff that comes on an AFR?? Sometimes. H-9 is Ultra so you should have no trouble. I just did A repair and patch job on A friends plane today using Ultra and showed two people how to shrink the covering with an iron, very easy, just follow Bingos instructions.

jetmech05

You've got to be careful with an iron...you can iron a wrinkle in permantly...much better to use a heat gun to take out a wrinkle....if you don't have one then hold your iron off of the wrinkle to see if you can shrink it...you may have to poke a small hole in the covering with a pin to relive trapped air

beachbrada

My Feedback: (17)

Yah thats what I did in one spot, i got a heat gun on the way.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I use A heat gun too, I only use my iron to remove sags and wrinkles on arfs because A lot of the time I'm not sure what the covering is. You can over shrink some coverings and if they get too hot you can burn holes in it. When I cover A plane I only use Ultracote and it is very forgiving of A heat gun and shrinks up really nice. I use the iron on small areas quite A bit. Always nice to have the iron, gun and trim iron on hand because they all come in handy.

brett65

My Feedback: (18)

Ironing out wrinkles is impossible, but you can use an iron as a heat source to stretch the wrinkles away. I turn mine all the way up on Ultracote and hold it just above the surface or just touching it(use a sock on the iron). Don't apply pressure like when you're adhering the film on. Watch the wrinkles and pull the iron away as they begin to go away, you don't want to burn through. If you can, get a heat gun and it will be much faster and easier.