Progressive covering and a fixture?

[mhorowit]

The Tcraft I have an eye on was covered in '77, which means there is a real possibility there is a covering job in it's future. Hopefully it won't be immediately upon purchasing it!

Anyway, has anyone done what I'll call a 'progressive' covering? - do part of a wing, then another part, then finishing it off - or is that just a waste of time?

Second: Now that I"m getting cocky with my welding, I could build a fixture to hold and rotate that wing, except that I don't know how the tip end would be supported (while still being able to rotate). CAn anyone point me to a picture showing how the tip is supported?

Thanks - Mike

[Dano"T"]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

If it has ceconite and was hangared there is a real possibility that the fabric is still a okay. Thus no need for progressive covering.

[Ray36048]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

I have done several covering jobs. Several years ago I recovered our club's Citabria in stages. The first year it was all the control surfaces, second year the wings and the following year the fuse. This worked well, kept the workload down and lower the risk of not haveing an airplane in the spring.

[mhorowit]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

I have done several covering jobs. Several years ago I recovered our club's Citabria in stages. The first year it was all the control surfaces, second year the wings and the following year the fuse. This worked well, kept the workload down and lower the risk of not haveing an airplane in the spring.

Sound like a good approach. when working on the wings, did you lay them across two sawhorses or put them in some kind of fixture?

[crispy critter]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

Mike,
Find someone with a Wag-Aero catalog and on the very back cover is a picture of a wing rotating jig that adjust to any wing.You can buy just the plans,the kit,or the finished product.I think it is only around $350 for the finished product and it works GREAT!! I'm glad I bought one.It also breaks down in less than 5 minutes and can be stored in a closet or under a work bench.

[VictorBravo]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

Mike, there's a guy on ebay who is constantly selling plans for a rotating wing jig...... OR you can substitute some cleverness

You can jury rig a system out of cheap steel conduit that works well enough...something you can use your new welding skills to build. The following is an IDEA I had planned to try when the time came....

Imagine two round Hula-Hoop frames about 6 feet diameter, made from cheap steel EMT conduit. (you can make them square if there is not an EMT conduit bender available) Each frame has one cross tube across the diameter. One of the frames has the cross tube at the wing root, with welded tabs on the cross tube to bolt to the spar root fittings. The other frame suspends the wing 2/3 of the way out, with welded tabs allowing you to bolt to the strut fittings.

Both of these frames are suspended by straps from the rafters of your shop, or to tall shop hoists, or whatever. You can rotate the wings by sliding the suspension straps on the rings. Total cost should be about 40 feet of EMT conduit (or scrapyard pipe), 50 feet of rope or nylon strap, a couple of feet worth of welding rod, and 57,902,445,976,325,489 electrons. The rings can be stored against the hangar wall and take up only the diameter of the EMT tubing. If you're clever, one of the rings can be re-used to support the aft fuselage when the time comes to cover that.

As far as covering, it is quite common to do it in steps. No big issues. If your fabric fails an annual, your IA should not demand that you do any more than that wing, ot that fuselage. Mine has Stits on the fuselage and Ceconite on the wings.

Please accept my strongest recommendation to use the Poly-Fiber (Stits) covering materials and process. The chemicals stick better to the fabric and each other on Stits than they do on the Ceconite / Butyrate system. The Stits manuals and videos make it much easier to understand for a beginner.

The old original Stits covering manual even gives you several tricks of the trade to come up with a good job your first time out. Using the small model airplane covering iron to mash down the edges of the pinked tape will save you HOURS of sanding and filling. The Stits stuff costs a tiny bit more but it's well worth it in my opinion. Do not omit the step where he says to wipe off the fabric with lacquer thinner to remove the lubricant from the weaving loom.

I understand that many of the new Maule factory airplanes had serious fabric coating adhesion problems related to Ceconite. The Stits stuff (reportedly) has some chemical additives that make it stick better to synthetic fabrics. Anything and everything stuck 100% to old cotton/linen fabric, but cotton is subject to more restrictions and has a short service life.

[Carl Ellis]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

A properly applied and cared for Ceconite covering is a good thing. It looks good and is easy to patch and paint. A bonus is that you can apply rejuvenator to surfaces are at starting to show their age (harden,crack). But that is an art in itself.

My former F-19 was originally covered in 1977 and is still in good shape.

- Carl -

[mhorowit]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

Mike, there's a guy on ebay who is constantly selling plans for a rotating wing jig...... OR you can substitute some cleverness
.

Yes indeedy! - Mike

[mhorowit]

Re: Progressive covering and a fixture?

Mike,
very back cover.

Thanks - I can build that! I was thinking I had to support the wing at the tip - Mike