Emron paint over Ceconite process?

[fearofpavement]

Re: Emron paint over Ceconite process?

I am operating a Taylorcraft that was rejuvinated and then painted with Imron about 10 years ago (ceconite fabric) and there are a few places where the paint and dope have come off all the way to the fabric. I was wondering how to fix this and reading these posts have not been encouraging... All the places where the paint is intact look great but am thinking maybe this wasn't the way to go but probably no easy remedy at this point.

[mhorowit]

Re: Emron paint over Ceconite process?

I am operating a Taylorcraft that was rejuvinated and then painted with Imron about 10 years ago (ceconite fabric) and there are a few places where the paint and dope have come off all the way to the fabric. I was wondering how to fix this and reading these posts have not been encouraging... All the places where the paint is intact look great but am thinking maybe this wasn't the way to go but probably no easy remedy at this point.

Dear Fear:

I think I may be in the same boat with you. Ref earlier posts, I'm hoping I can peel the Imron off (as the fabric does show thru in places; lots of places). I got lots of time. My thoughts are (assuming a pro tells me I don't need to remove the fabric because of structural problems or the fabric is rotten) that I may be able to peel back to fabric, clean it well and restart the Ceconite process from that point i.e. silver coats. Of course if he says "Jeeze, look at that rust!" then whatever coating is on is moot!

Something we should ask is "Is there anyway to make the Imron seperate from the dope?" After,all there was something that caused an interface between the Imron and the dope and if we could exploit that.....

A bit more to your point... You know MEK will take the Imron and dope back to basics, right? If it's a small area, you could use MEK to remove the Imron and dope and restart from there; just thinking out loud, and of course if it's peeling in one place, the problem is probably going to pop up elsewhere.

DISCLAIMER: Get a second opinion; after all, I"m the guy that got run over by his own airplane

- Mike

[3Dreaming]

Re: Emron paint over Ceconite process?

Something we should ask is "Is there anyway to make the Imron seperate from the dope?" After,all there was something that caused an interface between the Imron and the dope and if we could exploit that....
- Mike

Time! It is my understanding that there are 2 reasons that the paint will separate. First is the Imron over dope. The dope, even the non tautening will continue to shrink while the paint does not. This is what creates the adhesion problem. The other problem with Imron is the paint becomes brittle and cracks.
If I remember right I heard one time that you can score the surface of the finish you want to remove, and soak the back side of the fabric with thinner or MEK, and then peel the finish off. This was to get a spot ready for repair.
Sometimes when you have several areas that need fixed it would be less work to just remove the fabric and start over. It may cost a little more to do it that way, but it might take less time. The plus side is it will not look patched up that way. Tom

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Emron paint over Ceconite process?

What areas need repaired? If you are talking about a control surface or landing gear, it is way easier just to cut it off and start over. If it is the fuse or a wing how big is the area?

Mike

[VictorBravo]

Re: Emron paint over Ceconite process?

There's something else to think about. If some bozo was uneducated enough to put Imron over dope, he may have also been uneducated enough to not pay attention to other more important things. Like rusted tubes, or rotted spars.

[N96337]

Re: Emron paint over Ceconite process?

When I bought my Tcraft, it had auto paint over Ceconite, and lots of ringworm and cracks.. as I mentioned before, I worked hard at trying to save it, but it really only prolonged the inevitable. My patching and sanding, even though it looked like heck, got me about 2 more years of flying, before I had to pull it apart.
One thing I would be very careful of is soaking the fabric, especially from the back side, with MEK or solvents.... what's that doing to your glue joints? How far does that solvent travel in the fabric fibers before it's all gone??
I've seen guys work like mad, with a pressure washer and get almost all the paint off, then replace tapes, etc...but it looked to me like they had worked harder than if they'd have just cut it off and started over.
Some of my customers have done it in sections... cover the wings one winter when it's not that nice out, then the fuselage the next year... it's not probably the optimum solution, but it did keep them flying, and kept them from having such a big outlay of cash and time all at once.
There wont be any real easy solutions...too many variables, and like Mike H said...what if there's rust, or anything like that... that changes things in a hurry..
JH