Originally posted by bswan72
Hello,
Is there any downside to coating the inside of the body tubes with CA or epoxy? I like to stiffen both ends this way.
Brian
The only down side I ever ran across was changing the ID of the tube, making it necessary to sand down the shoulder of a nose or transition a bit. No big deal. But, I'm not having this problem anymore.
I've been experimenting with lacquer based spary sanding sealer and polyurethane spray. With the sanding sealer (I use Deft) it takes about 4 "thick" coats to fill the spiral, stiffen the tube and put on a nice satin finish. A little extra at the ends strengthens them.
Note that "thick" coats with this stuff is not very thick. It's quite thin stuff. To keep it from running, hold the tube horizontal with a roll of paper stuffed in one end and keep turning it like a lathe until it's dry enough not to run. But it dries in minutes. I can put on 4 coats in 1/2 hour or less if I dry it at a hot air register or with a hair dryer on low heat/high fan.
However, let it dry overnight before putting primer over it. The solvent soaks into the tube. You can still smell fumes hours later. These may affect other paint you put over it. You can sand it obviously, but it doesn't need it.
The urethane does a similar job but never comes out as even as the sealer. I'm sticking with the sealer for tubes, and using the urethane on wood from now on. Also, it's very hard to sand. But being so glassy shiny, there's hardly any reason to sand it. A good thick layer of this stuff, say two thick coats, can take a couple days to dry comnpletely.
I have not yet experimented with the glueability of the sealer. If it doesn't glue well, it'd be a simple matter to sand down any fin mounting lines to get through the stuff and to the paper itself.