How to clean (or keep from getting dirty in the first place) wooden bulkheads?

How do you keep your wooden bulkheads clean or prevent them from getting dirty from ejection charges?

A thin layer of cheap 5 minute epoxy.

A nice coat of West Systems will seal the wood grain and make them easy to clean.

like everyone says, coat it with epoxy. I will dilute it with some denatured alcohol and apply with acid brush.

Hmm, I never ever even thought about trying to keep mine clean. I do cover my terminal blocks with electrical tape, but that's about it. Interesting.

I prime my bulkheads with primer and it wipes clean after flight

Yep - thin down some epoxy with a few drops of alcohol and brush it on. If the wood surface is smooth, BP residue will clean up pretty well.

And when I remember, I cover the terminal blocks with tape, as mentioned above.

I have also seen some people use little (sacrificial) scraps of nomex material to wrap around ejection charges, for further heat protection, and to limit the amount of soot deposited everywhere. Test on the ground, of course.

Mark

Appliance epoxy spray paint works.

+1 on using two-part epoxy one wooden bulkheads. I happen to use the 30 minute variety, but 5 or 10 minute works the same. Brush it on, let the epoxy cure, and now you have a smooth, hard finish that residue will wipe right off of
PS: be careful not to let it run down the sides of the bulkplate, or you're going to be doing some sanding to make the bulkplate fit again...

Bat-mite said:

Hmm, I never ever even thought about trying to keep mine clean. I do cover my terminal blocks with electrical tape, but that's about it. Interesting.

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I do that too - take a piece of blue tape and cover the screw heads AND the entrances to the contact points ahead of flight. BP residue is so corrosive and just nasty that you don't want it building up in areas where you COUNT on good electrical contact.

I take it a step further for the sides of the terminal block that stay permanently connected: I use dialectic grease on those connections, even the connections inside the AV Bay, to make sure that good electrical contact remains flight after flight...

Epoxy & a heat gun. Don't add alcohol, as that'll weaken it (mid you, irrelevant in this case!)

Mix it up, paint it on, and "dry" it with a hair dryer. The heat will make it more runnier, and will smooth out pretty nicely. It'll also speed up the cure time!

dr wogz said:

Epoxy & a heat gun. Don't add alcohol, as that'll weaken it (mid you, irrelevant in this case!)

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Just be careful which epoxy you're using, some emit very irritating, possibly toxic fumes when heated.

Bat-mite said:

Hmm, I never ever even thought about trying to keep mine clean. I do cover my terminal blocks with electrical tape, but that's about it. Interesting.

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Masking tape is cheaper and less gummy. Plus, you probably already have it in your range box.