I'm helping a friend fiberglass his airframe tubes using the fiberglass sleeve and heat shrink tube from Soller composites. I'd previously done this on my 7.5 LOC Doorknob without any troubles. However, this time the heat shrink is not coming off easily at all. It is tearing into many tiny pieces. He is unable to get a continuous piece removed without it tearing. So the task now has become picking off tiny little pieces.
There are more tube sections to do, but now I'm gun-shy about recommending this process again. It went fine for me, but not this time (batting .500 here).
Are there any tips or suggestions for removing the heat shrink after cure? Is there any advice about what we may have done wrong?
The process we used was:
-Glassine peeled 7.5 LOC Airframe tube
-West Systems 105/206
-Tube mounted horizontally on a mandrel
-Resin applied with chip brushes from center out towards ends
-Once fully wetted, squeegeed to remove excess resin
-Heat shrink applied and shrunk
-Cure
It did take 3-4 days to get to the peeling process. Is it possible that the longer the resin cures the harder to remove? Should the heat shrink be removed during the "leather" stage perhaps?
Thanks all
There are more tube sections to do, but now I'm gun-shy about recommending this process again. It went fine for me, but not this time (batting .500 here).
Are there any tips or suggestions for removing the heat shrink after cure? Is there any advice about what we may have done wrong?
The process we used was:
-Glassine peeled 7.5 LOC Airframe tube
-West Systems 105/206
-Tube mounted horizontally on a mandrel
-Resin applied with chip brushes from center out towards ends
-Once fully wetted, squeegeed to remove excess resin
-Heat shrink applied and shrunk
-Cure
It did take 3-4 days to get to the peeling process. Is it possible that the longer the resin cures the harder to remove? Should the heat shrink be removed during the "leather" stage perhaps?
Thanks all