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Tip: Removing Vinyl

G Swartley

Well Known Member
Here is a little idea I came up with the other night while removing the vinyl from my Leading edge skin. I was using my 2 foot ruler to do the job and it kept slipping so I used a cleco clamp to hold the end of the ruler at the edge of the skin, but still needed something for the other end.

I looked at the problem and decided to use a piece of scrap from the wing trim bundle. First I drilled a #40 hole near one end then I deburred it. now all I need to do is cleco it to the end hole in a line of holes I wish to devinyl and clamp the other end. It's now held in place and I can melt vinyl with ease.

The first picture shows the tool I made (really this is easy), and the second picture shows the tool in use. I devinlyed my wing skins on the stand. I was able to sit in my chair while doing this which was alot nicer to my back.





You can also go to my web site and look at the wing page for 11-29-2006.

Hope this helps.
 
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I like it! One of those "Doh! Why didn't I think of that?" simple, elegant, no-brainer tips. A #40 hole in your steel rule - centered, accurate, consistent...
 
Another method is to use tape. Lay it over the rivet lines then draw the iron along the edge. It also makes it easier to pull the vinyl off as well. I've found it to be very quick.
 
One problem I had with metal straight edges is that they wicked a lot of the heat out of the solder iron and I had to go a lot slower to get it to melt the plastic. For a while I went to a wood straight edge which solved the problem. Then I asked myself what all the fuss was for and just free handed it which was much faster and I amazed myself at how straight the lines were anyway.
 
I painted an RV8 a few years ago that the owner cut the plastic with a RAZOR blade!!! leaving long cuts in the aluminum, that had to be filled and sanded. I have suggest the soldering iron since then. Good idea with the straight edge, i didnt think of that!!!!
 
I still don't understand

leaving the vynil on thing....If you think your going to polish your plane then maybe but if your going to paint then why not just rip it all off and save the bother?

Frank
7a painted naturally
 
Me too.

N787TR said:
Another method is to use tape. Lay it over the rivet lines then draw the iron along the edge. It also makes it easier to pull the vinyl off as well. I've found it to be very quick.

I do the tape thing too, it works good for curvy/flopping surfaces like control surfaces skins.

I plan to polish so I leave it on until the component is finished.
 
I am with you Frank. I am not going to polish, and the first thing the painter is going to do is run sctoch brite over the entire surface. I am pulling all of mine off after the initial drilling.
 
frankh said:
leaving the vynil on thing....If you think your going to polish your plane then maybe but if your going to paint then why not just rip it all off and save the bother?

Frank
7a painted naturally
While I have not been obsessed about straight lines, I'm glad I've left my blue plastic on to date (about 22 months). It's still very easy to take off. Where it helps is in the inevitable dropping of tools or banging a part against something else in the garage. The blue plastic really absorbs a lot of abuse that would have left some pretty deep scratches. Sure, they can be filed, smoothed with enough work, but why subject your plane to any unnecessary scratches? Plus, if you leave it on, you can let your kids color on the blue panels with sharpies--my girls love to do that. Makes for some memories and quality time. If you live in a very humid environment, however, it may be a different story.
 
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difference in time

AltonD said:
the first thing the painter is going to do is run sctoch brite over the entire surface.
True ... but when the painter does it, it is only a couple of days before a protective barrier (paint) is back on the the aluminum.

Personally, I don't want the scratches made during construction/assembly to be exposed to the air for the couple years it takes me to finish the rest of the plane--so I leave the blue on until the sub-section is complete, then remove.

Just another datapoint.

-Jim
 
I too started out this way...

I started with the razor blade, two screwed to a one inch board. :eek: :eek:
Stopped that right away. Then came the soldering iron against a long ruler.
By the end of my second wing I was free handing the iron over the rivet area or just tearing the film away by hand.
The film does offer some protection from dropped tools, but not much and corrosion does not appear to be an issue. If you have damaged the skin surface (the alclad) then give is a quick shot of primer.
I order the Fuse. as a quick build because I was starting to get in a hurry to get the thing done. Vans does not ship those with film on them.

Save your selves some time and don't worry about the film. There are no extra points for having the nicest film on you plane during construction. :)

Kent
 
I don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet but the best iron I found for cutting the blue plastic is the butane Radio Shack iron. Works unbelievable well and it's really small, i.e. very easy to manuever with no cord in the way. They're also cheap and come in handy for all sorts of other things as well.
 
I have been just taking it off as I plan on full paint. I don't have an over abundance of scratches on any of my finished parts and I can wipe the blue printing off that others have mentioned can cause corosion issues in humid areas.

The easiest way I have found was suggested by another builder. Use a broom handle and just roll the plastic off. Works great for me! :)
 
I just got my emmpanage/wing kit for my RV-10. The manual says to remove all the vinyl covering as soon as possible as it gets difficult to remove as time passes. My question is: Is the film REALLY difficult to remove after a period of time? I would prefer to leave it on as long as possible for added protection against accidental damage. Thanks for any advice! Dave
 
The plastic on my empennage skin (which was clear, by the way, not blue -- that's how long ago I started on the tail kit... arghh) has been on since late 2001. I recently pulled it off the horizontal stabilizer just to make sure there was no corrosion under there. The plastic came right off, no sweat.

I'm hoping they don't change plastic colors again. I'll REALLY feel like a slowpoke.
 
David Clifford said:
I just got my emmpanage/wing kit for my RV-10. The manual says to remove all the vinyl covering as soon as possible as it gets difficult to remove as time passes. My question is: Is the film REALLY difficult to remove after a period of time? I would prefer to leave it on as long as possible for added protection against accidental damage. Thanks for any advice! Dave
I've had good luck removing the blue plastic after an extended period of time, though it is harder. If you get anything in with white plastic, take it off right away. I just had to order a new F-830 floorboard because some areas of the white plastic were literally fused on. I could scrape it off a matchhead sized piece at a time, but that was it. Tried every solvent and adhesive remover in the inventory with no luck. At the rate I was going, it would have taken 4 hours to clean off the part - no thanks.
 
William Slaughter said:
I've had good luck removing the blue plastic after an extended period of time, though it is harder. If you get anything in with white plastic, take it off right away. I just had to order a new F-830 floorboard because some areas of the white plastic were literally fused on. I could scrape it off a matchhead sized piece at a time, but that was it. Tried every solvent and adhesive remover in the inventory with no luck. At the rate I was going, it would have taken 4 hours to clean off the part - no thanks.
William- I've heard heating the vinyl with a heat gun (or maybe a blow dryer?) would make it much easier to remove. Did you try that?
 
Oh yea. Heating the blue vinyl works pretty well, but the white stuff literally melted without letting go. You can imagine how well attached it was after that! Hopefully we won't be seeing any more of the white plastic in the future, but if you do, watch out. Received my new F-830 last night (in blue plastic), so we're back on track.
 
I started my -8 in 2005, wing kit came last fall (of '05) and I had a mix of blue, clear, and white plastic in the wing kit. For me, the white was the easiest to remove - it was thick / heavy and came right off.

T.
 
As alluded to at the beginning of this thread, I think it was an aging issue. Mine had been sitting aroung quite a while. And no, I'm not going to admit how long!:eek:
 
A friend had the white plastic on the aileron skins for his HiperBipe for about 12 years. The only way he got it off was to soak the skins in gasoline for almost a week. Not fun OR safe.
 
Removing White plastic

I have a pretty well stocked hangar, and have not found anything that seems to touch the adhesive on the white plastic protective film. I can scrape it off, with heat, but the adhesive, or remains of the sheet, simply are not reacting to any of the stuff I have tried. Plastic scraper is doing good, but there is a residue that is not going anywhere.
I do not think I have a container large enough for the fuselage to be submerged in gasoline?.:)
Does the Brain Trust have any further suggestions?
 
White plastic

I used paint stripper to soak and then scotch-brite. It wasn't great, but did help.
 
Paint stripper

Thanks for that hint, I had not tried stripper. This is a 2002 kit, and the original owner left this stuff on. It cracked and lifted/lifted a little, but the majority is FIRMLY attached and will not respond to anything, especially heat. I will try the stripper.
 
Paint Stripper

worked very well. I found that the white stuff would scrape off after letting the stripper sit for about 15 minutes. Have no idea if it would bubble up like paint does over a period of time. Most of the adhesive came right along with the vinyl, too. Very little detail clean-up was required after the film was removed.
 
removing the white vinyl

Wow, this stuff is just coming off in tiny flakes. I'll try paint stripper.

The blue came off just fine.

Hindsight, I'd taken it all off right away.





Doug
RV-7
The last 90%
 
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