Wide Peel-ply

[Cozy1200]

pre-disclaimer: This is NOT a big issue!

 

I recently purchased another roll of Peel-ply from a local fiberglass shop. Because the manufacture is local and the shop sell a lot, I got a pretty good deal. Somewhere between $2 & $3 a yard. I purchased a whole roll, 50 yards

 

The peel ply is 5 feet wide. The issue is my cloth cabinet is only 4 feet wide.

 

I'm using peel-ply on everything. So my question is: How often (if ever) is wide peel-ply needed?

 

I figure I have a couple options:

 

1) Cut the roll down to fit the box. One half will be about 47" wide and the other just over a foot wide. I did this with the last roll. I'm out of the wide roll, but still have quite a bit of the narrow left. NOTE TO SELF: next time don't use the Fein sander to cut through the roll. It cuts through fine, but I later learn it had fused that end!

 

2) Leave the roll wide & store the peel-ply outside the box.

 

3) The make it fit approach. Unroll the wide roll, fold one side down to 47" wide and then re-roll it. That way it's easy to work with out of my cloth cabinet, and I can cut off cut the amount I need.

 

4) Half & Half approach. do a combination of 1 & 2

 

Thoughts? If there's never really a need for wide peel-ply, I'll probably just repeat #1 since it's the least work.

 

See I told it it wasn't a big deal.

[argoldman]

pre-disclaimer: This is NOT a big issue!

 

I recently purchased another roll of Peel-ply from a local fiberglass shop. Because the manufacture is local and the shop sell a lot, I got a pretty good deal. Somewhere between $2 & $3 a yard. I purchased a whole roll, 50 yards

 

The peel ply is 5 feet wide. The issue is my cloth cabinet is only 4 feet wide.

 

I'm using peel-ply on everything. So my question is: How often (if ever) is wide peel-ply needed?

 

I figure I have a couple options:

 

1) Cut the roll down to fit the box. One half will be about 47" wide and the other just over a foot wide. I did this with the last roll. I'm out of the wide roll, but still have quite a bit of the narrow left. NOTE TO SELF: next time don't use the Fein sander to cut through the roll. It cuts through fine, but I later learn it had fused that end!

 

2) Leave the roll wide & store the peel-ply outside the box.

 

3) The make it fit approach. Unroll the wide roll, fold one side down to 47" wide and then re-roll it. That way it's easy to work with out of my cloth cabinet, and I can cut off cut the amount I need.

 

4) Half & Half approach. do a combination of 1 & 2

 

Thoughts? If there's never really a need for wide peel-ply, I'll probably just repeat #1 since it's the least work.

 

See I told it it wasn't a big deal.

Drew,

 

in my experience, you seldom need huge expanses of peelply. I have found that you end up wasting a lot of it as you cut it on the fly to get the size you want.

 

If you want to peel ply your bulkheads, the widest expanse that you need is the height of the tallest bulkhead. (give yourself a couple of inches extra.

 

Most of the other peel ply is used when you seam stuff to give a good transition.

 

My suggestion is to look at all of the stuff that you want to peel ply measure it and do the following:

 

Using a band saw cut off 6", and 4" sections until you have decreased the size of the roll to the above calculated sizes. This will give you some 6" and 4" rolls which you will use a lot. Of the remaining, you can do your bulkheads and other peel ply applications and then cut down again for your future needs.

[TMann]

I use the wide peel ply, perf ply and breather/bleeder materials for my build (vacuum bagging) and I do not keep any of these materials in my fabric cabinet.

[longezdave]

pre-disclaimer: This is NOT a big issue!

 

I'm using peel-ply on everything.

Not a big deal here, but I'd like to offer my opinion. If you actually use peel-ply on everything (maybe you are just exagerating) you will end up with an aircraft that is slightly heavier than necessary. The peel-ply makes a nice surface, but it does so by adding (structurally) unnecessary epoxy on top of your glass. I chose to just allow the rough areas and then sand as necessary. Just my two cents.

[TMann]

If you actually use peel-ply on everything (maybe you are just exagerating) you will end up with an aircraft that is slightly heavier than necessary.

Well that's one theory that has been debated in the past but I've never seen any conclusive results. I bag everything I can which means it must be a full peel-ply. Frankly, I would rather deal with a possible weight situation vs. cutting my structural fibers with sanding.

[Kraig]

My roll is 5' wide too. When I need some. I lay it out on my table and cut off what I need, then roll it back up and slide it back into its shipping box and stand it on end next to my cloth cabinet. I find smaller pieces are more managable, especially on gentle curves, and I find that by overlapping an inch on each section, I can easily grab the tail to peel it off. Reminds me that I have some on there as well.

[longezdave]

Well that's one theory that has been debated in the past but I've never seen any conclusive results.

I haven't seen the previous debate(s). I'm a new guy here.

 

I bag everything I can which means it must be a full peel-ply.

If you are bagging then that's a horse of a different color. If Drew is bagging everything then I missed that. My comment was directed at standard hand lay-up construction.

 

With standard hand lay-up (not bagged), consider an ideal lay-up done by a master with optimum epoxy/glass ratio. The peel-ply is wet out with epoxy and therefore there is epoxy between the ideal lay-up and the peel-ply. When the peel-ply is removed, the rough surface that allows us to later bond to it without sanding it is the (what i'm going to call) excess epoxy that I am claiming causes the slight additional weight to an other-wise ideal lay-up.

 

Frankly, I would rather deal with a possible weight situation vs. cutting my structural fibers with sanding.

Burt says in the education section of the plans that it is OK to even sand through the first ply (less than 2" diameter) in preparation for the finishing process. Not that I'm recommending sanding through a ply, I'm just saying that if it's OK for Burt, it's OK with me.

[TMann]

if it's OK for Burt, it's OK with me.

Burt uses peel-ply.

[longezdave]

Burt uses peel-ply.

I do too!

[TMann]

well ..... now that we have that all straightened out ........

I have read where some work has been done comparing the bond on peel-ply vs. sanded vs. a combination of peel-ply & sandblasting.

The combo approach (from what I've read) has the best bond with the least amount of damage to the fibers.

[rickh]

I'm using peel-ply on everything. So my question is: How often (if ever) is wide peel-ply needed?

The fuse bottom skin (I'm almost there).

 

If'n it were me, I'd cross cut several 4", 12", and maybe a few in the 36" range of strips off the roll, and store the full roll under the bed for later. If you're good with the bandsaw (I haven't tried on peel-ply), whack a 3-4" slice for BID tapes, and one more to make the roll fit your cabinet.

 

If a peel-ply 'splice' is needed, you can always sand down the epoxy bump at the 'splice'. Gonna squirt with Zolatone or fill with micro at the finish stage anway.

 

YMMV, FWIW, don't forget to floss after every meal.

 

Rick