Solar flim problems

[Parkflyer81]

Help, Solar flim drama's big time.

I've tried putting on solar flim onto sheet balsa with no success at all. Solar lite actually. Help me what am doing wrong. I've tried heaps of different temps but it just wont take to the wood. Help :confused: :o :o :confused:

[pldaniels]

Parkflyer,

What exactly is going wrong? Can you show us some photos?

Solarfilm is pretty sensitive stuff, thin, tears and is a little bit suseptible to melting. For those reasons I just converted to laminating film.

Paul.

[Parkflyer81]

Hey paul,

I follow the instruction to the letter, about sheet application (even got out the old mercury thermometer) and the stupid crap wont take. it just shrinks and falls of. sorry no pics today, lost my digi camera :( I thought solar film was THE stuff to use. Not very happy with it at all. I even tried CA'ing to the frame, no joy, it just melt :@, I will get some laminate stuff tomorrow .

Phill

[pldaniels]

Phill,

sounds very strange, Solarfilm used to take to my airframes quite well. Not to sound "dumb", but are you putting it adhesive side down?

If you can find a local supplier of 1.5mil laminating film, I'd love to know. Try places like poster shops - as they often use large stuff.

Paul.

[becsta]

ParkFlyer,

Remember to remove the backing sheet before using the heat iron, and the dull side down to the wood. Solarfilm is ok, but I've found that it melts at a low temp, and is rather hard to form around corners etc.

I use Profilm. It's a bit more exxy than solarfilm, and not every hobby shop carries it, but the finish is superb, and the plastic cover doesn't separate from the glue/colouring. It's also incredibly easy to stretch around corners - just apply a bit more heat.

[An_avatar]

Help, Solar flim drama's big time.

I've tried putting on solar flim onto sheet balsa with no success at all. Solar lite actually. Help me what am doing wrong. I've tried heaps of different temps but it just wont take to the wood. Help :confused: :o :o :confused:

Solar lite/Litespan/ Fiberfilm do not have adhesive on the backing, this is done to reduce the amount of weight :) although this often causes problems during the ironing on stage. :censored: .... "like bugger forgot to paint the end cap strip"

You can also dope the film on or use Balsaloc or if you can still find it Balsarite ...... try only ironing the edges of the film and then using a heat gun to do the final shink..........

[Mark in Aus]

Phill,
Could it be you Just got a dud roll some how.?
I use Solar film So Lite all the time on anything from carbon fibre edges to EPP
foam and it always sticks like :censored: to a blanket for me.
Even used it to cover a P.E.T. home made cowl that worked fine.

I'm using a TY1 brand Iron with temp set as low as it goes to tack around the edges and just under 1/4 to shrink.

One thing I have had with other films is it sticks but wont hold.. It was all I had so I dusted the balsa with a very light coat of 3M Multi (Super77) spay glue then let it dry....Worked like a charm....Hope you get it sorted


Mark

[pldaniels]

Mark,

Nice scratch plane there - good job on it. One of these days I'm going to make myself a plane with landing-gear.

Paul.

[rredbeak]

Turn the Iron upside Down,Sole upwards in other words.
Cut a small piece of solarfilm scrap piece. Bout the size of a 20Cenr piece maybe.
REMOVE the backing plastic off the solarfilm. Place the solarfilm ON the upside down Iron with the Glue side [Dull side] facing UP.
The Film should slowly wrinkle .If it crinkles and fries etc its way too hot. Adjust the iron so as to achieve the slow wrinkle.Put a mark on the heat control of the iron so you know where to start next time.
The slow wrinkle is what youre after cause thats hot enough to melt the glue and slightly shrink the film WITHOUT warping anything...

Iron all the edges of the job FIRST then gently iron the surface of the job easing out wrinkles etc as you go. IF you get any bubbles poke them with a pin then iron them flat...

Good Luck with your quest.You will get a perfect job if you keep themp LOW {Slow Wrinkle]... Cheers.. Rod

[rredbeak]

Paul,
Whats Laminating Film like to work with? does it shrink etc etc,come in lots of colours etc etc ??? Rod

[pldaniels]

Rod,

No colours, always clear (maybe you can get it tinted, not sure). However, being clear it means you do have a blank canvas to work from in all cases. It takes paint, including tamiya acrylics and others.

It's very tough stuff, doesn't sag even under north queensland sun (good thing!), it's cheap $50 AUD for about 180m of 300mm wide stuff. It's a bit harder to work than other plastic films, doesn't like corners/compound corners as much. It works very well to hold washout though, if you put 1/8" wash out in one season, then it'll probably still be 1/8" when you come back to the plane the next season. Laminating film has no backing sheet, the adhesive side is slightly matte and rough in feel, you use a HOT iron to apply it, the more you heat the more it'll shrink. It does NOT have as high a shrinkage rate as other plastic films but the _strength_ of its shrinkage is quite high.

Here's a couple of pictures of laminating film covered planes ---

I imagine you could dye/stain the adhesive side before covering, though the shrinkage may cause unpredictable colour density.

http://www.pldaniels.com/flying/albums/balsawing-01/mpic00110.jpg

http://www.pldaniels.com/flying/albums/slipso400-002/mpic00074.jpg

http://www.pldaniels.com/flying/albums/qfII-AG36D-build-09/mpic00056.jpg

[Stuntman]

Laminating film is nice to use and you can get it in different weights. Super tough and like Paul mentioned, super stable.

By another name its sold packaged as ozcover - available through Tony cincotta at Saturn hobbies in Victoria. http://www.saturnhobbies.com.au/91.htm (I think they are still in operation)

cheers, Shawn

[Stuntman]

As an alternative to "balsaright" - try aquadhere watered down 50:50.

Parkflyer, got a photo of the label from the covering. Like has been mentioned there are several "solar" products on the market. Might help us to identify which one you actucally have. Solarfilm lite should have the adhesive on it though.

Sometime ago I actually managed to cover and shrink a whole wing, forgetting to remove the backing - funny how it stuck just enough for this process to occur though :confused: :eek: :censored:

cheers, Shawn

[rredbeak]

i like the idea of the laminating sheets being clear [not coloured],thinking about it you come up with some pretty good designs. Painted on i mean. OR in the case of foam wings you could pre paint the wing then laminate it to both protect the paint job and put a gloss finish over it.
The possabilities are endless..

I LOVE the colour schemes on your models Paul. youve got a very artistic streak in you.

Yes Stuntman, my first go at solarfilm [yes plain solarfilm] i forgot to remove the backing. it just kept shrinking Roflmao. i finished with one molten mess on the iron,sticky goo,hell of a job to get it off LOL.
Never Mind. lifes like that huh???

I went through a lot of warped wings [heat gun shrinking] before i realised you could iron the stuff on..

But im definately going to experiment with Laminating from now on..

[pldaniels]

rredbeak,

Thanks for the compliment - I tend to try follow some sort of simple theme through most of my stuff though I'd hardly consider myself a real artist per`se (never did arts). One of these days I want to cram my Xamime and PLDaniels logo onto my planes ( http://pldaniels.com and http://xamime.com )

Paul.