1 Attachment(s)
Re: Oratex Fabric Covering Revisited
I used Google Sketchup to layout the cutting plan for my project. Laying out the wing panels this way "wastes" a lot of fabric and others may have cut some of the smaller pieces from this fabric. Lars cautioned against cutting close to the finished dimension and, as you have seen, the fabric is slightly shrinking while you heat activate the glue. I ordered 30 meters of fabric. As you may have already learned, when you order several yards (er, meters) of Oratex, the factory is likely to offer you various combinations of roll lengths to complete your order. One of my selections, shown in the cutting plan, was three rolls totaling 35 meters. Oratex is very generous with their fabric. Each of the rolls had more fabric than shown on the label - up to two extra meters in one roll. Of course, you can't count on this. I had plenty of fabric left over. You might roll out all of the fabric and measure before you start cutting.
Unless Lars has finally convince the factory to stage product in Alaska, you will be paying FedEx a lot of money if you have to buy additional covering supplies. I originally ordered 3 liters of adhesive and had to order an extra liter towards the end. Three liters will probably do the job and some of my pre-glue paint job ended up using more glue than necessary.
Hopefully you can get an estimate of the required fabric by looking at the drawing. I'm happy to send you the SketchUp (free software) file if you like. Please, please, please double check these measurements against your plane.
After completing the tail feathers, you'll enjoy covering the wings.
Re: Oratex Fabric Covering Revisited
Thank you very much Carl!!
Rick
Re: Oratex Fabric Covering Revisited
I am new to the covering scene, either Polyfiber or Oratex. I took an EAA Polyfiber workshop but then decided to cover my SuperSTOL with Oratex. Anyway, I've been helping a friend cover his Kitfox with silver Oratex and we did not achieve the results in your pics. You did an incredible job covering the rudder and elevator! It shows me it can be done correctly. I wish you would share some of your techniques for getting the smooth edges on the top of the rudder and the tight curves of the elevator? How did you cut/lap the fabric and tapes and get them to lay down so smooth? Thanks for sharing!
Again, excellent job!
Clark
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jrevens
As promised, here are some pictures of my initial foray into Oratex land. I haven't had much time to work on it, but I started with the rudder (which is now complete & ready for flight), and am now working on the elevator. I'm getting more comfortable with the process, & I like the look.
Re: Oratex Fabric Covering Revisited
I'm nearly done my oratex now. Only edge tapes on the elevators and rudder... which I've taken off about 3 times now. I just can't get things to sit nice on the curves. The rest mostly turned out great. I've got a lot I'd like to add to this thread, but I'm not prepared to write it all down tonight.
But IMO the biggest help is a second set of hands. Second biggest help, don't be scared about screwing up - otherwise you won't learn. You can do it on your own as others have shown, but it's far easier with help, especially on the smaller bits and curves. I actually started on the wings and fuselage as they were less complex IMO.
One thing I noticed when doing the tight curves which require lots of heat.... make sure you hold the fabric in place after heating it up otherwise your perfectly nice material on that curve will slip and wrinkle. It needs to cool to keep the grip. This will make you very upset.