Oratex Fabric Covering Revisited

[Little_Cub]

For what it's worth.

I talked to a buddy last week and he is in the process of covering the wings of a friend's Rans S-7 with Oratex.

Well.. where to start. First I apologize for going against a long term user of the site.. I am a lurker and have no right and only appeared because my wife and I.. like the stuff.

1- Start day we completed the first wing and started the second.
http://www.alarmspro.com/Fabric/4.png

Completion AFTER the DAR had signed off the build.
http://www.alarmspro.com/Fabric/5.png

PLEASE NOTE THESE PICTURES ARE FROM A WEB CAM WITH DATE/TIME.

2- Translucent - He got me there.. it looks light. This is a photo with low angle Alaska sun shining directly on the side.. note the tail.
http://www.alarmspro.com/Fabric/2.JPG

3- Difficult to work with.. well it takes about 30 minutes to place glue on one wing.. BOTH the ribs and fabric. If you do it light the dry time is about 3 hours. Now your ready to tack in place with an iron and go to town.

4- Difficult to smooth- Hmm I'll rely on pictures of my wife doing the tail.. takes care but sure nice once complete. (Not a ripple)
http://www.alarmspro.com/Fabric/6.JPG

The thing is.. if you don't get it smooth at first you can do it again and it only gets better.

Wing:
http://www.alarmspro.com/Fabric/1.JPG
http://www.alarmspro.com/Fabric/7.JPG

5- Does he like the result (No) - My wife has only helped on one other fabric job but the result was better than most.

6- Expensive- I guess so.. I'll sure do it again based on the weight $avings.
Just having my wife out there made the cost seem slight.

I can easily see why an ol' timer that already has a system worked out with paint booth, guns, compressor and fresh air supply might not want to venture into Oratex however I believe it is good for the rest. When I painted (two part) every day I thought I was superman.. no longer.

Sorry for infesting the list with chatter, again I just like the stuff. If we can help with any specific questions please call or PM.

Over and Out
frank
907-841-0298

[jrevens]

I talked on the phone with a fella' named Roger Peterson in Sweeney, Texas who's covered several Super Cubs with Oratex. He loves it, & said he wouldn't ever use anything else again. He has videos on the net detailing a lot of his experience with it.

I also talked to Randy at RANS... they are doing some covering with it now. They are differing from the recommended installation process, in that they are sewing up "envelopes" in order to speed up the production process and get a good fit around certain kinds of curves. I don't know how successfully that is working for them, but getting a good, tight, definitely wrinkle-free job doesn't seem to be particularly difficult at all. It requires installing the fabric as tight as possible to begin with, as the shrink percentage is a little less than PolyFiber for instance. There is much less worry about deforming structure, but the tautness seems great. The necessary skills/techniques are a little different than PolyFiber. Paint can cover a "multitude of sins", & if you're looking for an Oshkosh award-winning look, you probably want to paint. If you're looking for the lightest, strongest, fastest installation and completely safe & non-toxic it's worth a look.

I know a guy in South Dakota covering a Cub. They've covered aircraft as big as one of the Antonov AN-2 biplanes with it.

Just Aircraft has also been using some of it, I've been told.

I don't know if Frank (Little Cub) is using the 600 or 6000 material, but I would imagine the slight translucence is less with the thicker 6000. I don't mind that at all on the few examples I've seen.

FWIW.

[colospace]

Frank,
Never mind the "lurker" deal, I appreciate your input as I too am considering Oratex. I was put-off by the Kitfox that was being covered at Oshkosh last year and the price, but the weight and time savings are certainly appealing. Appears your wife did a nice looking job. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out for John.

[jrevens]

OK, so I confess... I received my shipment of Oratex stuff yesterday. I'm sure there are those on this list who will shake their heads, but I think I'm going to do fine with it. A lot of soul-searching & research the last couple of years, & I finally jumped in. After seeing it at OSH a couple of times, & talking to several users, then playing with the sample kit I got, I made up my mind. Invested in a good digital heat gun. You still need a good iron also (digital is good). A heat gun is highly discouraged with PolyFiber, but works beautifully with Oratex. Oratex doesn't start to loosen, unlike PolyFiber, when you heat it above a certain point. It shrinks & is fine right up to the point where it is melted & destroyed - I believe about 485 deg. F. The "hot melt" glue is neat. Brush it on, let it dry, then it is melted with heat (100 deg. C, 212 deg. F) & pressure from the iron (or heat gun & felt pad) to stick things together, which also starts a chemical reaction. This causes the bond to strengthen, & the glue will not melt again until a much higher temperature. I'll try to post some pictures as the project progresses.

[bushfly]

How much did it cost you in materials for the kitfox and how many yards did you get?

[cap01]

john, what iron did you get?

[jrevens]

bush fly,
I carefully calculated the necessary material by laying it all out on graph paper. One thing that made it doable with less yardage was that Oratex was able to provide the material in a width of 76.5", so I can get the wing panels & then the tail feathers (except the vertical fin) out of the remaining strip in that area. Everything else comes out of the remaining length. The SS tail surfaces are larger than, for instance, on a IV. So I ordered 25m (82') of this extra wide batch. It leaves me enough extra for perhaps a tail surface screwup, & plenty for doilies, etc. Not a lot of margin for error. I'm going to take my time... definitely won't be a 4 day job for me. Asking how much it cost is like asking a guy how much he makes. I'm embarrassed to say, especially since I've got all this nice PolyFiber material & tape from the kit (I did sell the polybrush & glue). What's your name anyway? You look like my cousin from Wisconsin.

[jsteere]

I talked on the phone with a fella' named Roger Peterson in Sweeney, Texas who's covered several Super Cubs with Oratex. He loves it...

OH OH! Someone must have really screwed up! Apparently the judges at Oshkosh didn't get the memo saying "Paint can cover a "multitude of sins", & if you're looking for an Oshkosh award-winning look, you probably want to paint." The very first aircraft to attend Oshkosh (2012,) covered with Oratex UL 600, won the Ultralight Reserve Grand Champion award.
No paint was required. The fabric is great, and I would absolutely use it again. Let me know if you have any questions. John
Additional info here - http://cluttonfred.info/post/2820954...s#.U30RyeNOWbE Interview video here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw-WRTf9LqY

[Av8r3400]

I know that plane very well from Airventure '12.

The covering was definitely a factor in why it got the Lindy. Innovation in products and usage is something closely looked at. It looked very nice.

If I wasn't already committed to poly fiber on my project, I might give it a look...

[cap01]

for the last project I got the toko t8 . I figured for 60 dollars I'd try it out . the thing worked fantastic , wish I would have popped for the t14