ACA Factory Fuselage Fabric Assembly

Hiperbiper said:
That's the way. The fabric won't pop...it's tough as heck. You can do a shrink to 275• or so to get close and then cut the slit in the fabric and force the pegs through then iron the fabric everywhere except in a 12" circle around the holes. Then after you put a reinforcing patch around it you touch it up with a small iron.
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i'd be curious to see that technique done as I couldn't really get the fabric to lay out while also passing over the tubes
 
Thanks guys, I'm starting the envelope attach on Tuesday.
To restate... attach the envelope to the rudder and lower longs then slice the stab stubs and shrink? It'll really shrink down to the base without puckering?

Guy
 
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hi Guy,

i clamped it to the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer, made sure the fabric was going to lay out correctly below and forward of the stab tubes, clamped it in a few spots to the lower longerons, and then cut the holes for the tubes. chris and ed are talking about shrinking the fabric at 275 and then cutting them.

don't forget to pull your fuel lines and stuff through before gluing it all in place
 
just thinking about this some more, I don't get why you'd want to leave all of that slack in the fabric to leave it over the tubes when it's just as easy to locate the holes, remove the slack and iron the fabric tight.
 
Because the fabric may shrink differentially, and move your cut holes off-center. If you shrink 2/3 tight, then cut and glue reinforcements, you are better off.
 
Do you avoid the patches with the final 350 degree ironing passes? Do you do all patches before that final ironing or just a few? There are a lot of patches to put on!!!
 
Only the ones that would keep holes from shifting. Do the rudder outlets after final shrinking, and with the cables on the rudder and pedals. Hit all edges with the iron, including patches and tapes. If you use canvas or similar for patches, cover them with fabric scraps.
 
If you're talking about the reinforcing patch around the horizontal stabilizer peg hole then yes, once the reinforcement is glued down keep the iron away from it...it will just curl the edges. When you apply heat to the fabric around the reinforced area stay a few inches away. That's only for this one location (which is really just a tear stop for these two holes you made.)
Any orher reinforcement patches are supposed to be made from pre-shrunk medium fabric though I never pre shrink anything any more. Inspection cover doilies and small patches are just medium fabric applied AFTER the final 350° passes.These and the 2", 3", etc. finishing tapes are not heated after they're glued on except if the "ears" are poking up.Then a <225° iron is used for touch up prior to finishing.

Chris
 
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Bartman said:
just thinking about this some more, I don't get why you'd want to leave all of that slack in the fabric to leave it over the tubes when it's just as easy to locate the holes, remove the slack and iron the fabric tight.
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Bart,
If you have a bit of scrap fabric laying around make up a "picture frame" type thing out of 1 x 2 wood and attach the scrap fabric to it...you can glue it or wrap and clamp it but put the fabric on the frame like you were putting it on the airplane. Now shrink it and see how the fabric acts.
You'll be surprised at how much the fabric shrinks and how much you can get the fabric to draw wrinkles out!
On another test frame pull the fabric just getting the big wrinkles out...on a 12" x 12" frame your fabric slack should be about 1.5" deflection in the center. Now pop a hole in it with a pencil. With your iron set at 225°-250° iron the test frame...you'll find the polyester fabric shrinks all directions at the same time and does it quickly! And as it sucks up that lil' pencil hole opens up to a 2"-3" hole!
That might ruin your whole day...🥺.
Chris
 
This thread is very timely. I'm going to start slinging fabric in the next week or so.

Question on the belly fabric: when I cut my old cover off, there was stitching on the gear leg hoops and the tube that the belly pan fastens to. Do the covering specs still call for that?
 
@Bartman Bit of a sidebar, but how did you fasten the aluminum belly cross braces to the stringer brackets? 2 pop rivets? Did you have to match drill the stringer brackets or were the holes already there?
 
factory is completing the paint so the fuselage matches the wings. white base with red/blue starburst
Hiperbiper said:
BTW,
What color scheme are you planning on? What paint system?

Chris
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ACA is doing the fuselage/tail paint so it matches the new wings. The scheme is all white with red/blue starburst and maybe gold trim.
 
Big Ed said:
@Bartman Bit of a sidebar, but how did you fasten the aluminum belly cross braces to the stringer brackets? 2 pop rivets? Did you have to match drill the stringer brackets or were the holes already there?
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yes, pop rivets. holes had to be drilled I think

regarding the fabric, are you going to do the fuselage before the tailfeathers? I'd bet if you asked around, someone will have an extra horizontal stab or something you can practice on.
 
Bartman said:
yes, pop rivets. holes had to be drilled I think

regarding the fabric, are you going to do the fuselage before the tailfeathers? I'd bet if you asked around, someone will have an extra horizontal stab or something you can practice on.
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Probably going to try an hstab and elevator first, maybe this weekend.
 
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