what spawn of satan is this?

Bartman

Bartman

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what adhesive is that brown stuff and what removes it? I tried MEK and I could hear it laughing at me. it's a root rib so probably a fabric adhesive?

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Try lacquer thinner, use rage soak for a few minutes then rub it like the old rubber cement from school it should roll up on your fingers, it’s hard on your hands when you do it this way but that’s what I had to do on my airplane. Good luck
 
Also try paint remover.

The Bellanca repair manual says you have to stick the fabric on with Pliobond, then proceed with nitrate/butyrate. Easier to use an STC process, especially at recover time.
 
thankfully, all of the other ribs are already clean and will just need a quick shot with the pressure washer. there are two right side root ribs and this one left side rib but it has a very small crack in one of the doublers at the front spar hole. need to be clean first or I can't think straight looking at it.
 
I was told once to use paint stripper but never tried that not sure about soaking overnight as thinner evaporates quickly.
 
Bruce said:
I was told once to use paint stripper but never tried that not sure about soaking overnight as thinner evaporates quickly.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing so I went out there after about an hour and all of the thick spots had already lifted and came off easily. Figuring it would be fun to experiment, it went back into the laquer thinner for the night and this morning the garage stunk! what was left of the adhesive rubbed off with red scotchbrite but I didn't have any more solvent so it's sitting on the floor. Most of it's off but it's still funky so I'll have to go buy more today and finish it later. Mineral spirits didn't work this morning on the lighter areas, fwiw.

Bob said to try paint remover, I'll dab a little on this morning to see if it does anything. that old adhesive was rock hard so I'm surprised there was actually something that would soften it.
 
Yep the lacquer thinner worked great on mine, but it dried my hands out tried rubber gloves but they didn’t last. I would move about 6 to 8 inches at a time I would be priming the next section wile working on what was soft.
 
Got it clean this morning using paint remover which is basically a cocktail of solvents but even it didn't quite cut through to the bare aluminum without a lot of rubbing. Heading out for a haircut for the first time since February, am going to pick up more laquer thinner and finish it when I get home. It's pretty good now but I think the last little remnants will come off with one more try.
 
gave it another quick go with some fresh lacquer thinner. probably looks as good as it is going to look. thanks again for the help y'all!

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