Hi folks - Ran into a rock the other day on my foil and am getting different opinions on repair. Some saying don’t bother doing anything as sanding can alter the foil shape and others saying wet sand the surface scuffs with 1000-1500 grit and fill any larger dings with epoxy and sand until flush. I tried the foil again after dinging it and really didn’t notice any performance issues.
The scuffs on the surface I don’t really mind, it’s mainly 1 or 2 dings at the leading edge that only concern me. They aren’t very deep but you can tell it’s a ding when you run your finger over it. Is it worth filling these with some kind of epoxy and trying to get flush or would you just leave this be? Thanks
Lol this is the bottom of the foil should have clarified. When I said surface was referring to not the leading edge. The top of the foil is spotless at least
Nice. Yeah was thinking of going the route in this video. Seems like this 3M putty is the same concept as Bondo. Softer than carbon so easy to sand without sanding the actual foil down. Just need to spray it black after.
G’day, I put a nasty scratch in an MA1000 foil recently and although it took a while, I used a magnifying glass, wet the scratch and with a scalpel blade took off all the little white bits I could see, which was the loose epoxy with air behind it. I kept going till when you put water over it, you couldn’t see any white, then dried it, blobbed epoxy in the scratch, then used a fine file, then wet and dry sand paper to get it dead flat. Experimenting with different grits and scotchbright pads for a finish which was pretty good. It’s pretty time consuming though, and you’ve got a fair few scratches!
I’ll see if I can find some photos.
So as just a nice thing to have around, also good for fixing non structural damage of everything, i keep some Total Fair epoxy fairing compound.
Bondo - which is a polyester fairing compound - isn’t going to adhere well to epoxy.
Most wings and foil parts are going to be epoxy. Epoxy sticks to epoxy.
I also use this stuff for quick repairs of everything from boards to chipped wings. Also i use it to fair in any of my connection surfaces, stabs, etc. for better performance.
This stuff cures quick, sands really well(which is important because you want the compound to sand down - not the original part). This is why trying to repair stuff like this with straight epoxy is a nightmare - it cures harder than the original part - so hard that to get it fair with the rest of the piece you end up sanding into and messing up the shape of the original part.
Its a 2 part yellow and blue mix till its green. I recommend a hit of spray paint when its done just for aesthetics.
What do you guys use to spread the spot putty or filling compound on more complicated (curved, convex, concave) surfaces? Plastic spreaders or putty knives are too stiff and spread the compound inaccurately unless its a pretty flat surface. Its easy to sand off, but ideally I would like to minimize sanding. I would like to use a very flexible spreader to conform to the curves of my foil, but get the compound into the scratches and nicks.
Hard for me to convey in writing, but if you’ve used these products it should make sense.
Today, due to an unfortunate little accident, I damaged my front wing, and I’d like to fix it as quickly and efficiently as possible!
I’ve already watched a few videos on how to repair it, but if you have two or three tips for this type of damage, I’d really appreciate it!
Trailing edge is a pretty hard repair to get right because it’s so fine. You often end up sanding through or chipping it out later.
The easiest thing to do is just to sand it out, but your ding is pretty big and it will have some performance impact. You may notice it you may not. This is probably an 85% repair.
The more involved repair (which I’ve seen executed, but have admittedly never gotten perfectly) is to sand until there are no loose chips, and rough up the surface a bit. Then lay tape on the less impacted side (on yours I think it’s the top) overhanging the edge. Mix a thick slurry of carbon cuttings and epoxy/hardener and fill the chips with the slurry. Then wrap the tape around the edge to smooth it flat when it’s drying. The smoother the better. Once it’s dry you will need to very carefully sand it to shape. In theory this could be almost a 100% repair but you risk having to sand it all out if you screw it up.
You could probably do something between these two options and get 95% right without a ton of work.
and am getting different opinions on repair. Some saying don’t bother doing anything as sanding can alter the foil shape and others saying wet sand the surface scuffs with 1000-1500 grit and fill any larger dings with epoxy and sand until flush. I tried the foil again after dinging it and really didn’t notice any performance issues.
