Stewart AFS

[Michael Horowitz]

I have some questions concerning the Stewart AFS.

I'll contact them directly during the week but would like to hear what
the group says.

Do you know where the STC begins? By that I mean do we need to start
with bare metal and use their propriety primer, or will zinc oxide or
2 part primer work with their glue and their primer is just a
convenience.

For metal prep that will not be in contact with fabric or their glue,
they go into detail about using their products. I had planned on using
Rustoleum spray paint where there glue was not involved; again, are
they just offering their primer as a convenience? - Mike

[Peter Dohm]

"Michael Horowitz" > wrote in message
...
>I have some questions concerning the Stewart AFS.
>
> I'll contact them directly during the week but would like to hear what
> the group says.
>
> Do you know where the STC begins? By that I mean do we need to start
> with bare metal and use their propriety primer, or will zinc oxide or
> 2 part primer work with their glue and their primer is just a
> convenience.
>
> For metal prep that will not be in contact with fabric or their glue,
> they go into detail about using their products. I had planned on using
> Rustoleum spray paint where there glue was not involved; again, are
> they just offering their primer as a convenience? - Mike
>
I don't know the answer to your specific question, and the Rustoleum formula
may have been changed and improved; but my own experience from 30 years ago
is that MOST rattle can paints, including Rustoleum primer, will NEVER fully
air dry in a humid climate.

You only have to back them hot enough to bring down the percentage of
humidity. 20, or at most 30, degrees fahrenheit above ambient will do the
job overnight; but you need to have the facility to accomplish that.
Actually, I believed for a long time that all rattle can paints were simply
crap--until we built a small low temperature oven to reliably work with
Krylon Wrinkle paint without having to rely on the hot summer sun at mid
day. We quickly learned that an overnight drying at around 110 degrees
fahrenheight gave a factory applied level of adhesion and scratch resistance
to all of those same old, previously unreliable, rattle can paints
regardless of the season in southeastern Florida.

OTOH, if you can not accomplish an over night "bake" of the paint you are
using, you would be well advised to stay with products that can "cure"
rather then "dry".

(In case you are wondering: Krylon wrinkle paint could be removed with a
thumbnail, even months after application, until we started baking it. We
never used Rustoleum in the avionics shop, so I don't know how well the low
temperature baking would have worked; but my previous experience with
Rustoleum primer had been similar to the Krylon wrinkle--with the addition
of a lingering odor--so my supposition is that a forced drying cycle would
be effective there as well. Obviously, testing would be required before you
could trust the result!)

I hope this helps.
Peter