Tips for gluing new foam into wing dolly

Originally Posted by Steve Koerner

You mention both foam and felt. You also mention a wing dolly which
was Udo's trade name for his rigging tool that had felt glued to the
inside of his fiberglass saddle much as my Wing Rigger does. Assuming
that's what you are talking about, I can answer your question on how
to glue the felt in place. Could you first confirm that I would be
answering the right question though as I am confused about the mention
of foam -- I don't think there is foam on a Udo wing dolly.

I have used outdoor carpet adhesive with good results on thick felt, however, F1 hard white felt is expensive and so makes mistakes pricey. the carpet adhesive is not a contact style glue and lets you do a little position adjustment. Of course a compatibility test is in order.

Good Luck.
Scott W.

On Apr 10, 7:47*pm, shkdriver
wrote:
Steve Koerner;813131 Wrote:

You mention both foam and felt. *You also mention a wing dolly which
was Udo's trade name for his rigging tool that had felt glued to the
inside of his fiberglass saddle much as my Wing Rigger does. *Assuming
that's what you are talking about, I can answer your question on how
to glue the felt in place. * Could you first confirm that I would be
answering the right question though as I am confused about the mention
of foam -- I don't think there is foam on a Udo wing dolly.

I have used outdoor carpet adhesive with good results on thick felt,
however, F1 hard white felt is expensive and so makes mistakes pricey.
the carpet adhesive is not a contact style glue and lets you do a little
position adjustment. Of course a compatibility test is in order.

Good Luck.
Scott W.

--
shkdriver

If you have a local industrial supplier of gasket material, "boiler
felt" or "gasket felt" is a very cheap option. I picked up more than
enough 1/4" grey felt for a trailer and rigging gadgets from the
shop's scrap barrel for about $5. The new stuff was on 10' wide rolls
like carpet.

Carpet glue, carpet tape (2-sided adhesive) or silicone caulking work
fine as glue. I chose tape just because it is less messy and allows
easier replacement in the future.

That said, the McMaster Carr felt with peel-n-stick adhesive looks to
be the best stuff if cost is no object but I wish it were available in
red to match Cobra trailers.

I've been manufacturing wing wheels for over ten years
(www.mmfabrication.com) and I have to say that I really don't
recommend foam at all. It dries out and crumbles as well as gathers
really abrasive grit. Felt is better but retains moistgure and takes a
long time to dry out. I prefer a good grade of marine carpet with a
rubber backing. For adhesive, I have found that construction adhesive
like Liquid Nails or DAP Beats the Nail in a caulking type tube is
cheap, easy to apply and sticks great.It also has a decent working
time so you aren't "stuck" with any mistakes.

Mark Mocho

As with most "critical" decisions, there's no easy answer to the
questions raised. I've built a bunch of solo wing riggers and decided
on high-density closed-cell foam because of the higher friction: it
grips the wingtip and doesn't slide around as much...until it dries
out, that is. I discovered that leaving it out in the sun hastens this
process so now I put the device back in the trailer after I rig. The
closed cell foam doesn't seem to absorb or hold much moisture although
any moisture does reduce the coefficient of friction. The high-density
stuff compresses just enough to allow clamping the wingtip firmly
without risking dimpling the skin. With felt, you need a much closer
fit or some other way of allowing for positioning the gripping part of
the saddle in different places (inboard/outbaord on left or right
wingtips, for example). The open cell foam that came with my wing
wheel was the worst. It holds moisture, degrades, and stained the gel
coat, although it will happily install nearly anywhere in the first
few meters of either left or right wing.

Felt doesn't degrade nearly as much as foam but it doesn't compress
and absorb shock as well and it does hold moisture. It also packs down
over time under constant load (e.g., in the leading edge of a wing
support cradle).

I tried indoor/outdoor carpeting and traditional indoor carpet as
well. The indoor/outdoor stuff tended to separate from the foam
backing after a few years. And it seemed more difficult to fix all
types of carpeting in place with adhesive; the edges kept coming loose
and flopping up. My sense is that carpet is probably the worst in
terms of holding grit although I have no way of proving it. Marine
carpet might be better.

Contact cement is quick when you have easy access; when it touches,
it's done. Caulk or adhesive of various types gives you some time to
move things around but, of course, you have to keep things fixed
during set up. One suggestion: give some thought to how difficult it
will be to remove the old adhesive when it comes time to replace the
padding.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA

Contact cements I've used suggest both surfaces be coated and then be
allowed to dry prior to bonding. A sheet of butcher paper can be used
to separate the surfaces to be bonded. The paper is then slid out a
little at a time as the surfaces come together. If done with care,
this should make it fairly easy to avoid mistakes - - maybe.

There are weather resistant foams such as EPDM or Neoprene.

bumper