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Went to AirVenture and flipped my opinion on composite repairs
I stopped at Oshkosh last week just to walk the hangars. Saw a guy fixing a cracked flap with a vacuum bag setup that looked way simpler than the factory method I always used. The rep from the booth showed me the peel test results, 15% stronger than a standard patch. Now I'm thinking about trying it on a Cessna 172 next month. Anyone else switched from traditional layup to this?
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olivia_hernandez1mo ago
The 15% number tracks with what I saw at a repair station in Texas back in March, they were doing the same vacuum bag trick on a Piper wing tip and the peel test came out even better than that. Ngl, the whole game changer for me was realizing you dont need the autoclave or the fancy hot bonder if you keep the temp and vacuum stable, just a good digital gauge and patience. I switched my 172 flap repair approach last season and the first one held up through a whole summer of hard landings and constant stone chips, zero signs of edge lifting. The only thing I did different was scuffing the metal surface with 80 grit and wiping with acetone twice instead of once, that seemed to make the peel test numbers jump even higher. Honestly, the factory method is still fine for big structural stuff but for control surfaces and fairings this is the way forward, just test it on a scrap piece first before you commit to the real thing.
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