The priming process (How Do You Choose?)

[Spike]

Yeah man, Id be interested.

[prestwich]

OK, I'll say it again.

This is something I agonized over for months, until I found out about ACF-50. Now I'm going naked aluminum, and that's my anti-corrosion scheme. It's about 5000 times easier and faster than all that other stuff, and lighter weight, and far cheaper, and will most likely do a far better job.

Think about it. Where's the most likely place for corrosion to form? Faying surfaces, and rivet holes. The assembly process is most likely going to put little chips and scratches into the most carefully prepared surfaces, exactly in those invisible and inaccessible places.

Think about how much scraping goes on when you're jamming those nose ribs into the skins. I've even heard of people running a reamer back through primed rivet holes to open them up to the right size again. There goes all your priming efforts. Sheesh.

ACF-50 penetrates those areas. Done.

[LooseNut]

ACF-50??

I found this:
http://www.corrosion-control.com/acf50.html

It says

In most applications, ACF-50's unique properties will last for 24 months before it is consumed and needs to be re-applied.

I'm not sure this is going to work for me.

[prestwich]

ACF-50??

I found this:
http://www.corrosion-control.com/acf50.html

It says

In most applications, ACF-50's unique properties will last for 24 months before it is consumed and needs to be re-applied.

I'm not sure this is going to work for me.

Why not? It's quickly and easily re-applied. And I'm guessing they're minimizing the lifespan in order to sell more of it...

[Thermos]

I owned an Archer for several years before starting the RV. We used Boeshield (different chemical, but same concept as ACF-50) in all the corrosion-prone areas - usually where moisture was likely to collect.

ACF-50 and Boeshield are easy to apply if you can get to all the spots that need it. That shouldn't be a problem in an RV. The only real downside is that the stuff weeps through seams and leaves stains that take a little elbow grease to remove.

Dave

[LooseNut]

I'm thinking that the areas I'm most worried about are inaccessable or hard to reach. Such as insides of structures, faying surfaces, around the rivets. The easy to reach areas are going to be primed, painted, waxed.

If I had used ACF-50 on my empenage parts, I would already need to re-apply. ... I'm just finishing the wings now ... I would need to be putting on the third application before those parts ever left the ground.

And I'm guessing they're minimizing the lifespan in order to sell more of it...

I'm with you on that one, that would be my guess too. But, I'm completely innocent in the ways of corosion-proofing. Except for the manufacures specs (which probably apply more to a nicely controlled manufacuring environment rather than to my dusty, too cold or too hot, too dry or too damp garage) and the great help and advice I find on the various web groups, I don't have much to go on. So, I try to go by the specs until I have some experience with the stuff.

So, I try to read the specs and the advice carefully and make my choice. The "consumed in 24 months" makes it a no-go as a general overall corrosion-controller for me.

Maybe it would be good for areas where primer and paint don't work so well. Moving parts, places that rub ... or as Thermos says "corrosion-prone areas". That makes sense to me ... as a maintence trick for a completed aircraft.

++PrimedNut