Aircraft Finishing Systems Waterborne Primer/Sealer

A place to discuss your primer & paint choices including using paint shops or doing it yourself.
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DeltaZulu

Aircraft Finishing Systems Waterborne Primer/Sealer

Post by DeltaZulu »

Does anyone have any experience with this product? It is cut with water, cleans up with water, and only requires acid etching as prep. I am having a hard time finding much information on it outside of what is on the AFS website.

http://www.aircraftfinishing.com/primer-sealer.htm

Thanks in advance. This is my first post. I am an RV-7A builder about 20 hours into the empennage.

www.deltazulu.net

Dalton

Spike
Chief Rivet Banger
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Location: Baltimore, MD
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Post by Spike »

I dont have any information on that primer but welcome to the group :thumbsup: Please stick around and make yourself at home. Weve got a good group of people around here!

-- John
http://www.rivetbangers.com - Now integrating web and mail!
Current Build: 2 years into a beautiful little girl

LorenS
Class G
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Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:06 pm

Post by LorenS »

This is deja-vu. I was wondering the same thing, in the same boat and was beaten to it. My wonderful bride opened up the big can of worms and gave me an empenage kit for Christmas. I too was pondering the primer issue and stumbled on the AFS primer which looked interesting. I wrote to AFS and got the following response:
The AFS products are now called Stewart Systems, though the
Spruce catalog doesn't have this update yet, the products
from them will come labeled Stewart Systems.
You can purchase from AC Spruce, or directly from us.
Our products are non-hazardous and non-flammable. If you
are building your project in a garage or basement, you will
not have issues with odors leaking into your home.
On aluminum parts, even new ones we recommend cleaning the
part with our EkoClean Heavy Duty Cleaner first. This is a
cleaner - degreaser and removes all oils and heavy soil.
The new aluminum will have oils on it from the forming
process, plus handling. Once clean, you would etch the
surface to be primed with our EkoEtch, using a red
ScotchBrite pad and rinsing with clear water. You should not
etch a larger area than you can scrub and rinse before the
surface dries. Both these products are sold as concentrate,
and you would mix them in a spray bottle for application.
Once the etching is complete, the surface should be primed
in 8-10 hours. Once the surface is primed, it can wait as
long as necessary before top coating, months or even much
longer. When ready to paint, if you haven't previously
sanded the surface, sand to desired smoothness. If you sand
through the primer to bare metal or have light spots, you
will want to add additional primer at that time to get an
even color on your substrate. If you sanded prior to
storage, lightly scuff the primer to give it some 'tooth'
for the top coat.
All our products ship standard UPS ground with no hazmat
fees. When necessary, they are also eligible for air
shipment with no additional fees.
Marjie Stewart
Stewart Systems
1-888-356-7659

I too would be interested in any comments those already down this rode might have. I guess my biggest question is: does this stuff work as a stand alone primer or do you need to paint over it at some time?

Thanks, sorry my first post was so long. Not started yet, setting up the factory.

Loren

MachineMan
Class G
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 9:41 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Water Based Primer Option

Post by MachineMan »

Don't have experience with the AFS primer but...

I recently started building a -7 empennage and I am priming with a Sherman Williams (water based) DTM Wash Primer
http://www2.sherwin-williams.com/Apps/P ... data&id=35

I decided to go with the DTM after visiting a local SW Industrial Paint outlet (not a residential paint store)
and described to them my application and examples of what other RV builders are using.

-So far I have primed my HS, VS and Rudder and I like everything about it (disclaimer: don't have anything to compare it to)
-The cost is about 55.00/gal,
-Cleans up with water.
-Dries slower than a solvent based primer (so far has not been a problem in my building planning/process)
-Seems durable in handling and assembly/riveting.
-Accept's "hot" top coats, (solvent based, acrylics, epoxys etc)

Rich M
HS,VS comp
Finishing Rudder
Rich M.
RV-7 G3x Mattituck TMX IO-360
365 Hrs since Sept 2011
Massachusetts
https://picasaweb.google.com/1106267560 ... directlink

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svanarts
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Location: Modesto, CA
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Post by svanarts »

:welcome:

Welcome to Loren!
Scott VanArtsdalen
Token Heretic
Nirvana Rodeo / Dudek Universal
S-6ES N612SV - GONE but not forgotten
RV-4 N311SV - SOLD

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JohnR
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Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:22 pm
Location: Iowa

Post by JohnR »

Wow! Welcome everyone! Glad to see yo uhere on RB!

Here is my experience FWIW. I started out with the AFS as I liked the idea. I had trouble getting it to spray and dry as smooth as I would have liked. I must say that I am about as far from a painter as they come so it could have been my fault.

The people that sell the stuff are wonderful and answered evey question I had along with offering a lot of other advice which I did my best to follow. I finally ended up trying some two part epoxy from the local SW place and it went on really nice and smooth.

After that I decided that I would just use it and have had no trouble since. I wish I could have got the results with the AFS and am sure a better painter could have. Just didn't work out for me.
JohnR
RV-7A - Fuselage - SOLD, just not supposed to be
Numbers 6:24 - The LORD bless thee, and keep thee

LorenS
Class G
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:06 pm

Post by LorenS »

Hey thanks for the Welcome. Still pondering the primer issue but know that this is a very volitile and personal subject that a lot of builders have strong opinions on. Thanks for the input about AFS, I'm not sure which direction I'll go in, I suppose that's the beauty of Experimental Aircraft and I figure I'll probably change my mind several times before I actually get to the priming. I'll reserve much more comment about priming as I've lurked through enough "primer wars". I'll chime in again when it's time to figure out how to aim the spray gun :?

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