Woke up this morning and checked the 2K epoxy primed pieces.
No question that this primer is tough! Resists scratches. When I got home from
work...tough as nails (after 23hr dry time). The only concerns that I have had
all day was with respect to metal prep. I phoned a friend who owns a local autobody shop. He confirmed to me that the two part epoxy primer was his
recommendation for the job, however he indicated that he saw no need to apply
alumiprep, but was fairly certain that Alodine was a good idea. He said that is
the process used in aviation that he was used to seeing. He indicated that the process helps open up the
aluminum to accept the primer. I am convinced that it is superior, however I
have serious concerns with applying this method at home. Alodine is extremely nasty
stuff, and the application process requires Alodine to be washed with clean
water. How do I do that in winter? Do I want to Alodine in the house???
I've been looking at Endura Paints under aviation primers
and they have two recommended methods for preping thin aluminum. The Alodine
method, or a Biodegradable method using a cleaner and a Metalink product.
According to the data sheet the metalink is waterborne "Endura MetaLink is
an environmentally friendly, chromate free, pre-bond adhesion promoter for
bonding metal alloys such as: Aluminum (#2024, #5052, #6061, #7071 and
#7075)". The only concern I have is a lot of parts are alclad....not
alloy....So how will this work? Hmm. Geezze my head hurts.
Update - 10:00pm Epoxy test pieces are great. Can't scratch
a thing on them. I have tried to wipe them with MEK and virtually nothing comes
off!
