What if the strip cant be welded? Halt in my packraft projekt.

[Orrtuppen]

Hi everyone!

I´ve been working on my first projekt (a Telkwa) on sparetime from family life (late nights in the garage:) So far I have had the feeling that this is going all right and is well worth the late hours.

Fun and meditative like when i used to copy photos in the darkroom.

The thing that happend a week ago is that I by misstake got a pice of cardboard paper in between the strip and the tube fabric while I was welding the first few centimeters of tubepiece 4 to piece 3 (from the inside of the tube fabric). With the result that i got paper stuck on the tubefabric where the strip should be welded. Further more, the edge of the strip folded some and was Welded to it selfe for a centimeter or so. Now to my questions to you all handy and smart people. Is it possible to get rid of paper that got stuck to the tpu of the tube fabric?

Can I reheat the strip-part and unfold it with out destroy the tpu?

Lets say that the answer is no on both, will Aquasur be able to do the job where my tpu is damaged?

I´ll try to get an photo into my post so that you will have some possibility to understand what the heck I´m talking about 🙂

Until I get more courage to continue, I will be outside the garage, fixing new panel on the house instead.

/Anders

Topic

[Orrtuppen]

Thanks for your calming answer Matt, I might even get down from the ladder later on to night and give it a try. 🙂   Maby I´ll try to do it using the hot air-welder I bought but havn´t been trying much yet.

One question though, would you say that a bond made with Aquasure is somewhat to be compared with the TPU-bond, or is it much weaker?

/Anders

[Matt (Admin)]

The bond made with Aquasure is much weaker than welded TPU, but in this case you are not relying on the Aquasure for a structural bond, only to make it airtight where the TPU is partly damaged. I would not use Aquasure between the seam strip and the tube fabric – even damaged TPU will be stronger, so simply reheat and reposition the seam strip, and then apply the Aquasure to make sure it is airtight. It is only a small area, so I would not worry about it being weaker, because the surrounding areas will be strong enough to compensate for it (assuming you are using proper heat sealing technique and creating good welds).

Be careful with the hot air welder – if you want to use it, practice on some scrap material first, because with hot air it is very easy to melt the TPU far beyond where you intend to, and that will create more problems (cosmetic blemishes and possibly some leaks).

 

[Matt (Admin)]

Don’t worry – it doesn’t look too bad!

In this situation I would first remove as much cardboard as possible by heating it with the iron and scraping it off carefully with a knife, a little bit at a time (or peel it all off when it is hot if it will come off in one piece, but I think it won’t). Then reheat the folded/wrinkled area to release the weld and flatten it out while it is hot, pressing it flat to re-weld it as best as possible. The TPU will probably be damaged so it might not be airtight where the first weld was released, so apply Aquasure to the inside of this area under the seam strip. (Remember, if you spread the Aquasure beyond the edge of the seam on the inside of the tube it will darken the red fabric, so avoid this if possible.) Then apply more Aquasure to the outside, where the cardboard was and anywhere else that the TPU looks damaged. That should make it airtight.

Do not try to remove the whole seam strip – that will damage the TPU and it will not go back on very well; try to only release it where it is folded. Use the tip of your iron so you can be more precise.

Sorry I can’t help you with the panel on your house 😀

[Author]

Replies