Rant -- Another SYSTEM 3 FAIL
masking tape paint peeling trick
MAST focus: OK, So the new sailtrack holes are just done and tapped for 8-32MS.
The old bronze track has a 3" jog between holes -- the new Schaefer s.s. track: 2 3/4".
Could not avoid some ten old holes showing up in the 26 feet of new track cable-tied
to the mast. These voids really can't be redrilled for a larger screw. Theoretically
possible, but they don't show up exactly on target, centered in the new track -- or they
happen to be wonkus corroded cavities, filled with LabMetal, that aren't smart to tap.
Drilled the ten holes at each location offset about 1/2" above. First, wiresize #29 for
the 8-32 tap, in cobalt, thru both track and mast, then wedged up track in place and
carefully opened the new sailtrack holes to match Schaefer's. Then tapped the offsets.
Made a pencil mark at all filled & blank locations on the mast, to avoid them, actually
by temporarily taping the old track back where it had hung out for the last 50 years.
Got a perpetual GaryLarson 'My brain Is Full' coffee mug, for that!
Stuck a small piece of blue tape at the 10 offset holes as eye markers. New holes
drilled and tapped spread out along the length of the new track... job done.
(Schaefer track also has 10 more holes and fasteners than the old. That's good.)
Thumbnail the blue tape....peel back the pieces, ...and...they
ALL LIFT OFF WITH GRAY ALUTHANE COLOR STUCK TO THE TAPE !
Holymoley, it's a very thin 'leaf' of mast -- touch an edge and the gray LPU flakes.
This is your everyday non-aggressive 3M blue stick-and-peel masking tape.... How
can indestructible Aluthane be lifting off? ...Water Reducible LPU? ...seems lifeless.
Must have cut the product too much. But if it failed, how did tape pull Aluthane off
as well? Seems it lifted only the micron contact bond the LPU made with aluminum
paint. Yet multiple clear coatings cured with no cohesive strength.
This is a 100% system fail.
This contact bond makes it difficult to scrub the clear coat off. Various Scotchbrite
pads, water, solvents...and hard work removed some failed coating...but... Tried
the heat gun, that didn't work. Scrubbing with maroon pads also created streaks of
raw aluminum... as did mechanical sanding with the ocsillating Makita. !@#$%!
Thought about using blue tape as the remover. Expensive. And not realistic. Not
Funny. NONE of this is realistic! Especially scrubbing and sanding! @#$%!
Blame !@#$%! SYSTEM 3 for this failure? Had mysterious problems with a 2-part
epoxy product of theirs that cost a lot of time to fix, plus a kind of grief in loosing
trust in a greener company. {System 3 --T-88 Structural Epoxy --pg 17 #325.}
Water reducible linear polyurethane is a huge achievement in the war we must win
over global terrorist chemical corporations killing our planet. We slaves approve
and support them at every opportunity... while they and their armageddonist
brethren relentlessly diminish all life. Played too loose & free with System 3!
Have 5 quarts of their WR-LPU colors ... that now will never be used on Littlegull.
The mast has been curing on burritos outside in the weather, like me not doing much
work. There are endless variables leading to coating failure. Intercoat adhesion:
like perfect coats, weaker or stronger, applied in the wrong order.
Coating thickness, cutting it too much. (Never heard of failure in thinning varnish 50%
... but varnish is usually oil based, not water reducible urethane.) High heat, low
humidity, sun spots... ... Wisecrack that System 3 is too provincial for us down here in
Temperate-ville, being manufactured up in cold damp overcast Washington state.
Technique also might be a cause, the usual:: sterate or latex white sandpaper, tack
rag, solvent uncleaning wash, soap residue, or interpreting instructions wrong: stroke
left to right, not up and down. Yes, but WR ClearCoat operation was rolled on in a
single uninterrupted series. The price to pay for more shiney and more longevity may
not be worth the price, if a system is so picky that a non-professional optimist can't
expect decent results from the time, effort, and high priced investment in what is
essentially a "cosmetic coating for a recreational vehicle". Only Awlgrip has the moxi
to be a chemical warlord in the shipyard... We Normals want paints that are forgiving.
MY ASSOCIATION WITH ALL SYSTEM 3 PRODUCTS IS TERMINATED
__________________________________________________ ______________________
Think about how stupid the average person is
and then realize that half of them are stupider that that. George Carlin
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LATER EDIT. Ebb's first attempt at uploading pics from the pic file... frickinhuge!!
2nd pic shows a green tap fluid I can possibly recommend. Assume it cleans up with
soap and water or isopropyl without leaving an evil residue. 'SAFETAP ULTIMA:
Environmentally friendly, biodegradable, non-staining and odorless. Looks like a
transparent viscous oil, yet leaves no oil on the work.* Contains no oil, no solvents,
no sulfur or chlorine and NO SILICONES. Works on all metals, but especially good
with aluminum'. MSDS is useless for ingredients, as it has no hazardous ones, the
Technical Data Sheet has all the hype just mentioned, but no words recommending
squeaky cleanup. Of dozens, not a single vendor or forum have anything to add
beyond the manufacturer's BS, concerning the actual use of this product!* Safetap
does us no favors: The hype doesn't clue us as to what in hell the non-oil fluid is!
More important, the manufacturer never lets us know what to clean it off with!!
Oh wise one, what's that all about? Why keep it secret?
That piece of blue is a reminder marker for drilling new holes, mentioned in text.
A tap drill has just made a new hole in the mast 1/2" above an old hole that is way
oversized for any screw. Hole in track is then propped up with scrap polyethylene
sheet and redrilled to match Schaefer's. Notice -- on right the end of the original
Pearson bronze track -- one side of the 'T' drastically reduced from decades of
uneven wear. Photo shot before discovering the bluetape peel-away surprise.
BROKEN HAND TAPS
(Most good tap and die sets are 4fluke HSS. Tap thread cutting is done with a bore
that has four thin ridges of cutters and four proportionly wide flukes that collect the
cutting waste. In smaller sizes we use: #6, 8, 10 12 & 14, the taps are fragile and
will eventually break in your work. McMasterCarr has upgrade taps & dies for various
metals and wallets. Also, you should have a set of Walton TAP Extractors in your
kit. They work by extending 4 hard wires down into the flukes of the broken tap in
your work.... which you adjust and turn to dislodge. They really work well getting
the jammed tip out... once you get the pins inserted. In a perfect world, I'd have a
set of 3fluke tap cutters, which naturally have a stronger column.
Check out McMasterCarr's stubby cobalt tap-required wire size bits for drilling soft
& hard metal... haven't broken one yet!)
First pic shows a piece of masking tape that has lifted what appears to be a large
flake of all 8 WRLPU coating layers -- plus what appears to be the last coat of the
moisture cure aluminum-filled urethane 'primer' that preceded the lpu.
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'Official' SAFETAP REMOVAL Painting finicky aluminum requires careful prep.
*So I called up MSC Industries that catalogs Safetap, from whom I may have
ordered. Spoke with a very helpful gal who like me could find nothing on what is
officially used to clean away Safetap. She gave me itwprobrands customer service
email. customerservice@itwprobrands.com
Obviously some huge conglomerate with no time for the unwashed. LO, after a
brief compliment, mentioning my tapping 100 holes.. got a nearly immediate email
back from Jada, who said, isopropyl alcohol is adequate for removing Safetap.
But recommends an LPS aerosol product called EFX.
http://www.lpslabs.com/product-details/609.
Naturally, smelling a rat, looked up the MSDS on LPS EFX and discover it's mostly
N-heptane: who knows, a not too horribly toxic, extremely explosive, petroleum
solvent. BUT, the can is under pressure and can blast 'not-oil' from every hidden
crevice. Page 1 of the 10 page MSDS has a FIRST I've never seen before!... a
"PLAIN LANGUAGE HAZARD SUMMARY".
And so it is. How about that! Imco, Very cool.
* ( not cool, is that the highly poofed environmental/biodegradable product has to
privately recommend via email a nasty volatile petroleum solvent to guarantee
Safetap contaminated surfaces are cleared completely for painting prep.
Especially important for galvanic aluminum, for which this product is recommended.
Nothing in the product hype or the technical data sheet about removing all traces
before next process. Confusing that SafeTap deliberately ignores this vital step.
There are a number of safer environmental degreasers (like EMERGE: no TSP, no
phosphates, etc) available -- none advised here.
SafeTap seems to be so embarrassed that they must lie by omission.
Do not 'seem' to withhold information, because this is what they actually do.)
Imco, offensive & improper. Looking for another 'environmental' tapping fluid.
"Like all valuable commodities, truth is often counterfeited." J.C.Gibbons
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