Question about composite patch jobs before we had proper curing tools

Back when I was new, we did composite fixes with just resin and cloth, no fancy gear. I remember one time on a Cessna, I put a patch on a cracked fairing. I used a heat gun from the shop, but it wasn't even enough. The resin never cured right, it stayed kind of soft. A week later, the pilot reported a buzz from that area, and we found the patch had peeled halfway off. It was a close call, could have been bad if it came loose in flight. Now we have those big ovens that cook the parts just right, with timers and temp gauges. Makes me glad how much safer things are now, even if I miss the old hands-on way sometimes.

3 comments

3 Comments

benn322d ago

No way, those old-school fixes built REAL skill, even if they were tricky!

colescott2d ago

Hold on, are you suggesting that struggling with broken tools taught us more? Those fixes often wasted hours on problems that had simple solutions. I remember spending days on a task that now takes minutes. It wasn't skill, it was stubbornness. Modern methods let us focus on real learning, not just trial and error. Calling that 'real skill' ignores how much time we lost.

bettyh352d ago

My buddy tried curing a fiberglass patch with a heat lamp in his garage (you know, the kind for reptiles!), and it never set right. Had to grind it all off and start over with proper gear.