Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

To those who have edge glued large panels together with a foaming glue like GG or great stuff, how did you deal with the squeeze out at the seams?

The Ideal goal is to get one big smooth seamless panel out of two or more pieces.

Razor blade.
If you can't get a good angle on it with a blade, sand/file it.

If you have to cut through more that 1/8" get a flush cut saw with a flexible blade.

Hey, Noc3? are you trying to wipe up the squeeze while it's still "wet"? I ask because you asked about removing it "cleanly". I suspect it can't be removed cleanly while it's still wet. You have to wait for it to cure, then do as the others suggested. Use a saw or razor of some type, then sand flush.

Just my 2 cents.....Roger

I like the snap off style blades, you can push them out & bend, then saw when they become dull

Not exactly the same, but when installing aluminum trim on my teardrop, I held the trim to the siding and applied a strip of blue painters tape. After installing the trim, a sealant squeeze out ended up on the blue painters tape, rather than the siding. I just peeled off the tape, removing the squeeze out at the same time.

I found that the gorilla glue is easiest to remove about 45-60 minutes after gluing up. At that point its kind of gooey somewhat sticky blend of glue/foam. I use a straight edge razor like a scrapper and drag it along the glue line. Best to wear gloves. This stuff is really hard to get of your fingers.

We’ve removed the “wet” squeeze out cleanly with a rag and some alcohol … In the foam airplane construction days we mixed rubbing alcohol and GG to get it to fire off faster…

I used packing tape with great stuff and it worked good to remove squeeze out. It is in my build thread here.

op827 I covered my seams with packing tape, scotch brand for "storage" and it bonded very well to the glue, however it does not rip off cleanly (I only used one layer of tape) the tape rips when I try to take it up. What tape are you using exactly, brand and type? It looked like you had multiple layers of tape so maybe it held itself together better.

I've resorted to box cutter and spackling the wallowed cuts. Looks fine, a bit more labor intensive.

the above mentioned use of a box knife heped me remove the ooze of PL-Premium

i also sharpen a house painter's scraper to a wicked sharp edge to aid in corners



it still left a slightly bubbly edge to deal with so all edges got faired w/ paintable standard latex calk(the silly-cone stuff can be temperamental at times) because it plays well w/ the latex porch n floor paint i use on little boats



a technique i've just started using w/ epoxy/glass builds which is "so far" proving quite satisfactory involves taking the blade from a cabbage file (Sure-Form) and dragging across flat surfaces that need fairing



i wear elk skin gloves for this process to protect me pingers frum the file AND tee-tiny glass fibers

TBC (be rite back)

sw

i'm back

wearing elk skin gloves during this and other sanding/grinding processes aid in the prevention of self destruction(i don't heal as fast as i used2did)



this process works well on ruff fiberglass edges also



removing ruff edges a/o ooze n drools w/ the cabbage file makes smoothing surfaces much easier to sand n finish



cabbage file for flats and the 911 hijacker's weapon n sharpened scraper for corners are my current goto tools for removing extraneous farfelonus ;-)

sw

Noc3 wrote:op827 I covered my seams with packing tape, scotch brand for "storage" and it bonded very well to the glue, however it does not rip off cleanly (I only used one layer of tape) the tape rips when I try to take it up. What tape are you using exactly, brand and type? It looked like you had multiple layers of tape so maybe it held itself together better.

I've resorted to box cutter and spackling the wallowed cuts. Looks fine, a bit more labor intensive.

I used generic packing tape from local Princessauto (Canada) store that I purchased on sale as a multipack. I do not remember exact brand, but it was not a Scotch brand. In my case the tape and foam came off as a one piece without ripping off. Sorry, I forgot to mention that the kerfs were almost completely closing and also I smeared the squeezed out foam over the tape after clamping which made the tape and foam forming some sort "crust cake" which came off together without ripping the tape once the foam was cured. If the foam is not smeared then the tape would probably be ripping more readily similar to your experience. Hope it helps. It is just my tests and experience, your experience may differ.