Does anyone know of a product that i can use to....

[Longbaorder23]

Hey everyone!
I had recently purchased and maidened my edf F22 70mm edf. ended in a terrible blowout crash! so im buying the same plane again. it flew great for 30 seconds then my transmitter decided to lose signal, and after the crash turns out my receiver wire had fallen off... great. so im rebuilding! with a transmitter thats not 3 years old! anyway, as the title states, i need to find a product or chemical of sorts to suit my needs. The aircraft is made of EPO foam. I would like to waterproof my aircraft. being that i live in washington, the NW is always rainy. I hate being limited by the rain with my rc cars and my first airplane, which is broken now after a great 3 years of service. I plan to be able to fly my jet in the rain. ive touched lightly on this topic in another thread in another section here. but i need to know about it now! What i plan to do is find the product i need, and i imagine it to be a spray can. I want to spray it on all the airplane parts before i assemble the aircraft. coat all parts in a flexible and waterproof film. then on assembly, i can sand off the coat gently where adhesive is required. then after all assembly, spray a light coat over the cracks between the parts. I know from the previous build that the parts fit together excellently and tightly, so the cracks are small. Does anyone know of a product like this that i could use to accomplish this? I have thought about plasti-dip, but i dont want my beautiful jet to be 100% black, or all grey, or i don't know. i will look into plasti-dip a bit more, but in the meantime is there any other products like this? The final coats have to be FLEXIBLE by the way. that is crucial! Thank you so much!

 

[earthsciteach]

Sorry your maiden ended like this! I would bet money that you are flying with a Turnigy/FlySky/Eurgle 9x. The receivers are notorious for broken antenna wires. Try putting a bit of hot glue where the antenna leaves the casing. Better yet, install a FrSky module in your tx!

In terms of flying in the rain, you don't need to waterproof the entire airplane. But, waterproofing the electronics is not a bad idea although perhaps unnecessary, as well depending on how well the esc is enclosed. One product is CorrosionX. If you do a search you will find a lot of positive feedback. Another is HzO, but I haven't seen any feedback about that one. Rust-Oleum has the NeverWet system, which is new. I think this one has acetone in it which may eat foam. But, again, no need to waterproof foam!

 

[Craftydan]

LongBoarder,

I'll echo Teach -- Unless you're trying to protect the paper on your FT spitfire's Dollar Tree foam board, the electronics are really the only sensitive part.

For ESCs, a squirt of silicon sealant in each end should close them up (not too much, it adds weight and thermal insulation). for the receiver, you can replace the box with shrinkwrap and do the same. If you're only dealing with rain, the servos and battery connections should be fine. Surprisingly, brushless motors are practically immune to fresh water. dunno about salt water, I'd be carefull with it (stop running and rinse if you take a dip in the ocean).

Now your TX, try to keep it dry

 

[colorex]

Surprisingly, brushless motors are practically immune to fresh water. dunno about salt water, I'd be carefull with it (stop running and rinse if you take a dip in the ocean).

I have landed in salt water a couple of times. What'll happen is that you'll permanently lose your ESC first, then your battery. The rest of the electronics will be fine unless the ESC and/or battery fire doesn't get at them. Servo's are usually sealed enough to withstand water. My Rx's servo terminals started to rust. The motor magnets may attract magnetic materials in the salt water, and the stator may start rusting.

 

[Longbaorder23]

im far inland from any salt water, thats for sure! so no problem there. and no actualy bodies of water either really. just it always rains here 98% of the time in half the year. are you sure water wouldnt be absorbed by the foam or something like that and add weight or cause the foam to age and break down faster? definitely all electronics will be sealed all the way, just for safety. had a mini super cub, flew it on a day where the ground was still wet but no rain, landed in the wet grass and lipo poofed. and smoked a bit. so gonna take some precautions here when now im using a big ol' 6s. so yeah ill seal up the ESC, battery, and i know the motor is fine with water. ill just every few runs or so take it out and rinse it, and air compressor dry it. but my concern is that the foam will either absorb water and bring problems from that. or water will seep in-between the little spaces between the foam bits. are you sure this is not a problem? Thanks for the replies!

 

[earthsciteach]

Closed cell foam will not absorb water. No worries, there.

 

[Longbaorder23]

well not really "absorb" it but does it allow any water through it? because some of my electronics (receiver especially) are fully enclosed in a foam 'box' in the aircraft. can water go through foam? relief that it doesnt absorb it. Thanks for the help!

 

[Billchuck]

well not really "absorb" it but does it allow any water through it? because some of my electronics (receiver especially) are fully enclosed in a foam 'box' in the aircraft. can water go through foam? relief that it doesnt absorb it. Thanks for the help!

Take some of the remains of your plane and experiment a bit. Carve a little boat out of it and float it in a sink full of water and add some weight so it rides low. Leave it for a while then come back and see if it took on any water.

 

[Longbaorder23]

That's a wonderful idea! Thank you. I will try that. Unfortunately if it does though I'll have to buy and apply a chemical. Thanks for the info! I'll do some testing!

 

[Billchuck]

Even if the foam isn't 100% waterproof, it should be more than sufficient. If it's raining so hard that water is getting through the foam to your electronics, you should think about going inside.

 

[tramsgar]

Plasti-dipping your plane will make it way too heavy. It'll probably go ugly with belly landings too.

I've waterproofed boats, cars and my Icon A5, flown and crashed in on/in water, this is what I've learnt about water proofing:

* Motor - ok
* Servos - Corrosion X or equivalent product on the inside, plasti-dip or liquid tape on the outside, lithium fat generously around the top gear where you put the servo arm.
* Esc - Corrosion X or equivalent and positioned elevated inside so it'll never sit in water. You may seal it with plasti-dip or liquid tape but at least the latter goes brittle with heat after a while.
* Receiver - Corrosion X or equivalent and positioned elevated inside so it'll never sit in water. Car/boat people use ballons and zip tie.
* Battery - ok
* Battery connectors - position elevated.
* Foam - ok, seal joints with polyurethane glue (wear gloves, it's carcinogenic), it'll expand and cure with moist.
* LEDs - Corrosion X or equivalent and sealed well with silicon glue (remember heat sink, perhaps a strip of copper plate).
* Servo connectors - ok.

The only electronics that's failed on me is untreated servos when they were dipped in water. The main problem with servos is the potentiometer that doesn't like water at all. I never have, and never will, run my stuff in salt or brackish water. Ever. Hope this helps and good luck!