torn bladder

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John
torn bladder

Post by John » Fri Sep 09, 2005 9:28 am

Hi,
My leading edge bladder has a tear at the end about 4". Does anyone have any suggestion on what I should do? Someone suggested using a sealing iron to fix it. Doesn't that shortened the bladder, thus affect the kite? Thanks for the inputs.

John

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sflinux
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Post by sflinux » Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:15 am

Hey John,
Any whole bigger than a size of a dime, I prefer using an iron to fix.
Start off with the iron at a low setting. Wait a few minutes for the temperature to stabilize.
Fold a piece of paper in half.
What you want to do is fuse the tear by making a seam (~ 1 cm width).
Situate the bladder to form a seam, place the folded paper on the bladder, then the edge of the iron on top. Place the iron on the seam for 10 - 20 sec. If the iron is not hot enough, the seam will not fully fuse. You can gradually bring up the temperature until you get a nice fuse. If the iron is too hot, the urethane will melt and evaporate, so best to do it not too hot or your bladder will slowly disappear. You only want 1 cm of the iron on the bladder and only want to iron on the seam of the bladder to be fused. The rest of the bladder should be free and clear of the iron to avoid any manipulation of a perfectly good section of the bladder.
If your 4" tear is longitudinal, it will only make your bladder a slightly smaller diameter. The urethane will naturally expand to the size the diameter of the leading edge, fixing itself.
If your 4" tear is width-wise, it will slightly shorten the length of your tube. This will be negligible, you won't be able to tell the difference.
bric

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Post by sflinux » Fri Sep 09, 2005 11:49 am

The paper is obviously there to prevent the iron from sticking to the bladder. What I do with the paper is fold it so there is a 1cm overlap on the edge. I have the hot iron on the 1 cm overlap edge, the folded paper acts as buffer to preferentially only fuse the bladder under the single layer of paper. If your iron is too hot, or you put the iron on for too long, the iron will fuze an area greater than 1 cm. About 15 seconds works best for me.
As far as temperature, too low does not give a very strong seam. To hot and the seam of the bladder just disintegrates. Experiment with your iron and find that happy medium.
I repaired a 2 ft tear on my leading edge and it works like a champ.
-bric

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Post by tlowe » Sun Sep 11, 2005 7:18 am

The ironing method works great. This stuff is also great for kites. I bought a roll of the stuff as you can use it for patching anything. Use "Type A".

http://www.tear-aid.com/

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Post by dewey » Sun Sep 11, 2005 9:09 am

Wow that stuff looks good. Patch a bladder or canopy with the same stuff!!
Dewey

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Post by tlowe » Sun Sep 11, 2005 9:18 am

It's good stuff. It's super sticky too, once it's on you can't adjust it. So be careful about getting wrinkles in it as you apply it.

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Post by sflinux » Sun Sep 11, 2005 7:47 pm

I like the tear-aid stuff too.
I use the iron method for holes larger than a dime.
For pin holes, I like the glue method. Then I reinforce the hole with the tear-aid.
Tear aid works great for leading edge fabric holes/tears. Just be sure to reinforce the inside (with regular sail repair tape) because tear-aid will stretch. But tear-aid is great cause it gives you a water proof seal.
You can get it off with rubbing alcohol.
I use:
Type A for kite leading edge
Type B for bladders

-bric

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