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Safari Helicopter Construction
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Date:  4-30-2008
Number of Hours:  2.00
Manual Reference:  
Brief Description:  Painting of Tail Rotor Drive Shaft

It's time to paint the drive shaft now that it has been trimmed to sized and welded. I'm using an industrial grade Sherwin-Williams Polane semi-gloss black polyurethane topcoat (same as was put on the pillow bearings).

I like the polyurethanes because they stand up to fuel, oil and sunlight and you never have to wax them. They are a little harder to paint than single component products though. The typical system will include a base component, an activator, thinner and in my case an accelerator. The accelerator makes it possible for the paint to dry within a short time without the use of a curing oven. If you use an accelerator, use it very sparingly. It only took 1/2 teaspoon for 10 oz. of mixed paint.

I had to convert part of my shop into a temporary paint booth since it was too windy outside to paint. I used an automotive touchup HVLP spray gun to minimize the overspray in the shop. This gun is a little bigger than an artist's airbrush, but smaller and easier to handle than an full sized gun. It was part of a paint gun set I picked up at the local Costco.

I painted the shaft at about 7:00 pm and by 5:00 am the next morning it was dry thanks to the accelerator. I plan on mounting the shaft bearings this weekend. Hopefully I didn't get the paint so thick that I will need to hone the bearings to fit. I didn't see any runs in the finish so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
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The polyurethane paint system.

The polyurethane paint system.

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Temporary paint booth

Temporary paint booth

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