Cleaning dirty poly fibre cloth

[York614]

Have had my PA22/20 in storage in my barn for 14 years, finally getting to restoration to flight. Purchased at auction, 2 new wings came with as old ones had failed punch test. New ones covered in polyfibre, unpainted (raw fabric, no topcoat or primer). They’re very dirty. Before proceeding with applying topcoat, I know they’ll need to be cleaned. So what can one safely clean the untreated fabric with? I understand that polyfibre has been STC’d to only allow their topcoats, too?
any help appreciated.

[Gilbert Pierce]

Welcome to the ShortWing community.
How long has it been exposed to light? UV will deteriorate polyfiber over time if it is not protected. If you are going to use the Polyfiber coating process, Polyfiber recommends wiping fabric down with MEK as their coatings are MEK based. If the wings are really coated with dirt I would probably wash the down with kitchen dish detergent Dawn, rinse really well and then wipe them down with MEK..

[York614]

Light exposure was absolutely minimum; spent their sabbatical at the back of the barn, well away from the door. And they are very dirty, due in large part to that lovely haboob (1930’s style dust storm) we had last year, which got dirt into every corner of the barn. Hoping to never see one of those again in this lifetime.
she has been moved to a hangar to begin restoration, but a serious cleaning will be the first step. I have heard that yo7 can use Imron over the polyfiber coating to get a gloss finish, as the polyfiber coating is semigloss at best (?).

[Jim]

Hi,

Polyfiber also has a gloss finish system available for their fabrics.

[Gilbert Pierce]

My Clipper had been painted with Imron when I bought it. Bought cheap because of the ringworm and cracks in the paint
There are many high gloss fabric paints available. Airtech, Ranthane, Aerothane, Superflight, Stewart’s. Ranthane is Polyfiber’s high gloss top coat.
I used Airtech over Polyfiber and Airtech complete system because like Stewarts it does not use MEK which stinks.

[York614]

My Clipper had been painted with Imron when I bought it. Bought cheap because of the ringworm and cracks in the paint
There are many high gloss fabric paints available. Airtech, Ranthane, Aerothane, Superflight, Stewart’s. Ranthane is Polyfiber’s high gloss top coat.
I used Airtech over Polyfiber and Airtech complete system because like Stewarts it does not use MEK which stinks.

Thank you for answering. Just getting into this, excited to get going, but have a lot to learn.

[York614]

Thank you for the answer. Will look into which coatings can give a nice gloss. Is there one vendor better to deal withthan another?

[Pacer42Z]

After you clean the wings you can also paint them with Stewart paint. Their paint is highly glossy and can be used over poly fiber fabric system. If you do, make sure to follow their process and first seal the (cleaned) fabric with thinned down Eco Glue (Stewart’s) glue, then their Eco Fill (UV protection) primer and top coat.

Juergen
Pacer N3342Z

[Steve Pierce]

You can download the manual here to start your quest. https://www.conaircraft.com/download-manuals

[Glen Geller]

Here's the dirt (pun intended) on Stewart's System processes and finishes, starting with the history of the company.
https://stewartsystems.aero/about/


Good luck with your project, sound like it's gonna be fun!

GG