Re: Effective application of flat aluminum tape to double curved surfaces?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Ed Phillips by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net>

Tesla list wrote:
> 
> Original poster: "David Knaack by way of Terry Fritz
<twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <dknaack-at-rdtech-dot-com>
> 
> Ok, I picked up toroidal foam form from the craft store, and
> a 50 yard roll of Al tape.  The form is 12" O.D. and 8.5" I.D.
> It is made of some remarkably tough stuff, most normal humans
> would be hard-pressed to crush or dent it with one hand.
> 
> I've wrapped it with one layer of tape, winding it in a spiral
> with about 1/4" overlap on each layer.  After rubbing it with
> the back of a spoon and wiping off all the black stuff
> (aluminum oxide I presume), it looks about like I expected,
> covered in lots of really flat wrinkles :)
> 
> Is there a way to get this stuff really smooth, or am I just
> out of luck with this fairly tight radius?
> 
> DK

	Before applying the aluminum tape I apply several layers of masking
tape, which provides a smoother base for the Al tape.  This is
particularly important on the outside where the individual flanges of
the duct are as far apart as they can be.  Masking tape is a lot cheaper
than aluminum tape!!!!!!!!!  I apply enough to "feel good about it".

Ed