11 replies to this topic

[Cole75]

Hi everyone,

 

I bought a Steve O. Hillclimb and I need to rebraid it. I have cleaned a few sections of lane... it's hard to get the glue off. The braid depth clean is about .047"-ish and I was wondering if I could run a router and skim through then repaint area and rebraid?

 

Or any ideas would be great.

 

Thank you.

[PCH Parts Express]

I've seen people use a tiny bench plane to remove the glue while preserving the paint. 

[MSwiss]

Are you using any thing to soften it? 

 

Trinity sells a product,  Sticky Fingers, which is normally used to soften tires. It should help.

 

People use a router to clean old glue off all the time. You use the same bit you use to cut the recess.

 

On a flat track, it's fairly easy to a good job.

 

On a banked track where the track isn't flat, you need a small router base and someone who really knows what he is doing.

 

I've seen tracks butchered by guys who supposedly did know what they were doing and obviously didn't.

 

I personally thinks it's better to gut it out removing it without a router. At least you'll save the time of repainting the recess.

 

You definitely don't want to glue to bare MDF.

[Jay Guard]

Although I've never done this I've heard that some have used a low level of heat to soften the glue. However you will really have to experiment here because overheating things can easily do more harm than good in that you can damage the paint finish in and around the braid lands.

 

Using a soldering iron on a super-low setting and applying it directly to the top of the braid may help but you'll have to be very careful and keep the iron moving.

[Cole75]

Thank you for the info!

[Bill from NH]

When I helped rebraid sections of the QCS Engleman & hillclimb in the early 2000s, we used a Citrus-based glue remover from Walmart & narrow flat-bladed scrapers & screwdrivers to remove the softened glue. Both were Ogilvie tracks. I recall a section on the Engleman was glued with a different glue than the rest. Nothing would soften it, so I manually scraped it for 2 or 3 hours. I think Ogilvie used squeeze mustard bottles for applying his braid glue.

[Dave_12]

i used a screw driver to scrape the old glue off . Slow but it got the job done with no damage to track surface.

[Cole75]

Thank you!

[Bill Seitz]

If the braid gain is already .047" deep, braid is only .024 - .032" thick, so this is going to leave the new braid quite recessed without removing any more material.

[Bill from NH]

Sounds like someone may have already used a router on that track.

[Steve Ogilvie]

I use a small base trim router to cut glue off but only if I have to. On a high banked track you have to reset the cut depth too many times to keep the depth uniform . Very nerve wracking.

 

There are glue softeners that work, but the best way is to remove the glue while you pull the braid off by slowly heating the braid with a soldering iron as you lightly pull the braid across the slot sideways, not pulling it upward.

 

I was really disappointed when French's changed the design of their mustard bottles. The old squeeze bottles were the best for applying contact cement, although I did throw out a lot of mustard.

[Cole75]

Thank you Steve! I have track number 298 of yours