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- Feb 8, 2021
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- 348
I just got my pioneer steps... Has anyone ever considered dipping them in flex seal to quieten them? I wonder how it would hold up and if it has any residual oder...
I wouldn’t worry about odor. I’ve used the spray but never the liquid. Vet tape might be a better alternative. I’ve gon crazy with it just a tad, but I really like it. It’ll wear with foot traffic, but I’ll add a few wraps to my platform etc..
I wonder about dipping in bed-liner....be careful not to get the kind with a grit (would wear strap or rope holding step), but i used to paint aluminum recurve risers with many light layers of truck bedliner and it was indestructible
I wonder about dipping in bed-liner....
I wonder about dipping in bed-liner....
I tried the spray on bedliner, rattle-can from Home Depot. It did not work out well: took the shine off the steps, but achieved very little in terms of sound dampening. The texture contained some grit, which was good for traction, but this did little/nothing for the sound. (The steps still sounded like tuning forks.)
the stuff i used to use was duplicolor bed liner in a spray can
they have since changed their formula so that it contains a grit
this would still work IF you masked off any area your strap might touch (you should round the edges of aluminum that touch the strap also, i bought 2 of those steps and they did not chamfer them and they are too sharp)...or you could spray whole step but then put tape or something on the bedliner where the strap touches
the duplicolor rattle can bed liner (sold at auto parts stores) sticks incredibly well to even oxidized aluminum and is tough as nails, just use many light coats to build it up (duplicolor rattle can anything...spray paint, etc.....is far superior in my opinion to anything else commonly available at box stores)
i'm not sure about dipping, unless you find a non gritty version that sticks well in a big can
i would get a test piece of aluminum bar stock and do your thing with it and then see how it turns out before using on a step
edit: something that might help....if you wanna rough those steps up to make stuff stick, do the opposite of sanding steps when you want to make something smooth...what i mean is first sand with fine grit, then medium, and finish with coarse....this creates tooth at multiple spatial scales...to pull out a 2 dollar word from a previous career
i wonder if you added enough of anything (except tape) to these to make them quiet, would it remove the weight savings? here you have a 3 oz step with 3 oz of plastic tip to quiet it....because the coatings are really dense compared to tapes that puff out....i'd hate to have steps covered in camoform tape hanging off like dirty band aids....but might be your best bet
i wonder if you added enough of anything (except tape) to these to make them quiet, would it remove the weight savings? here you have a 3 oz step with 3 oz of plastic tip to quiet it....because the coatings are really dense compared to tapes that puff out....i'd hate to have steps covered in camoform tape hanging off like dirty band aids....but might be your best bet
Yeah, that's about it. I had a lot of time into those sticks. A LOT. They turned out really well and are the quietest sticks I own. But, yes, they come with a weight penalty. As I wrote in one of the posts there, I'd use vet wrap. Not nearly as quiet, but takes a lot less time:
"
What Would I Do Differently?
The steps, but not much else.
If it says anything, I have another set of climbing sticks that I used this season. For those climbing sticks, I applied the heat shrink tubing to the main post as well. As mentioned above, I have been very impressed with the heat shrink tubing.
Instead of Plasti Dipping the steps, though, I used Vet Wrap. It took a LOT less time to apply and seem to do a good job of quieting down the steps as well. I think the Plasti Dip probably does a little bit better job of quieting down the steps from a metal-to-metal contact standpoint, but it takes waaaaay too much time to do properly, and once it starts to rub off, it has to be peeled off and you’d have to start over. "
Yeah, that's about it. I had a lot of time into those sticks. A LOT. They turned out really well and are the quietest sticks I own. But, yes, they come with a weight penalty. As I wrote in one of the posts there, I'd use vet wrap. Not nearly as quiet, but takes a lot less time:
"
What Would I Do Differently?
The steps, but not much else.
If it says anything, I have another set of climbing sticks that I used this season. For those climbing sticks, I applied the heat shrink tubing to the main post as well. As mentioned above, I have been very impressed with the heat shrink tubing.
Instead of Plasti Dipping the steps, though, I used Vet Wrap. It took a LOT less time to apply and seem to do a good job of quieting down the steps as well. I think the Plasti Dip probably does a little bit better job of quieting down the steps from a metal-to-metal contact standpoint, but it takes waaaaay too much time to do properly, and once it starts to rub off, it has to be peeled off and you’d have to start over. "
How did this turn out?View attachment 58166
Sprayed the steps then dipped the steps in flex deal. Tomorrow we will see how it works.