Scorpion Flex Tool

[bill lambeth]

Thanks screenman and chippenaway.I think I will be purchasing a scorpion.I am kinda tired of the towels.I use black towels but I dont think that looks very proffesional.Delta sure is getting a lot of my money these days and well worth it.

[Dave M]

Can you tell us what material the shield is made from?

[Brent Deines]

It's polycarbonate with special properties to block UV, same as the bubble domes.

[screenman]

Used mine today to hold the heatsink in place, it just gets better.

[Dave M]

I asked about the material because I've use a very similar UV blocker for about 12 years. It has a 3" Woods suction cup with a 13" goose neck. At the end I attached a 12" x 15" opaque clip-board type of material. I used to have problems with premature curing until reading on this forum about UV rays bouncing off other objects. Along with the shield I started using black hand towels to wrap around the injector which made all the difference! Now, after reading Screenman's post on testing with the new Flex Tool, I did some testing myself. I don't know what Screenman did for tests, but mine was pretty simple. Again, the only major difference between what I use and the Scorpion Flex Tool is the shield. I set up the blocker as Brent described in his post while performing a test repair, I put one drop of pit filler and one drop of medium resin in the shade of the blocker. I did not cover either drop with curing tabs. After 10 minutes neither drop had started to cure. Using the same drops I now covered them with curing tabs and withing 2 minutes they were both hardened! I did the same test using the towels with the blocker and the drops never cured. So resin, while under a UV blocker alone will cure while covered with a tab. I can only assume from my past experience that after resin is injected into a break and is still covered by the injector (like a curing tab, no contact with air) can cure from bouncing UV rays. I'm just saying, in my humble opinion, be very careful!

[Brent Deines]

I agree you need to be careful, but it doesn't sound like your clip board is made from the same material our UV shield is made from. We run tests similar to yours but we also run tests using a radiometer to see how much UV is actually getting through and around the UV shield, which is also how we determined that UV light will penetrate many towels.

Keep in mind, as a general rule of thumb lower viscosity resins cure slightly slower than higher viscosity (pit resin) resins and the solar green glass used in most modern windshields blocks about 70% of UV. This is certainly not a reason to be careless, but the resin in the break will not cure as fast as pit resin on the surface. As always, I can only speak for Delta Kits resins. Anyone using another brand of resin should contact the manufacturer or do their own testing for recommendations.

As stated in my original post, if you feel the need to block 100% of the UV this is not the tool for you, but then again, every time you lift the corner of a towel to check your work, regardless of the color, you are letting in some UV light, so if you want to guarantee that you block 100% of the UV during the entire process you need to work inside with the door closed.

Regardless of what is used to block the UV rays when working in the sun, I agree with Dave, you need to be careful.

[just chippen away]

Dave M, don't you still use the GT system? It would think the shield would be sitting to high to be able to protect your work as to the towel. I would think the towel would still be better on that system... I definitely could be wrong,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, again....

[Dave M]

Yes, I use GT resins and equipment. I'm not sure what the height of the injector has to do with the use of this goose neck blocker because the location of the sun will determine where the blocker is located. If it's 2 PM in the winter and the sun is at a 30 degree angle than the blocker can't be positioned directly over the injector!

[just chippen away]

DAVE M.
I am looking at how they promoted the Shade in the first part of this thread using the pic's they had the shade DIRECTLY on top of the injector... I was using the reference to the GT do to the fact with the compressor operated or the hand held injector, you would be higher up off the glass than the Delta system and would be receiving more UV the higher you are off the glass.
If you are using the Shade at angles to block the UV, then it would not mater... but you will still be receiving UV and most likely will still be using your towel to block the UV out....

That is the reason why I ask questions.....

[just chippen away]

I The UV shade idea has been used by another major manufacturer for yrs. Dave M, it came with your setup also... This one just more bells and wheels for multi tasking.

I may have used my UV Shade the first yr if that and they all found there way to the corner of my tool box / step stool along with the yellow UV covers....

I have been using my Shop style towels to cover my injector and work area and have worked repairs as long as 1.5 hrs, peeking to see what progress is doing and have never had my resin set up on me.am going to go out on a ledge and say I think Screenman came up with the original concept design. He is plugging pretty hard on the different uses it has been used for.