Chris:
I have found that when it is important that somethting be lined up or cut
just right you don't depend on your hands to do it. Spending the time to
fabricate fixtures, guides, or helpers is time well spent. This is especially
true when something has to be done more than once. Dremel makes an attachment
for their little machine that makes it look like a little router so you can hold
it down with 2 hands. If you put something like a 1/8" milling bit into it you
can plunge down into the wing. I would then fabricate a guide out of wood
or aluminum to temporily glue to the wing surface to run the router edge along
while cutting. Pick yourself a easily definable datum like a seam etc to
register the guide the same on both wings. If the top of your wing is not on you
can drill a small hole through to the bottom surface exactly where you want your
opening to start. Use this as the datum for the corner of your hole. At
least doing it this way if you get it wrong you can get it exactly wrong the
same way on the other side to and it looks like a professional job.
Steve Hagar
A143
N40SH
Mesa, AZ
----- Original Message -----
From:
Subject: Cutting access
panels
Hi, all.
I'm going to cut some access panels in the underside of our wings tomorrow
for the strobe units. I am planning to mount the strobes (Aeroflash)
right at the end of the spar at the wingtip, vertically to the spar by floxing
in a set of bolts. The panel will be right by strobe unit, sized to
just let the strobe pass through flat, as there is no room to tip it up on end
to bring it through the small way once the skin is on.
Anyway, the question I have is what is the best way to actually cut out the
panel from the skin? I have a large Permagrit disk, some very small
Dremel engraving bits, and a plain 'ol hacksaw handle (the kind that holds the
blade from the end.
I want to end up with a decent cut, not something that looks like it was
done after a few pints of Guiness. Using a Dremel gives me the
heebie-geebies as it's too easy to 'slip'. It's not like a hole where
you can start small and size it gradually. A panel has to be done in
one shot.
Thanks for any tips, gang. Once the panel is out, it's easy from
there with 3 layers of BID and some anchor nuts. Ditto for the
strobes on the tips.
Chris
A159
--- Steve Hagar
--- hagargs@earthlink.net
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