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This idea came from Dan Pettinger - thanks, Dan! I
bought a couple of Wicks squeegees - those big rubber ones. Those work
great for larger layups, but, for fiberglass tapes, small pieces, corners or
whatever use a credit card. Collect a few that come in the mail, or,
better yet - ask friends and family for any that come in the mail - and
you'll have a big supply overnight! If they get messed up
just throw them out. Depending on the size of the layup, you end up making a few more passes because they are smaller,
but, the action is much nicer. They flex a bit easier than the rubber squeegee but
it's a more consistent flex. I work them pretty hard when I micro foam since the
micro is usually pretty thick but I still like them better than the other squeegees.
Now, I only use the rubber ones on the largest layups. Try them for
micro, too, especially for layups like the canard top where there's lot of
intricate micro work, staying away from the edges and the spar cap. |
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This idea came from the mailing list that's part of
cozy.canard.com A Fein Sander is basically a detail sander from Fein, a German
company that happens to have made the first ever electric drill. The sander's action
is patented, you'd think it was a vibrating action but it's actually mechanical. The
head moves back and forth, about 1/16th of an inch, rapidly. When you put the
high-speed steel cutter on the thing it cuts cured fiberglass briskly. It's not
fast, but it moves along steady and doesn't go so fast as to melt the epoxy and gum itself
up. I usually, when I can't knife trim, use the cutter head to get close to edge of
whatever needs trimming, then put the sander head back on with some 60 or so grit and sand
to the exact edge. It sands really nice, too, fast enought so you don't get bored
waiting but, again, slow enough to not melt or soften the epoxy from the sanding heat and
gum up the sandpaper. |
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Several builders have had good luck with 2 to 6 mil plastic
when used peel-ply style on top of curing epoxy/fiberglass. You do your layup,
squeegee out most of the extra epoxy and finish all layers then add a layer of plastic
(clean and dry, of course) over the top. Squeegee gently over the plastic to
eliminate bubbles, wrinkles and extra epoxy and let cure. Once the part is cured,
peel off the plastic and you will have a nice, smooth surface. Don't use too thin of
plastic or you'll get too many wrinkles (from it stretching) and try this on a practice
part to get the hang of it. I haven't had too much luck with this but still
recommend trying it. |
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This tip (well, this isn't really a tip - just me agreeing
that this is a good idea!) Good stores that sell cloth for making clothes sell
little rotary cutters, like pizza cutters (I think Wicks/Aircraft Spruce sell them as
well) as well as mats made of a hard plastic or rubber to cut on. Lay the fiberglass
on the mat and cut away. The little cutter zips through the glass without disturbing
the fibers and cuts a clean edge. I bought one of these, but, instead of buying a
$50 mat (that's not big enough anyway) I bought a 4' x 8' sheet of thin plastic
tub-surround material and cut on that. It works great - when it gets cut up real bad
I'll buy another piece since it only cost about $10. |
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Place the two pieces of foam to be glued on a flat surface,
press them together snugly and put a piece of tape over the joint. I
like box sealing tape the best, it sticks the least once the micro has
cured. Turn the pieces
over and lift at the joint until they open like a hinge. Put your 5-minute epoxy
(or micro, depending on what's called for in the plans) into the joint then close the hinge. The excess
epoxy or micro will squish out and you can
scrape that off. I usually then tape the other side to make a smooth joint.
Pull the tape off when the epoxy is cured and you'll have a smooth, well-filled
joint. The picture shows tape on both sides while the epoxy cures. |
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I make
fiberglass strips, or, complex-shaped, or multi-layer layups that you have
to put somewhere challenging using two pieces of 6 (or less) mil clear plastic,
or, waxed paper. 1) Wet out the layers you need on top
of one layer of plastic or waxed paper. 2) If you have
a paper pattern, put that underneath the plastic or waxed paper to aid in
wetting out enough glass, or, to make sure you cut the layup to the right
size and shape once it's complete. 3) Alternately, if
doing tapes or measured layups, use a Sharpie marker and draw the 'part'
directly on the the plastic or waxed paper before you start the layup,
flipping the plastic or waxed paper over (account for mirror image issues,
if necessary) to keep the Sharpie ink out of your nice epoxy layup.
4) Add a second layer of plastic or waxed paper on top of the layup, once
it's all wet out and the right number of layers have been added.
Squeegee as you see fit until it's wet out completely but light as you can
make it. 5) Cut the layup to size using your tool of preference;
mine is electric scissors. If you want the
overhang, cut it to what you need then move to the next step.
6) Pull off the top layer of plastic or waxed paper, transport it from the
workbench to where it goes, lay into place, brush, stipple, squeegee or
simply press on it until it's where you like it, you've removed any bubbles,
etc. then CAREFULLY pull off the
remaining layer plastic or waxed paper. CAREFULLY. If you think
for a minute before you remove the plastic or waxed paper, you can probably
figure out which direction of removal will disturb the layup the least, do
it that way. The plastic or waxed paper keeps the layup glass from getting
misaligned - either during the trip from the workbench to the plane or while
fitting onto the plane, and, keeps the mess more under control.
Further, it's easier to get a non-distorted layup into the right place with
the top layer still on there. Last, if you want a properly wet out but
light as can be layup, squeegeeing with the top layer on there helps ensure
that. |
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Those $1 syringes (no needle)
you can order from Wicks are great for this sort of thing. After you mix up a batch
of micro or flox, fill the syringe with it for easier spreading. Cut off the tip, of
course, at the right place to get the whole size you need. Makes jobs like this one
much easier (this is the front seatback brace - there are quite a few long lines of flox
you have to make to join this side to the other pieces) and keeps the mess under
control. I also use the syringe this way for flox fillets and anytime I need to
precisely spread out a bunch of flox or micro. |
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Syringes are nice, but, they can be
expensive. Also, they actually don't work as well as this method.
Partly because you can cut the corner of the bag to any size you need,
partly because they're easier to fill and refill.
Get a plastic bag of your favorite
type. I like Ziplock® bags because they're a bit thicker and
there's less chance of them stretching or ripping. Turn the bag inside
out, halfway down, and fill it with material. Smush the material (or
let it run, if it's thin enough) into one corner, then twist the bag around
to isolate that section of the bag. Cut the corner off (of the section
with the material in it) cutting as large or small of a hole as you'll need.
A cut that makes a 1/8" to 3/16" hole works best. Squeeze the bag to
pipe the material wherever you need it. If I need to do several
"pipes" I set the bag, hole side down, into the cup I mixed the material in
so I can reuse later. Refill the bag until you've completed the task,
then, throw away. |
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My wife calls these PIA sticks,
short for "pain in the ..." well, you get the idea. I read that
another builder had made this sort of thing to make large layups easier.
The builder in question, Oreste Mucilli, routed a slot in a piece of wood
and inserted a mushroom-shaped piece of weather stripping. I had some
vinyl weather stripping around so I made these out of some scrap wood.
I wouldn't use staples if I did them over, but, they worked pretty well.
We used them extensively for the large layups on the fuselage sides. |
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Here's another shot of the PIA
sticks. You use them in pairs, one set for each person/each end of the
piece of fiberglass you're laying out. Put the weather stripping side
in, hold the two ends of the sticks (they're 48" long, thus, fit the full
width of a piece of fiberglass), squeeze them together then pull against
your partner. If you let them slip a little bit, they align the fibers
straight, let you pull tight enough to span over an already wet layup and
when you think you're in position you lower them down and apply the piece of
fiberglass. If you need to pull the glass off again to reposition,
just pull tight against your partner again and lift, the sticks keep you
from distorting the glass when you do that, even a couple of times. I
like the PIA nickname, but frankly, think they eliminate the pain, not cause
it! |
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When I got to Chapter 8, I got
really confused one day trying to make sure I was using the right parts so
when I installed them I wouldn't use the wrong part, short something and
then have to buy something duplicate. This is probably a little
meticulous, but, I now have each Chapter's parts in a separate labeled bag. |
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I think this idea first came
from Jerry Schneider in the Tampa, Florida area. Most stores like
Jo-Ann Fabrics or similar sell these, they're used for quilting or clothes
making. They are basically a set of electric scissors. They're
great for cutting fiberglass, not so much in this manner, before the layup,
but during it. You know - you're right in the middle of a bunch of
layers and you need to trim about an inch of the end of your last layup.
You can use the scissors/shears, but, they get all messy and they disturb
the layup as you close them and advance them for the next cut, not to
mention when you stick the tips of them into the foam or the glass.
These babies work great - just press the trigger and they cut like crazy.
Probably won't do many layers of glass, but, I usually only use them for a
layer or two. There's a second foot, too, that makes cutting between
layers pretty easy. They even cut wetted out glass nice, just wipe
them off when you're done. |
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Mine work so good, and I use
them so much, I dropped them one day and they broke in the middle. No
worries - I just cut a small piece of BID, then, did a mini layup on it with some thick
CA glue. I'm guessing these puppies are stronger now than when they
were made. Doesn't look very nice, but, while they were out of
commission I really missed them. Good as new!
For the record, I've officially retired my first set.
I got a (cheaper, and, probably better) set of Black & Decker electric
scissors. These puppies get pretty messy after a while, despite my
best effort, so a throw away electric scissor gets my vote. |
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I'm sort of a neat freak.
With that in mind, let's just say that I always clean up when I'm done and
always put everything away. I found that I was always pulling out this
set of M drawings and putting them away again - the set with the side view
of the fuselage on it. I got to thinking one day that it might be nice
to put these up - not only assemble to look like the side of the fuselage,
but, in easy view for easy reference. It makes a lot of steps easier -
you don't have to go looking for the plans, and, given that I walk back and
forth past it as I work in my workshop, I'm kind of teaching myself how some
of the stuff fits/works together while I do. I should have done this
sooner! Besides, when the other builders come over for an EAA chapter
visit - it gives them something to look at. The current debate is this
- "Do they still call it an elevator, even though it goes down for climb
and up for descent?" (Rather than up for climb and down for
descent, like it does in your typical Cessna or conventional airframe.)
Yes, they still call it an elevator. |
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The plans say to make a sanding
spline. You buy this piece of spruce (man, my father in law would be
jealous - this aircraft quality spruce is nicer than even furniture grade
wood!) and they send you a straight, no-knots, planed, square piece of
spruce 6' x 4" x 3/4". I made my spline after I needed to sand the
trailing edge of the canard and
added a couple of features of my own. First, I added 4 handles to the
top, compliments of my local Home Depot. |
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Next, I added 80 grit paper, the
new, longer-lasting faster-cutting stuff, stapled on so I can change out the
grit or paper if needed. I used standard sheets of 9" x 11" paper,
but, tore them in half first, and, taped them with box tape together on the
bottom. This prevents the paper from getting caught on something and
ripping a piece off. This close up shows the staples in the ends and
in the side. There's not much paper to staple into on the side, so, I
used a credit card for spacing and put the head of the stapler right onto
the table as I stapled. Worked great. Nice, consistent height
staples without missing the paper or putting them through the bottom of the spline. |
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