Foam removal method (0.5 hrs)
This Long EZ project is undoubtedly a ginormous exercise in problem solving.
Every unlisted task you are faced with has multiple solutions, some of which are better or more efficient than others, most of which will be still unknown to you, until you “discover” them, as in "make them up as you go".
This one is another of those unspoken things that have to be done, but that appears nowhere in the literature, and there are thousands of these everywhere.
Today’s task is to prepare the holes I drilled on the sidewalls to receive a washer and a nut.
Well, the holes I drilled were 0.25”, but the washers are 0.50”, so some foam will have to be removed from the outside of the sidewalls, so that I can put washers and nuts on the bolts, and tighten them.
Like most every other task I have dealt with, this one had me scratching my head for a few days, aggravating the bolding spot on the very top.
What I was hoping to achieve was a repeatable process, with minimal foam removal to keep from having to add heavier micro, and hopefully quick and easy as well.
As you will see, I am happy to report that this task was disposed of in a very short time, with excellent results, thanks to a new (to me) approach to cylindrical foam removal.
If you have ever bought a Dremel tool, it probably came with attachments that you don’t even know what they are for. Mine was the same way, I bought it maybe 20 years ago, and I still had a few heads that have never been used.
I decided to give four of these a try and, though I'm sure they were never intended to be used this way, they worked like magic on the foam.
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| Seldom to never used Dremel tools, plus a 1/2" end mill. |
I also used a 0.50” end mill to cut up some of the foam toward the bottom that the attachments couldn’t get to.
Using this technique, I was able to complete both sides very quickly.
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| Right outer fuselage sidewall |
The holes are perfectly cylindrical, and are the smallest needed to take care of business.
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| Fiberglass from the other side showing at the bottom of the hole |
There is still a little clean up to be done at the bottom, but I came up with a different technique to do that.
You might remember that I cut the gear brackets bushings from a 0.625” steel rod, which turns out to be close enough to size of the foam holes. Since I still had a lot of it laying around, I glued some sand paper to one end of it, and used it between my hands, like I was trying to start a fire, and sanded the fiberglass at the bottom of the hole until it was smooth.
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| Glueing sandpaper to steel rod |
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| Sand paper trimmed with razor knife |
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| Sanding the bottom of the holes |
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| Clean enough to accept a washer and a bolt |
Now that the outer sides are ready, it’s time to flox and bolt these gear brackets onto the sidewalls, once and for all.
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