Here's another one I've been meaning to post for a while. Don't forget about the wide variety of aluminum and 4130 tubing that's available. I've made countless little sleeves and stuff out of different diameters and thicknesses of tubing. Most recently was a reamer extension. While trying to ream my wing attach fittings to fit the AN bolts I discovered that I couldn't get the drill in the right position to ream them (since they're already installed) due to interference with the wing skins. What I needed was an 18" reamer. I could probably find one somewhere, but since I'd just spent twenty bucks for a .3735" reamer, all I really needed an extension. The guys in the machine shop just gave me a blank look, so I measured the shank, which turned out to be .310", and ordered some 4130 tubing with a .310" inside diameter. When I got it (luckily the dog couldn't do much with the 4130) I just deburred the end and the reamer slid right in with a perfect fit. A little Loctite "high strength sleeve retainer", and I had myself a two dollar extension, 2 feet long. It works like a charm!
Like Dan, I've been using a dremel tool for cleaning off the backside of fiberglass for healing edges, but I started out using one of those ghastly expensive little Dremel wire wheels. They tend to self destruct after about 10 minutes, so I eventually learned to just do the cleaning with the nub, having cut a few grooves in it to give it a little bite. I've been using the same one ever since. Those little grinding wheels are nice too, but make sure you buy them in the 20 pack, because their lifespan is pretty short too. I wish I could report amazing progress on my plane, but finishing up a big job at work (the bulletproof camper shell), Corvair College #8, the beginning of another job (a UAV this time!), and the annual reloading of all the household computers has eaten up all my time lately. The good news is that with the new computer I can check my email .03 seconds faster now... Mark Langford, Huntsville, Alabama N56ML "at" hiwaay.net see KR2S project at http://home.hiwaay.net/~langford
