Sunday, November 28, 2010

Tools, Safety, and Trimming the Stiffeners


I used my dremel tool to cut the stiffeners from the aluminum angle. Other tools included clamps, Safety glasses, ear plugs, and several REINFORCED dremel cutting wheels on the standard Mandrel. Do NOT use the small standard NON-REINFORCED cutting wheel as these will shatter as soon as you hit the aluminum. The reinforced cutting wheels will work fine, but you will go through at least 4-5 of them in the process of trimming all 16 rudder stiffeners. The wheels dissipate quite rapidly when cutting the aluminum, so you will need several of them. You MUST where safety glasses and ear plugs, and, as I found out the hard way, even some gloves to keep from burning yourself on the hot dremel tool.

The last thing you need is tiny shards of aluminum in your eyes. Believe me, there are plenty of them hitting your face as you cut the metal. If you are less inclined or do not possess a Dremel tool then a good hack saw or metal cutting blade will work fine. I set my Dremel to a 9 power setting (Almost full speed). I did not want to experiment with a slower setting for fear of binding the aluminum causing the wheel to jump and cut things other than those you originally intended to cut.

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