|
|
|
|
Marlins Web Site
|
Date: 3-7-2022
|
Number of Hours: 6.00
|
Manual Reference: N/A
|
Brief Description: Began Cuts on Upper Cowl
|
|
This morning I made all the alignment adjusts to get my upper cowling perfectly centered on the front propeller plate with 3/16 in spacer and the aft centerline I marked on the fuselage. Next, I clamped the front of the cowling to the plate, aligned the center mark on the cowling, made multiple alignment marks on the front plate and cowling, and clamped the aft part of the cowl to the fuselage using an adjustable moving strap. Once I was satisfied the cowl was aligned and securely clamped, I carefully aligned a second layer of 1.88” masking tape over the aft edge 1st tape I laid on the fuselage and the portion of the cowling overlapping the fuselage that needed to be cut. By overlapping the tapes and subsequent angle on top of the cowl, I estimated this would move the cutoff line approximately 1/32” back. Next, I drew a cutoff line on the cowling using the edge of the top layer of masking tape and a thin ruler as a guide. I removed the cowling and clamped the base to two small sawhorses. I said a quick prayer that I wouldn’t screw this up, then carefully cut approximately 1/16” aft of the line. After the cut was made, I carefully sanded the edges to eliminate slight cut-deviations and re-clamped the cowling to the front plate with wood clamps. After multiple reiterations of aligning/marking what needs to be sanded/removing the cowl/sanding/and replacing the cowl; I achieved a pretty darn good fit. The really tough part to fit perfectly, was the weird change in angle from the upper fuselage to the lower. The cowling was now tight against the aircraft skin all the way around and was tightly clamped and aligned to the front propeller spacer, so I needed to sand another 1/16” to allow for painting.
|
|
Laying down 2nd tape
|
|
2nd tape overlap
|
|
Making the cuts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2001-2024 Matronics. All Rights Reserved.
|
