Brief Description: Completed Cowling Spacer Front Plate
After being gone for a 10 day work trip and returning Saturday afternoon, I got back into the shop on Sunday.
I wanted to finish the spacer for the cowling install, so I decided to get the front plate completed. I had bought a piece of 1/8 aluminum to make the plate. I started by drilling my screw hole pattern for the front plate and then placed the locating pin holes into the front plate in order to line up all the rings for concentricity.
I planned on cutting the diameter on the mill machine...but the travel is about an inch short on the Y-travel. So I decided it had to be done on the lathe. I also put a hole into the center of the plate for locating purposes.
I took off the back plate from the center spacer and attached it to the front plate. I then chucked it up in the lathe and began the process of removing about 3/4 inch of extra material to get the front plate to it's finished size of 13 inches. I had to take small cuts due to the thin nature of the front plate so I pecked away at .025 per pass. After a little while I had it finished. Got it all deburred and then assembled it all back together for a test fit. Everything lined up perfectly...it is complete and ready for the cowl fitting portion when I get to it in the near future.
