Brief Description: ICON Flashlight worked great!!!
I wanted to show you the light that we used to drill the top hinge. Rob had suggested that there were narrow blade type flashlights which I recalled seeing at Harbor Freight Aviation Supply Superstore. I stopped by on my way from a doctors appointment and the ICON light seemed to be the ticket for the tight space cowl and to use to drill the top hinge.
The method for drilling the hinge is to use magnets(yuk!) or use a light to locate the hole on the hinge inside the cowling and drill through the center of the light on the fiberglass. The ICON blade flashlight has about a 3" LED light which washes out the light in the hole of the hinge so I made a modification.
I took two small o-rings and some electrical tape. I punched a hole through the electrical tape large enough to fit over the o-rings but not encumber the holes in the o-rings and captured the o-rings with the electrical tape to hold them in place. The light still bled through the electrical tape due to its strength....so I put thick pieces of guerilla tape on top of the electrical tape to make sure the only light would be coming through the o-ring area. It worked great.
The light was then used on the inside of the cowl to place the focused light from the o-rings over each hinge hole as Rob drilled the fiberglass hole to match. The thin blade and its ability to be angled worked great to get in the tight places. Mission accomplished!
