I actually didn't plan on working on the Bearhawk today. I was cleaning the garage and the aluminum started talking to me so I couldn't resist. I pulled out some scrap and decided to try some different cutting techniques. I'd seen where some of the CH601 builders were using a scribe to cut aluminum. I thought I'd see if it really worked. Since I need a bunch of 1" strips I tried cutting a strip off a 7' piece using this method. It took several scribes but it did eventually take enough aluminum off that it broke off when I bent it over. I didn't really like the edge cut though and considering the time and effort to make just this one cut I decided that wouldn't work for me. I used some snips to cut part of one strip and it did make a better cut but it's way too much work. I also tried a throatless shear that I got from Harbor Freight but I didn't like the cut with that either.
It has been my intention to cut my 1" strips on a shear. I have not been able to locate one yet. Even my heating contractor didn't have a good source. I was planning on doing some more checking around - there's a race car shop not too far from me that I was going to check out.
Since I"m planning to router cut my web spars I decided to cut a couple 1" strips for practice. I sandwiched the aluminum sheet between two sheets of 3/4 " MDF. I hung the aluminum over the edge 1-3/8" to account for the 3/8 router bit. I placed 4 clamps on the edge and with my left hand held and ran the router down the edge and with my right hand would move the clamps from the front of the router to the rear as I kept moving. This process worked extremely well with a good edge cut. I decided this was good practice and before I knew it I had all my 1" strips cut. I did go though another router bit with all that cutting. If I hadn't screwed around experimenting I could have done this in a couple hours or less.
