To help get your holes normal to the surface look at the reflection of your drill bit in the aluminum surface that you are drilling through. When your drill bit lines up with its reflection you are normal to the surface; it will look continuous. Looking at it from two different angles helps. You can see the reflection through the blue plastic as well.
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Empannagee done
Wings 90% done
Received fuselage
Great tip. This also works on curved surfaces. But I still had a machinist friend make a drill guide for the steps out of nylon and will have him make drill guides for the cabin top on my -10.
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Patrick Kelley - Flagstaff, AZ
RV-6A N156PK - Flying too much to paint
RV-10 14MX(reserved) - Fuselage on gear http://www.mykitlog.com/flion/
EAA Technical Counselor #5357
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Bill Pendergrass ME/AE '82
RV-7A: Flying since April 15, 2012. 850 hrs
YIO-360-M1B, mags, CS, GRT EX and WS H1s & A/P, Navworx
Unpainted, polished....kinda'... Eyeballin' vinyl really hard.
Yeah. The boss got a Silhouette Cameo 4 Xmas 2019.
and will have him make drill guides for the cabin top on my -10.
For drilling the door hinges in the 10 top you can stack hinge halves and drill through the top more square. Hard to stay square through thick curved fiberglass.
For drilling the door hinges in the 10 top you can stack hinge halves and drill through the top more square. Hard to stay square through thick curved fiberglass.
One thing to keep in mind when installing bolts into fiberglass, you want a good fit to the bolt shank. Sneak up on the final hole diameter with a couple sizes smaller drills first. Use a mike or calipers to measure the bolt shank and drill to get the smallest hole that will do the job.
Better still is to ream to final size.
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Mike Starkey
VAF 909
Rv-10, N210LM.
Flying as of 12/4/2010
Phase 1 done, 2/4/2011
Sold after 240+ wonderful hours of flight.
"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."
Tip: drilling the hole normal to the surface.
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