M

Mohammed

Active Member
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Hi

Just finished drilling the skin and structure of the empennage and I am about to debur and dimple the holes. I am still keeping the blue protective stuff. Can I debur and dimple the holes with plastic still there. I am planning to keep it till priming/riveting when I'll remove the plastic from holes stripes using the welding tool.
 
I would use the soldering iron to remove a strip of plastic about 2-3 cm wide from the lines of the holes before deburring and dimpling. You will need to remove the plastic from around the holes before riveting anyway.
 
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Chips from drilling get into the plastic. If you then dimple, you are stamping those chips back into your work. Remove the plastic first. My experience with the soldering iron is that it's very easy to scratch the alclad, but it works if you are careful. However, I've seen a part that had been stored for awhile like that and when the plastic was removed, you could still see all the stripes because the bared aluminum had discolored. If you are polishing, this doesn't matter because it all polishes out, so leaving the plastic is a good way to prevent scratches. If you will be painting, the plastic really does nothing for you except make the project a little prettier while you build.
 
flion said:
Chips from drilling get into the plastic. If you then dimple, you are stamping those chips back into your work. Remove the plastic first. My experience with the soldering iron is that it's very easy to scratch the alclad, but it works if you are careful. However, I've seen a part that had been stored for awhile like that and when the plastic was removed, you could still see all the stripes because the bared aluminum had discolored. If you are polishing, this doesn't matter because it all polishes out, so leaving the plastic is a good way to prevent scratches. If you will be painting, the plastic really does nothing for you except make the project a little prettier while you build.
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It is for the reason Patrick mentions, that Section 5 in the construction manual says remove the plastic before dimple countersinking.
Section 5 also points out that if you plan to paint the airplane, leaving the plastic on is a total waste of effort (particularly if you go to all the trouble with the soldering iron), and it risks corrosion under the plastic while parts are stored, because you will be scuffing the entire surface before painting anyway.
 
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Mohammed
If you use a soldering iron to get a strip of plastic off, rather than remove all of it, make sure you polish the tip of the soldering iron a bit to stop it scratching the aluminium surface.
John
 
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rjtjrt said:
Mohammed
If you use a soldering iron to get a strip of plastic off, rather than remove all or it, make sure you polish the tip of the soldering iron a bit to stop it scratching the aluminium surface.
John
Click to expand...

+1 - and use a round tip, dont press hard let it make its path. you will get the hang of it very quickly.
 
If you are planning on painting your project, I would humbly suggest to get rid of the blue vinyl altogether.

Despite time consumming, I used to do the soldering iron thing.

Then, I found that under parts of the vinyl, some sort of reaction (corrosion?) appeared where the vinyl was a bit "bubbly". Those bubbles were there right from the factory.
PICT4559.jpg


So I took all the blue off the empennage parts and found the same on most parts. I sanded away and primed the affected areas.

I had the kit for only one year prior to completly removing the vinyl and it was not stored in a particularely humid environment.

Now working on wings, when I'm at the deburring/dimpling stage, I completly remove the vinyl before proceding.

Just my 2 cents...!!! :cool:
 
corrosion

+1
I had the same problem. My empennage was also stored for at least a year.
I usually peel it after match drilling. I mark the drilled holes on the blue vinyl.
When it's time to dimple it comes off along with my marks.
 
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