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Tip: An alternative to the paper clip trick

R

Randy

Well Known Member
I purchased paper clips and was ready to use them to give me a final trim line for cutting the height of the baffles.

Then I came up with an idea, which is:

Tape two pop sickle sticks on to a pointed tip magic marker. Tape them on to the marker so the ends of the pop sickle sticks are even with the marking tip. With the marker I used, this gave me 3/8" from the tip to the top of the pop sickle sticks.

This can then be used to slide along the upper inside surface of the top cowling and give a solid accurate mark on the baffles to cut to.

I was not sure how well this would work so I went with one pop sickle stick for the first cut. After cutting it was pretty obvious that this technique had transferred a very accurate profile of the cowl top to the baffles. If I were to do it again right now, I would go ahead and mark it up for the final cut as soon as the baffles were trimmed down enough to get the cowl in final position.

I used various extension items like some 3/4" angle I had laying around, and some paint stir sticks to make it easy to reach in to make the marks. Pulling rather than pushing worked best to allow the marker to slide along. The two front vertical baffles are left out, as well as the flywheel to allow reaching in to mark the inside of the rest of the baffles, then the same technique can be used to get the vertical baffles up front marked.

To get the baffles cut down enough to allow the cowl halves to mate up, I used the paint sticks and clamps to hold the cowl apart at 5". 4 sticks and 8 clamps. this allowed me to reach in from the back and from the front to mark for the initial cuts. Just set the gap all around at exactly 5" or what ever you want to use and reach in to mark. Two pop sickle sticks taped together with a notch at 5" made this part easier too.

Hope this helps someone in a part of the build where some help is very welcome; BAFFLES!

Randall Crothers in Sedona
RV7A new firewall forward with IO375 and WWRV200
Just completed the snorkel intake setup.
 
Great idea

We are installing new baffles in our 13 year old RV-8 and this sounds like a great way to do it - much better than the very successful paper clip method.

Would you post a picture of the marker and stick assembly?
 
I did the same, with the exception that I used a 1" outside diameter grommet on the end of my sharpie to give a 1/2" gap. Multiple solutions here as long as the concept is the same.

It took me 3 marking/cutting repeats to get the baffles to the right height.

I have not used the paper clip method but it seems to me that one must guess on the initial cuts in order to get into the range of application of the clips, then do a bunch of offset layout. Yuk.

The sharpie spacer method is guaranteed to get you to the right spot without cutting too far simply by repeated marking/cutting until the top cowl settles into final position and the new sharpie marks converge with the top of the previously cut baffle.
 
rzbill said:
I did the same, with the exception that I used a 1" outside diameter grommet on the end of my sharpie to give a 1/2" gap. Multiple solutions here as long as the concept is the same.

It took me 3 marking/cutting repeats to get the baffles to the right height.

I have not used the paper clip method but it seems to me that one must guess on the initial cuts in order to get into the range of application of the clips, then do a bunch of offset layout. Yuk.

The sharpie spacer method is guaranteed to get you to the right spot without cutting too far simply by repeated marking/cutting until the top cowl settles into final position and the new sharpie marks converge with the top of the previously cut baffle.
Click to expand...

Bill, I applied the same principle but ( but less elegant) I made an aluminum disc, started with a small hole, then swaged it larger with a punch taper until it fit on the very tip of the sharpie. I used a rubber band to attach it to am aluminum yard stick so it would flex and did the same marking technique as others.

Since I wanted the lower cowl half off, and to ensure the upper half did not droop, I make angle brackets that bolted 45deg apart on the flywheel, and tapped the alternate sides for a 1/4" bolt. With the cowl in alignment, the bolts were backed out until they touched the upper cowl. That way, I made SURE that it was in the correct position each of the zillion times it has been cycled on/off.
 
Here is what I used

Here is a photo of how I used pop sickle sticks as a spacer to the marker tip, in this case giving me 3/8".
2vtxl04.jpg


Randall
 
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