26 Vol.4 No.1 / Januar y 2015
HINTS FOR HOMEBUILDERS
Knife Trimming Composites
EAA Technical Counselor Mike Busch demonstrates how to trim a layup while in the green state not fully cured.
Removal of Stainless Steel Pulled Rivet
Brian Carpenter from Rainbow Aviation Services demonstrates a technique to remove a stainless steel pulled rivet.
Drilling Holes in Composites
EAA Technical Counselor Mike Busch demonstrates the use of a hole saw to cut accurate holes in cured composite materials.
Locating Blind Holes
EAA Technical Counselor Mike Busch provides a tip to help locate holes without the use of a hole-fi nder tool.
HINTS FOR HOMEBUILDERS VIDEOS
HERE'S SOME OF THE MORE RECENT VIDEOS ADDED TO EAA'S CADRE OF MORE THAN 400 HOMEBUILDER HINTS VIDEOS:
MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR and I were talking one day about our
J-3 Cubs and their construction. My Cub was built in Lock
Haven, Pennsylvania, and his was built in Ponca City,
Oklahoma. He has owned several Cubs and is knowledge-
able about them and other Short-Wing Pipers.
He mentioned that some steel-tube fuselage structures
were treated internally with smoke rather than oil for cor-
rosion control. So I scratched my head and asked
more questions. He explained that you could drill a small
hole in a section of tubing and add a small amount of boiled
linseed oil. Then heat it with your torch and that would
fill the entire tube up with smoke. When the smoke
cools down, it will leave a film of oil on the inside walls
of the tubing.
That sounded a whole lot better to me than spending hours
sloshing oil around in the tubing and trying to recover it. So I
went home and drilled a 1/8-inch hole at each end of a section
of tubing. I then heated the tubing underneath one of the holes
and added a few drops of oil. I angled my torch so it would push
the smoke down the tube and a few seconds later and … voila!
Smoke started puf ng out the hole on the other end like a toy
train. I quickly closed the holes with a rosette weld and moved
to another section. This might be old school to some, but I
hadn't heard of it before. Seemed to work on. Build on!
Smoke those Tubes!
An alternative to oil
BY KE VIN CONNER, REPRINTED FROM THE HAT Z NEWSLE T TER