RCU Forums - View Single Post - How flat is "flat" for a building board?
Old 02-04-2004 | 07:59 PM
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SST
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From: Mt. Morris, MI
Default RE: How flat is "flat" for a building board?

Oh STOP!...STOP! I can't stand it! Building a model to tolerances of ten thousandths (BTW, is that .010 or multiples of .0001)? Over what distance? My god that's good! I'm a journeyman toolmaker. I make my living on precision, OK? Mill .100" off one side of a 1" thick, 6" long piece of cold roll STEEL and you will have a measurable ammount of warpage next morning. Your Monokote can cause serious warpage on a hot day. Flat is cool, but be reasonable. Humid days will make your structure move, so don't sweat the table...If it doesn't have sags that allow pencils to roll under your straightedge (or at least almost ), you'll survive. I've seen fuselages that must have been 1" or more out of line (.40 size plane) that still were flyable...Like I said, you want to do the best you can, but you cannot build a perfect structure from the woods we use, and even if you could, it wouldn't stay that way.