seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

don't know what it was or where to get one, but wondering if I can use that to get dimensions on a bulkhead inside a fuse?

IE I have a fuse, want to get the shape in a side where it transforms to the bottom, to make a bulkhead perfectly matched. What I want to know is if one of these tools, I can take dimensions off it and put it into cad to have my machine make up the bulkhead.

All ideas welcome as I'm wasting trees making a drawing printing it, sticking it in the fuse, making changes, more printing, etc etc before I get the perfect fit.

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

I'm not sure that the contour tools that were discussed here a while ago would be all that useful for inside a fuz as you'd only be able to do little bits at a time.

Easiest would be to cut the fuselage at the desired location and then simply trace around it !

Maybe you could make up a template that is definitely undersized so that you can get it in place, then just CA a bunch of e.g. 1/8" stringers to it in a radial fashion so that you are making up your own custom coutour gauge.

Or being more inventive, maybe you could line the fuselage section with wax paper to prevent sticking, insert your undersized template and support it, then squirt in some expanding foam to fill the gaps between the template and the fuz ; wait for it to harden then pull it out and use that as your perfect-fit template.

Gordon

Bob_B

My Feedback: (11)

A length of Solder works quite well.
Agood woodworking supply house has the best contour gauges.

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

like this Sean?

http://www.mannyswoodworkersplace.co...ourgauges.html

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

You mean there is no magical digital tool that will do this? It's 2007!

Darn

Thanks Todd, that's what I'm talking about, I can get measurements off that and will get me a lot closer than the 10 drawing edits I have to make before I cut in lite ply to check fit, and then heavy ply for the formers after that.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Do they make one that will do the inside corners? Probably not, but thought I'd ask.

Guess I could do it from the outside and translate it in.

Some of these angles are a pain!

[link=http://www.my87.com/canopy former.pdf]Example[/link]

t_burley

My Feedback: (59)

cant answer that Sean about the inside corners. Actually I need a couple
of these tools myself. I have seen guys use them, and done as you have by tracing
throwing away, re-drawing and telling myself to order one of these tools

so, now I need to as well

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Maybe that's how you can make your next several million ... develop a tool for 4 of us guys to use !

Given its width, and it's limited depth, you're not going to be able to get that tool into the tighter areas (e.g. around the wing root area etc) - that's why I thought it might not be much good for your application.

Gordon

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

I think Gordon is on the right track. Why don't you try making an undersized template, then fill the gaps between it and the fuse with modeling clay. You could let it set overnight to harden if necessary, remove it then trace the outline.

Joe

Bob.R

My Feedback: (2)

Sean, Eastwood.com also has them. Look for profile gauge.

Tomcat_104

My Feedback: (42)

Sean,

I got the same contour gauge at Lowes. My LHS even carries a few sizes of it. I did something similar to what Gordan suggested with mt TGA F-15 since they were out of business. Modeling clay sets up in 4-5 hours and is pretty easy to trace. Good luck.

David

S_Ellzey

Yes, there is a magical digital tool that will do that, it is call a CMM machine, we have several of them here at Lockheed, I think they only cost a few hunderd thousand dollars each, and fill a room the size of a garage. We used them to verify that the parts match the drawing, but you could do it the other way around.

Lance Campbell

Sean,
I'm working on that very issue currently on my bird. I'm using a rather manual approach, but it is working well. Make the first one out of a thin balsa, that you can quickly sand and shape. Rough cut it to fit in where it's going to go, then use a compass. Open the compass just wide enough to reach the farthest you need to and then hold the point and the pencil vertical to the direction the former needs to drop in from. Now, trace from side to side, letting the point slide along the inside of the fuse, tracing the line onto the balsa.

Cut that out, then final sand to perfect fit. Once you've got that, then just trace it onto your ply former.

From what I hear, that process is an old carpenter's trick, but works well for this too.

Lance

Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Yes, that's common for carpentry - see e.g. http://www.veritastools.com/Content/.../05U0501AI.pdf - works reasonably well if you can get the compass into all needed spots, and you can keep it oriented the same throughout the scribing process.

seanreit

My Feedback: (60)

Son of a beach, a few hundred grand ye say?

Guess it's back to scissors and paper for me boys!

Thanks for the help and the information that at least I live in a world where the technology does exist!


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