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A few simple tools
Below are a few simple tools I have made that others may find useful.
1. Wooden "gage" blocks- I have all sorts of bits of left over 2x4's. It has been useful to cut those into lengths such as 1",3/4", etc. If I need to elevate part above the table a little bit, I have a good selection of "calibrated" heights to work from. And as can be seen from the holes, they make good backer blocks for drilling. And for those last little bits of tweaking, door shims work quite nicely.
2. Cleco pallet- When doing lots a drilling and clecoing, putting the clecos in a little pallet to hold them upright can save some time. When I have a long line to drilll and cleco, I have the drill in one hand and the cleco pliers in another. I can easily scoop up a cleco, place it and move on to the next hole.
3. Line Transfer Tool- Quite often I have needed to transfer reference lines from one side of a sheet of aluminum to another. While a folded sheet of paper works well, I decided to make a little more permanent tool for this kind of task.
It is made from two pieces of .040 with one set of edges aligned and riveted together.
Comment
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Comment by Warren L. Taylor on March 1, 2017 at 5:06pm
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Damond,your excellent
idea of Cleco blocks has the advantage of being able to account for all Clecos that way you don't accidentally close up Clecos into your plane.
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Comment by raymond smeal on February 20, 2017 at 2:26pm
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For marking center lines on ribs, I have used an adjustable square set to mid point, ex 9 or 10 mm, and holding the marker on the end of the ruler and gliding it along the rib. Of course the rib has to be clamped to the bench or vise to hold it still. I did make a guage block one time, but it didn't turn out as good as a manufactured one.
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Comment by Ken Podaima on February 20, 2017 at 1:42pm
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Hi Dustin, google "marking guage" then buy or make one. Remove the scribe and drill out the hole to accomodate an extra fine sharpie pen!
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Comment by Roger Pearce on February 20, 2017 at 1:42pm
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Dustin-
The "Edge Marker Block" that came with my tool kit from Zenith works quite well. Also available here:
http://www.cleavelandtool.com/EDGE-MARKER-BLOCK/productinfo/6352/#....
Looks like it would be fairly easy to make one from wood or plastic.
Roger
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Hi Dustin,
There are several ways to handle this. In the Zenith 650 cdrom manual that I have for the tail section, there is a picture of an edge marker block p/n 6352. The homebuilt help videos that I have show just drawing a line by using your finger as a guide. A fancier method described in one of my earlier posts uses a small surface plate with gage blocks. This is my preferred method now. A similar option might be use cut a 9mm block, lay the rib on a flat table and draw around using the block as a guide.
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Got any tips for trying to draw rivent center lines on ribs? I am working on the rudder kit and had one heck of a time trying to draw a line offset 9mm from the edge. I tried crafting something up with a straight edge and a compass but it was not very effective.
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Comment by Jonathan Porter on February 20, 2017 at 1:03pm
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Excellent ideas! Thank you for sharing!
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Comment by Zenith.Aero on February 20, 2017 at 12:55pm
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Thanks for sharing!
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