January 26, 2007


Today I got started on actually making something look like an airplane part.  Little did I know it was going to be 2.5h of polishing and drilling.  

First things first I get to open the BIG pallet.  There are 11 layers of aluminum in this 3/4" space - Sonex has the packaging of this kit down to a science.  And in case you forget - PARTS INSIDE PALLET.



This is what the upper layer of parts looks like.  Peeking inbetween the layers reveals skins, thick laser cut parts and various squares/rectangles of aluminum sheets that will become parts.



This kit is a work of art - the rudder horn is the right size and has the holes prelasered.  Interesting to note that the holes are tiny on the horn.  I'm not sure if this is a manufacturing screwup or if they all come this way.



The white marks where the holes are is the laser flash.  At first I was thinking it might be corrosion, but closer inspection it definately looks related to the laser burning through the AL.  It has a similar look to steel when it has holes burned through it with a oxy/acetlene torch.



Here's the other side - presumably the side the laser starts on.  The holes are barely visable from this side.



After using the scotchbrite wheel around the edges and some sandpaper the surfaces are nice and smooth.  As a side note, the scotchbrite wheel is a bit more agressive than I like.  Its handy for removing metal, but dosen't seem as suited to polishing/deburing the edges.  Perhaps I'm just not used to it - I'm MUCH more familiar with working with steel.  The orange highlighter is an indication to myself that the part is included in the kit.  I'm using blue highlighter to indicate parts that I have to fab from material supplied in the kit(channel, angle, etc...)



Here's the horn with all of the holes drilled to #40.


And then to #40 and deburred.  Because of the camera angle you can't see the centering marks on the prints, but the are perfectly centered in the holes.  Laser cut parts are GREAT.



Thats all for tonight - once I get more familiar with how the AL cuts, sands and cleans up I'll get faster.

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