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#sand

5 posts5 participants1 post today
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TomKrajci 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

The glider's horizontal stabilizer's paint needs scraping to remove runs and drips.

This part has a span of eight feet (2.44 meters). And I need to work on both sides.

Fortunately, the surface is convex, or flat in various locations...but it's happily not concave.

Setting up the work lights to give me specular reflections makes it easy to see and then work on the drips and runs.

I'm also learning that how I sharpen/sand the razor's edge (symmetric? asymmetric?), how I hold it (rake angle)...can make a big difference in how efficiently and effectively I can scrape away the high spots.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rake_ang

The pile of shaved paint next to the razor was produced with one gentle pass...once I started figuring out sharpening geometry and rake angle. Before that, my progress was slow and required much more effort.

#avgeek #aviation #ElectricAircraft #ExperimentalAviation #homebuilt
#Glider #DIY #Paint #Sand #Buff #Polish @jivens

Glider horizontal stabilizer on sawhorses. A single edge razor sits on the stabilizer.
Specular reflections show me many runs and drips that I will scrape down to match the surrounding surface. (Reflections also show me orange peel...the bane of my existence.)
Careful, gentle scraping can remove lots of high paint in one pass. The pile of shavings was made in one pass with little effort.
Sanding/sharpening the razor-scraper. This is 400 grit sandpaper.
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TomKrajci 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

The glider winglets have been sanded and buffed/polished...well enough.

I did not use the polishing machine. These are small parts and somewhat fragile, so I buffed by hand.

The winglets have electrical connections (spring loaded car door jamb connectors, lol!) and a molded receptacle for these nav/position/strobe lights:
aircraftspruce.com/pages/el/wi

The 2nd and 3rd photos show a progression from ugly runs and drips...to a scraped surface that is almost ready for sanding.

#avgeek #aviation #ElectricAircraft #ExperimentalAviation #homebuilt
#Glider #DIY #Paint #Sand #Buff #Polish #winglets

Glider winglets, buffed reasonably well. They are removeable and feature electrical connections for tip lights.
Ugly runs and drips on the paint stand tall in low-angle light.
Scraping the paint with a single edge razor can smooth the runs and drips so that they stand only a couple thousandths of an inch (0.05mm) tall. Then they are ready for sanding for final smoothing.
Public
TomKrajci 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

The glider rudder has been wet sanded down to 1200 grit (first photo), rinsed and dried.

Using a coarse polishing pad and cutting/rubbing (not polishing) paste, and about 5 - 10 minutes of work with a dual-action polisher...I got decent results quicker than I expected.

This bodes well for all the work I need to do on the larger parts: horizontal stabilizer, fuselage, flaperons, and wings.

#avgeek #aviation #ElectricAircraft #ExperimentalAviation #homebuilt
#Glider #DIY #Paint #Sand #Buff #Polish

The glider rudder has been wet sanded to 1200 grit. It has a matte finish, but faint hints of specular reflection of the ceiling lights.
A mirror finish shows the ceiling lights well after coarse polishing.
Public
TomKrajci 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

This is part of a fairing that goes over the glider's tail wheel. I'm using this part to develop my skill at scraping paint with a straight edge razor.

This part fits on the underside of the glider, so nobody really looks at it. It is at the end of 21 ft of fuselage, so the air flow by then is plenty turbulent...so I do not need a pristine surface like I do for the first foot or two of the fuselage.

Let's not talk about all the pinnoles, shall we?

Anyway, if the part is convex, or saddle-shaped and I can get the razor across the positive curvature axis to do its work... I can quickly and fairly smoothly scrape down runs and drips to get them almost flush with the rest of the surface. Then I smooth it with 600 and 1200 Grit paper before buffing.

(After I develop my skills on such small belly parts, then I'll be comfortable working on the fuselage, and finally the wings.)

#avgeek #aviation #ElectricAircraft #ExperimentalAviation #homebuilt
#Glider #DIY #Paint #Sand #Buff #Polish

Closeup view of a painted glider part...a tailwheel fairing. The low angle of the light helps highlight runs in the not-very-good paint job. A straight edge razor can be used to scrape away the high parts of runs and drips, and if you're careful, you don't mar the rest of the painted surface.
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