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A Versatile Cutting Tool

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Razor Tools

When you need to cut deeper than 1 inch, single-edge razors won’t reach. Nor will a typical hobby knife blade.

You need a box cutter, one with a slender snap-off-blade that extends out to about 3 inches.

(A single-edge razor reaches only half an inch. A #11 hobby blade has a 1-inch cutting depth.)

I noticed that Butch, the Boomer guy, regularly uses a slim utility knife, AKA box cutter, for carving jobs.

So when I decided to carve out a battery bay in the nose of a foam Wild Wing, a box cutter was my tool of choice. It’s long enough to slice out the bottom of the pocket, no problem.

Posted in Elsewhere | 1 Comment »

Bungie Launch

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Ready to Launch

Patrick Schindler, who likes fast planes, put together a nifty little portable bungie launcher to propel his Zagi wing and Multiplex Microjet skyward.

It consists of a steel plate with a latch, about 100 20 feet of surgical tubing and a stake.

In this photo sequence, you can see the surgical tubing stretching across the Great Meadow, stretched to about 50 feet. Then he launches the Microjet by kicking the latch and the tubing zips forward, collapsing in a rubbery ball midfield.

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Posted in Baylands | 7 Comments »

How to Build a Combat Wing

Monday, April 28th, 2008

You can see the arc of carbon ribbon that stiffens the wing.

Lots of people watch us rolling & tumbling through the air in combat with small, maneuverable, rugged little wings.

Here are some notes for those who’d like to join the fray.

The most prevalent wing in our combat sessions is built from a $29.95 24-inch wing kit, available from Mini SpeedWing.

But you’re welcome to fly anything in combat, as long as it’s not too fast or too big.

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Posted in Baylands | 4 Comments »

The Wrong Tool

Friday, April 25th, 2008

Not the right tool!

Friday morning a flyer made a quick field repair with a hot glue gun.

Unfortunately, he glooped a bit too much glue onto the fix.

A fellow flyer pulled out his car key and offered it as a putty knife to smooth the excess glue. It worked OK, but when the helpful guy tried to leave Baylands his car wouldn’t start.

Seems the coating of cooled glue gummed up his ignition switch.

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Posted in Baylands | 1 Comment »

Cheap Clamps

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

Bowl of Clamps

The other day, Gary and I visited Mike’s workshop, a rented space near Mike’s house.

Unlike my garage, Mike’s workplace is neat and well-organized.

What impressed me most, though, were Mike’s homemade tools, particularly some clamps he fabricated by gluing clothespins together.

A builder never has too many clamps, you know.

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Posted in Elsewhere | 3 Comments »

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