Jan
28
Thrust Duct Beginning
January 28, 2007 | | Leave a Comment
The work on the thrust duct began earlier this month. First step was to cut the two plywood discs to the size specified in the plans. We did that by making a circle cutting jig out of a piece of 1×4 screwed to the router. The router was then screwed to aboard at the right radius. We used a straight cutting bit and just ran the router around the center. Once these were cut out we screwed them together with the called for 2×4s.
We have had some difficulty getting the plywood to wrap around the disc we made for that purpose. We are still in the process of figuring this one out. One tip we have received is to make sure the plywood grain is running the correct way. I could have kicked myself fo rnot thinking of it myself.
The students laid out the arcs on the foam for the thrust duct.
Then they began cutting the relief cuts to make the bend easier around the plywood. They used a cordless circular saw for the relief cuts. What a mess this made.
We had a small problem with the part once it was cut with the reliefs. One of the students got a little carried away when moving the foam and it broke down one of the reliefs. After speaking with one of the other schools that does this regularly they said we could just fiberglass the part back together and drive on. A huge relief. It was about 2 days wrth of work saved.
