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long sanding blocks


Upali

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https://www.canardzone.com/forums/topic/18661-kents-long-ez-project/page/13/?tab=comments#comment-62441

IMO 36" is unwieldy and you have to glue long sandpaper to it.  I use pieces of 2X4 about 18" long, round the ends slightly and staple or tack belt-sander belts to them.  However, an aluminum bar is useful as described above.

 

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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9 hours ago, Upali said:

Can I adopt an aluminum tube similar to the one below? I can make sure it will be flat enough and I am looking for about 36" block.

Yes, that would work, _IF_ the extrusion is perfectly straight and flat. There are few 2x4's on the planet that are flat/straight enough to use for a sanding block - you'd never get a really good contour. 3" is a bit narrow, although it would take a 3" roll of paper.

I used a 1/2" thick piece of plexiglass as large as 3 sheets of 3M wetordry sandpaper, and glued a 2" x 2" AL extrusion to the back to keep it straight. With 3 sheets of paper on it, being about 33' - 36" long, you get really good coverage and straightness/flatness on your contours. 18" is marginal for wing/canard contouring, IMO. The larger the sanding block, the better your contour will be.

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11 hours ago, Marc Zeitlin said:

Yes, that would work, _IF_ the extrusion is perfectly straight and flat. There are few 2x4's on the planet that are flat/straight enough to use for a sanding block - you'd never get a really good contour. 3" is a bit narrow,

Well, whatever floats your boat but this block (16") and aluminum bar have finished three airplanes.  "The poor carpenter blames his tools."  🙂

IMG_2221.JPG

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-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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1 hour ago, Kent Ashton said:

Well, whatever floats your boat but this block (16") and aluminum bar have finished three airplanes.  "The poor carpenter blames his tools."  🙂

 

Well, yeah, I could wrap a piece of 80 grit around a ball-peen hammer and contour a plane, but it wouldn't be pretty :-). I'm shooting for optimal, not adequate here :-).

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2 hours ago, Marc Zeitlin said:

Well, yeah, I could wrap a piece of 80 grit around a ball-peen hammer and contour a plane, but it wouldn't be pretty :-). I'm shooting for optimal, not adequate here :-).

Pissch!  I can contour an award-winner with a concrete block!  Usually start with a regular block, then go to a red stepping stone for a finer finish.  Next airplanes we build, we will have to hold a contest  🙂

49 minutes ago, Upali said:

I already bought duragold 2-3/4" (width) sandpaper rolls. Should I go for larger width or will this work?

Those should work but 20 yards is enough for 4 airplanes.  You need various grits though.  36 to get started, then finer.  220-240, 320

-Kent
Cozy IV N13AM-750 hrs, Long-EZ-85 hrs and sold

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3 hours ago, Kent Ashton said:

Pissch!  I can contour an award-winner with a concrete block!  Usually start with a regular block, then go to a red stepping stone for a finer finish.  Next airplanes we build, we will have to hold a contest  🙂

 

Hah! When I was a boy, we'd contour sand with a wet strand of spaghetti, wrapped with hot gravel. You try to tell kids these days, and they won't believe you.

In any case, it'll be a cold day in hell before I build myself another airplane, so this contest will have to occur in another lifetime...

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