If I were to pass along tips that worked for me, it would be to use a couple of clicks down from top RPM speed and once cutting, continually move the Dremel at a fair speed. It will cut through most of the fiberglass material on the first pass but likely will not go through all of it evenly. However, if you slow up you will be doing yourself a disservice, because the heat generated will melt the resin and the stickiness tends to bind the cutting wheel making it hard to move. I found it a lot easier to make a fast deep pass at a higher RPM then go back and spot tweak at a lower RPM until all the material was cut. By using a moderately lower RPM for tweaking the cut, if the material snagged the wheel, it would not tend to pull the Dremel out of your hands … instead, it would just stall the motor.
The cuts were made a little outside of the line and the remaining material was removed by hand sanding with the Dura-Block using 80 and 180 grit sandpaper. Have to say, the Dura-Block was all that was needed to shape the fairing to the cut line. Used the big round edge on the large curve, the flat sides on the straight edges and the wedge tip on the small inside curve.
Sanding the canopy fairing’s bridge lay-up using
the Dura-Block covered with 80 grit sandpaper.
The canopy assembly still needs to be placed back onto the fuselage and slowly opened so a check can be made to insure there are no areas of interference. If there is interference, the canopy needs to be removed and trimmed accordingly to remove fiberglass material from the interfering areas. Mike said he could give me a hand placing the fairing on the fuselage today. So hopefully with Mike's help, the canopy fit can be checked and fine tuned if necessary today to finish off this part of the RV-12's construction.
