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<DIV>Gee whiz, Bobby, I thought I was the only one.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wayne, take your square and add its mirror image. You will have a right
isosceles triangle with the base being the hypotenuse and the vertical center
line bissecting the triangle. Draw several parallel lines to
the hypotenuse and they will all be at right angles to the vertical
bissector. These serve to line up the stab at the same time the fin post is
being aligned. Essentially it becomes an inverted T</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I made mine from a 1/8" piece of plexiglas. It is fairly large right
triangle with a hypotenuse some 28" long. It is a super tool for locating the
stab and fin exactly at 90 degress to each other. With a little more ingenuity,
it serves as a fixture to hold things lined up while the glue cures</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Matt</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>ANYONE who has looked at my stuff knows full well
that I mark things with a Magic Marker, then cut with a Chain Saw....my lasers
are just to make me feel better before hacking.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR>Bob Pastorello<BR><A title=mailto:rcaerobob@cox.net
href="mailto:rcaerobob@cox.net">rcaerobob@cox.net</A><BR><A
title=http://www.rcaerobats.net/
href="http://www.rcaerobats.net/">www.rcaerobats.net</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mailto:wgalligan@goodsonacura.com
href="mailto:wgalligan@goodsonacura.com">Wayne Galligan</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=mailto:discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 25, 2004 1:55
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Building Lasers</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Keith,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>On the square for lining up the rudder
post. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If you have perpendicular lines layed out on
your table you just lay the square on the line that is perpendicular to the
fuse. This way you can tilt the square forward or back(in the case of
a canted rudder post) and still have a square post. Of course a
scribed line in the center of he post is needed. I use the Great
Plains center scribe for this as it will make a center line that will
conform to a tapering hinge area.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Wayne G.</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mailto:tkeithb@comcast.net
href="mailto:tkeithb@comcast.net">Keith Black</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=mailto:discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 25, 2004 1:24
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Building Lasers</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> think lasers are hugely helpful in some
cases. I find them particularly helpful when trying to draw a straight
line on an unlevel surface, or a particularly large area such as a line
across an entire room. An example of an unlevel surface for modeling would
be drawing a straight line right down the center top of a fuselage from
the top of the fin to the front of the nose, or when drawing a line down
the side of the plane. In both of these cases you're working with a curved
surface and the laser will follow the contour (be sure it's lined up
correctly).</FONT>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The down side to lasers I've found are: One,
the laser I have has a relatively thick beam as compared to the accuracies
we need, between 1/16th" and 1/8th" depending on distance. It's harder to
be exact that you would think. Second is that you can sometimes be misled
when the beam goes across surfaces that curve further away or closer to
the source of the beam. This will distort the beam unless
it's exactly even with the location you wish to draw the
line. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>After messing with lasers in the past to try
and do alignment I feel the best way to align the stab is to have a level
table, put a scribe line on the rudder post and use a square to make sure
the fin is perfectly perpendicular to the table. Then when mounting the
stab use a height gage to make sure the stab is exactly the same height
from the table at all points (front corners, back corners, center fronts,
center backs). This will yield a perfectly aligned stab, height wise at
least. You also need to make sure the stab tips are aligned equal
distance from some center point in the front of the plane (I won't go into
this, the best bet is to buy Bob Noll's tapes).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What I sometimes find difficult in this
process is eyeballing the square and the rudder post to make sure indeed
the fin is exactly 90 degrees to the table. In some cases you can butt the
square right up to the rudder post, but in other cases you can't do this,
or the rudder post is at an angle. This is when my eyes play tricks with
me since the square isn't up against the scribe line. In this case a laser
may be useful, however remember that the laser must be perfectly lined up
behind the rudder post (side to side) or the angle of the laser
combined with an angled rudder post will cause the line not to be
true.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For the alignment of the main wing it's
necessary to use some type of measuring gadget, like Bob Noll describes,
to make sure the wing tips are equal distance from the stab tips, but when
it comes to the wing tips being lined up height wise to the stab tips I
think this can be done more accurately using the eyeball than with any
measuring tool (at least the tools I have). If you stand ten of fifteen
feet in front of the plane and position yourself exactly in the middle of
the fuse you can raise and lower your head and see if the wings are even
with the stab. Also do this from behind the plane. This can be done with
incredibly accuracy. In fact, I've done it using measuring tools and
afterwards found that my tools couldn't get it as accurate as my eyeball.
And since you've made sure the stab is correct it's a good measure for the
primary wing (I set my stab first). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've used the a laser to confirm my eyeball
measurements for the wings being level with the stab, but due to the
thickness of the beam, and the fuzziness around the edge of the beam, it's
tough to get it to the accuracy of my eyes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>BTW, I didn't pioneer these methods. It's
thanks to other modelers that have shared their approaches to doing things
that I know this. Out of all the different methods that have been
suggested to me these are the ones that I find work the best.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For anyone who's new to building, or just
wants more tools for their building arsenal, I strongly recommend Bob
Noll's tapes. The one for alignment is called "Perfect Airframe
Alignment". You can order them at 610-746-0106. He has a set of four tapes
that go through many of the difficult parts of building a pattern
plane.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Keith
Black</FONT></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
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