Jim, I tried one on an early LPP and the first time I used it I sent the
wing spar up in flame :-((
Since then what I have is a soldering/cutting iron I bought from Great
Planes/Hobbico which comes with a replacement chuck that will hold an
X-Acto blade. After I experimented some I found that if I removed the
X-Acto blade and replaced it with a piece of #12 solid copper wire I
could use it and neatly cut the film and, so far, have done so on a
number of planes without burning up any more structures.
I'm also told that using older batteries in the cautery would also not
let it heat as much but my thought is "How old must they be"
LeRoy Cordes
AMA 16974
Chicago, IL
In God We Trust
On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:48:45 -0600 Jim Howell <johowell_at_knology.net>
writes:
...a cautery iron/tool for cutting film? I need some guidance.
For several years I've tried to work with my SO/WS kids using some of Tim
G's super-duper double-edges razor blades to cut the film on the flight
surfaces. I cannot get across to them the need for just a little glue
for the covering. And, as a result, they get this globbed up mess that
frequently results in the blade pulling and tearing the film. So, I
decided to buy one of Tim G's cautery tools to see if that might offer an
improvement for them. I tried it on one of my own models first and I'm
glad I did. When I touched the tool to the film, it cut the film great!,
but almost simultaneously the balsa edging burst into flame, died out
when I removed the cautery tool, and then I got to watch the balsa
framework disappear in a traveling ember. In its own way, it was
mesmerizing.
How do you use it to cut the film without touching the framework to get
the clean edge of film on the framework?
Jim Howell
LeRoy Cordes
AMA 16974
Chicago, IL
In God We Trust
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Received on Tue Jan 26 2010 - 15:40:44 CET