Fillet sanding tool

LAST EDITED ON Jun-13-04 AT 11:25 PM (CDT)
 
I made this little tool for sanding small, constant radius fillets and I thought it might interest some of you. This tool holds sandpaper wrapped around a suitable form and gives you a handle to grasp. Fresh sandpaper is quickly and easily advanced.
Construction should be obvious from the pictures. The tool is made from scrap 1/32 ply and measures approximately 3/4 x 1 3/4 x 3/32. The size and proportions are not critical, but I made mine to fit 5/8 wide strips of sandpaper. I have a straightedge that’s 5/8’s wide, which makes cutting the strips easy. Use CA to glue it together. If you plan to wet sand, give the wood a couple coats of dope.
The pictures show a length of 1/8 tubing as the fillet form. You could also use wire, dowel or even o-ring stock as a form. If you can’t find stock exactly the right diameter, build up something smaller with wraps of masking tape.
Derek Moran

Derek,

Well, that's one way to skin a cat.

Very cool.

LAST EDITED ON Jun-13-04 AT 11:26 PM (CDT)
 
Thanks Randy!
The tool works very well. I think the best feature is the ability to advance fresh sandpaper- it makes cutting those epoxy fillets easy. The second best feature is it takes less than 5 minutes to make. Heck, it took me less than 5 minutes to invent *and* make the prototype this morning.
How'd you do at your contest? That perception thread certainly went dead, didn't it?
Derek

Derek,

The contest was windy, very, very turbulent and rainy. The full sized plane fueling station was adjacent to the circles. Great fun when some guy with a twin fills up then turns the plane away from the circle and revs up the engines. Yeow!

But it was a lot of fun anyway.

That is a good Idea. It seems you could adjust for different sizes of fillets.

Matt

Thanks, Derek!

I'm a sucker for good ideas, and your fillet sander is certainly one.

All I can say is that my next ship is gonna have nicely sanded fillets!

Very cool indeed. Send the idea in to Model Airplane News and get a free subscription to a totally useless (to us, anyway) magazine!

Thanks, guys.
Larry, I've sent too many good ideas to MAN and RCM over the years, only to be beaten out by inner Nyrod screw anchors, and other such silliness (insert winking emoticon here). The SSWF crowd appreciates something clever when they see it.
Derek

The sanding tool is clever. I do pretty much the same thing with a short piece of hardwood dowell, but using fingers to keep it wrapped around the dowell. Now, that causes tired fingers in a hurry!

For spreading fillet material, people say "ball bearings", but then they need to be soldered to a piece of brass tube. Too much work!. So I found a selection of small wooden "beads" at the artsy-craftsy" store. Then epoxy can attach a piece of birch dowell for holding.

Hi Floyd,
The fillets that inspired this tool were formed with a 1/8 dia ball link ball threaded to a nylon clevis to act as a handle. For larger radius fillets, try these: http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82390.
Derek

LAST EDITED ON Jun-20-04 AT 10:27 AM (CDT)
 
Those are good fillet tools, I'll get on them before I get to that point of my vector, but, that inner nyrod anchor system works pretty good. I use them to mount my half A's. I've seen the appropriate sized ones used to mount 26's in scale combat plane firewalls with narry a failure. That's one heck of an idea.

Maybe the lack of acceptance in the modleling mags has to do with sanding. I know that it makes sanding easier, but most of us would rather not talk about sanding, let alone do it.

Good tool.

Thanks, William. Using inner Nyrod tubing as hard points and screw anchors is a great idea, just be sure to provide some undercuts on the OD so it can't be pulled out. I was being facetious and giving one of our forum members a good-natured poke.
One of the cool things about the internet and this forum is that you can put up ideas for whatever they are worth, without having to navigate various filters. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute a little to a hobby and a group of folks who have provided so much enjoyment to me over the years.
Derek

>Thanks, William. Using inner Nyrod tubing as hard points
>and screw anchors is a great idea, just be sure to provide
>some undercuts on the OD so it can't be pulled out. I was
>being facetious and giving one of our forum members a
>good-natured poke.
>Derek

Derek,

I got it, and regard this as much more than a good-natured poke. In fact, it's a personal attack and I'm really pissed about the whole thing.

Sorry, the "personal attack" thing seems to have gotten totally out of hand over the past couple years, just had to try it out on someone to see if it made me feel better.

Alas, it made me feel like a chump who doesn't know the meanings of words...

Those of us who use this forum to exchange good building ideas seem to somehow come under attack. I sure hope I'm not one who is at the receiving end..I'm a really laid=back sort of fellow, with no known enemies (so far)

I'll be your attack. How dare you whine about being attacked, whilst helping us out.

May your Ambroid tube clog! And msy you CA your hand to the leading edge of a wing!

Okay, in all seriousness. May your APC sword slice your hand to ribbons, while your local hospital is on strike, your cell phone batteries are dead, your regular phone hasn't worked since you tried faxing your resume (you've been out of work since March - of 2001), and you have a flat on the Biscayne. Bad enough? Oh - and that baloney sandwich you had for lunch is loaded with ptomain. And now you're gonna vomit until you choke on it and die.

Man, and all we wanted was a jig to help put our hinges in the right places. Sucks to be us sometimes, eh?

Yours in jest,