In article , Tina Marie
wrote:

(I've got a certified airplane, so I hope you guys won't run me out
of here on a rail, but...)

I need to replace some of my fairings on my Tripacer. They're all simple,
mostly flat aluminum, some with one or two bends in them. I can form
them (I bought my SO a metal bender/shear/break for Christmas. He never
uses it, but I just love it) without too much trouble.

Here's my problem. After I make 'em, I have to attach them to the plane.
And this nearly always requires making holes in them - and no matter
what I do, the holes in the new fairing never line up with the holes on
the airframe. I don't know how to mark where to drill - if I hold it
up to the airframe, the airframe holes are behind the fairing and I can't
see them. Measuring works sometimes, but then I end up off by 1/16, and
it gets worse by the time I get all of them done.

There's got to be a magic trick to making the holes the right size, in
the right place, and I figured I'd be most likely to find it here.

Thanks!

Tina Marie

Some suggested using a hole finder, and that would certainly do the
trick. But there is another, cheaper way (and if you are flying a
Tripacer, you probably like cheap, er..., good value :

Put some strips of masking tape running away from each hole.

Carefully mark a fine line along each strip of tape, with the line
running through the centre of each hole.

Put a tick mark on each line at a certain distance from the centre of
the hole (e.g. 2" from the hole).

Put the fairing in place and secure it somehow (duct tape?).

Extend a line onto the fairing, and then measure back from the tick
mark to find where to drill the hole.

Put a cleco (or screw) in the hole to hold the position, and repeat for
each hole.

Good luck,

--
Kevin Horton - RV-8
Ottawa, Canada
http://go.phpwebhosting.com/~khorton/rv8/