Airplanes & Sewer Clamps

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pVeeduber wrote:
blockquote TYPE=CITETo All:
pI recently mentioned laminating the bow of a rudder using 'sewer clamps.'
br(See: 'Whittle Your Own Airplane.')
pStandard stuff if you're building a wooden airplane.  Wooden strips,
eighth
brinch thick, slathered with glue, bent around some nails or form-blocks
brprotected by waxed paper, clamped together and to the form blocks.
pSOP for making the curvey bits.  Wing tips.  Elevator. 
Rudder.  Turtle deck
brbows.  Lotsa curvey bits on a wooden airplane which is why making
such bows is
brcommon stuff.
pIncluding the use of sewer clamps, which are nothing more than a 10'
length of
br4" diameter plastic soil pipe sliced into pieces three-quarters of
an inch
brwide. After the slicing comes the slitting then cleaning off the furze. 
You
brend up with a ring of tough plastic, slit at some point so you can
pry it open,
brclamp it onto things.
pBandaw is the weapon of choice.  Takes mebbe half an hour to make
yourself
brabout 150 clamps.  Like a politician, sewer pipe clamps are cheap,
easy and
brcommon :-)
pBut obviously not as common as I thought.  I've since received
half a dozen
brqueries wanting to know whathell a sewer clamp is.
pNowyahno :-)
pSewer clamps come in several sizes & flavors.  Little ones,
you make outta PVC
brwater pipe, use them for making little stuff like ribs.  Big ones
you make
broutta BIG pipe, ABS, PVC or even fiberglas.  You can even make
yourself a pair
brof Sewer Clamp Pliers, allowing you to open and set the clamp with
one hand.
pNeed more pressure?  Slice it thicker.  Need more reach? 
Find a bigger pipe.
pBuilding on the Cheap, you can't just throw money at a probelm, you
have to
broutwit that sucker.  Sewer pipe clamps are a nice example of outwitability
:-)
p-R.S.Hoover/blockquote

pbrYou can slice up a spring  with a mototool grinder & make
em too---gits into small places
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