Friday, March 4, 2016

Dimpling the new tank skins - 3 hours

I waited thinking that my #19 reamer was going to arrive, but it didn't. So...I guess ill have to go to plan B on the tank skin holes. I decided to use 400 grit sandpaper on the dremel and open the #20 holes to #19. Its quite a tedious process...took 2 hours to do all the holes themselves. I know that I am deviating slightly from my test holes by increasing to 400 grit, but I feel confident it will be ok. The abrasive wears down quickly anyway to its only 400 grid for the first hole or two, but then it smooths out.

I then used my dimple die and made sure that each hole was large enough for the pilot, and re polished holes as needed. The benefit to all this was that there were virtually no burrs using this method.

I sprayed the piece down with WD40 and lubed the dies. I started to dimple with my stomach in my throat. In the end. Every dimple was perfect! The dimples did have sharp edges though as the holes are so crisp. I'll have to do something about that

I used a maroon scotchbrite pad on the dremel and buffed each dimple.