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In the homebuilt help videos they say to always rest the tail feathers on some support, off of the table, instead of on clecos. In the past I always just let the structure rest on the clecos. Any reason why this is? Does the small circle mark left by the cleco become hard to polish later?

A side load on the clecoes can deform the hole too. You have to be careful. On my tails I rested them on the clecoes. The wings-no way. Too heavy, too hard to not damage the parts. That is my take on it.

I agree, I would never do it on the wings. I didn't think much harm would come from doing it on the tail pieces though - unless it made it harder to polish later?

I had to pound out several "smiley faces" from inadvertently resting my wings on clecoes (while turning the wing over.) I developed the bad habit beginning with the tail, which did no visible harm, but in general it's just not what the clecoes are meant for. If both the table and the light workpiece are flat and not subjected to side loads the damage is probably minimal (such as tail pieces), but the curvature and weight of the wings most definitely should not be placed on the clecoes.

Two things:

Get some 2" square tubes, or wood of same or slightly larger dimensions and invert the assembly with them between the clecos. Good straight steel tubes, covered with a single layer of duct tape, and long enough to run the length of the wings can be shimmed and angled to give a perfectly flat and straight work support.

Second, get a lot of those plastic tips that cover the ends of clecoes. They prevent most smileys. They are pricey, but can be made very inexpensively by purchasing a large bag of the proper sized CapPlugs and drilling or punching your own holes to suit. Not familiar with these, buy a few from ACS, Avery, or other source then make your own. Suspect I have about 500 of those by now. and would not attempt another project without them.

David A. Sponex TD #1327 CAMit 3300

1" pvc pipe cut to short lengths just a little longer than the cleco work well for when you want to.flip a structure over and rest it on the bench with cleco still installed.

Keith
#554

Or better yet avoid the need to flip the wing over by building it standing up on edge. I built the right wing laying down, left wing standing up. Standing up on edge was much easier, I was able go square everything up and then clamp it in place to keep everything perfectly square, and then no need to keep flipping it over.

See PIC's here:

http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_l ... 454&row=34

Terry