Removing an expoxied hardwood part

On 7/13/2003 7:01 AM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

Try heat from a heat gun. Depending on how thick the epoxy is and how much heat the surrounding area can sustain, the heat SHOULD soften epoxy.

Another possibility is to fill the incorrect holes with some hardwood dowel and redrill/tap the holes in the correct location. This is the method I would suggest - less chance of damage to the structure.

Heat gun?

Why don't you try filling in the old holes with dowels of the right size(purchased ready

made or cut and fitted to size), epoxied and sanded smooth, then redrill and tap.

Worked for me with no problems, aircraft flying it's third year after repairs..

"Tom Hunt" wrote in message news:B_aQa.19$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com... Hi guys; I have installed(expoxied) and drilled the wing hardwood mounting blocks incorrectly and need to remove them so that my wing is correctly aligned. Is there a method or anything available to remove or soften the epoxy so that I can get these blocks out without damaging the fuselage wing mounting area.Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Use a Dremel, knife, and saw to cut/carve/grind them out. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

There are a couple other alternative methods to solve your situation if you don't want to fill the existing holes with dowels.

(a) using a saw blade for your large Exacto knife or a hacksaw blade, you could cut just beyond the epoxy joint, then sand the remaining wood and epoxy off the wing bay doubler and re-make the mounting block from a different piece of hardwood.

(b) epoxy is softened by water. You might wet the epoxy joint and scrape (a very time consuming task) till you can remove the block. Then you need to dry the doubler with a heat gun and install a fresh block of hardwood.

My suggestion would be method "a", and sand off the remaining wood and epoxy and install new mounting blocks. If you don't have an appropriate size of hardwood to replace the original blocks, you could use a couple laminations of aircraft plywood to span the fuselage and epoxy a plywood brace to hold the ends firmly in position. Then re-drill and use blind nuts to hold the wing bolts.

Good luck, and Happy Landings, Rich

Epoxy is softened by water?

Yes.

Are you sure? Is the wood fiber letting go or is the epoxy actually softening up?

Don

Neither have I...

A new myth seems born

If epoxy is softened by water then why do fiberglass boats float?

Because of Archimedes' Principle? Joe L.

Do not remove them.

Epoxy an appropriate size dowel in the holes and re-drill after the epoxy has cured.

blocks incorrectly and need to remove them so that my wing is correctly aligned. Is there a method or anything available to remove or soften the epoxy so that I can get these blocks out without damaging the fuselage wing mounting area.Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Cos they are built with *polyester* resin?

No, epoxy doesn't soften in water. Not once properly cured anyway.