Laser drilled holes

[Bryan Cotton]

All,
I have never messed with laser drilled holes before. Obviously they are placed accurately but they are ugly. Do you drill through the pinhole side, or the ugly side where the hole is bigger? Do you always pilot the holes before you transfer the holes to the next piece? Any wisdom you can share is appreciated.

[Sonex1517]

Bryan

On my Sonex the laser drilled holes don't like silver clecos until I run a pilot drill bit through them. They are a bit ugly but they sure are accurate.

If I don't pilot drill them I have noticed some of the laser cut holes get a little ragged after I cleco them....

My two cents


Robbie
Sonex 1517

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Bryan Cotton]

Thanks Robbie! Do you pilot through the pinhole side or does it not matter?

[fastj22]

I don't think it matters. the purpose is to accurately locate the pilot holes in the mating material. If the flash from the laser blast is excessive and interfers with the alignment, just hit it with scotchbrite to knock it off. Harbor Freight has little scotch brite pads that go on an die grinder that makes quick work of this.

So you re-drill the laser holes 3/32 through to the other piece, cleco with silver clecos. Then go back and updrill to 1/8 swapping your silver clecos with copper ones as go. Then of course, disassemble, deburr and re-assemble and rivet.

Now if you are talking working with matched drilled pieces in the new Sonex kits, I guess you just cleco together with silver, then updrill to 1/8. But where's the sport in that? :lol:

[Bryan Cotton]

Thanks. I agree there is very little sport in matched hole parts, that is why I went that way! Even with the matched hole parts there is still some virgin metal to drill through.

[Sonex1517]

Yep Bryan - I did have to hit them with the pilot drill to get the silver clecos to fit right. I don't think it matters which side or direction you go through.

And it may not be sporting (some have said it isn't really building) - but it is definitely more accurate, and in the end makes for a more reliable assembly.

For folks like Bryan that have built previously it is a time saver. For people like me that are building their first project, not only does it save time but it makes the entire process much more accurate.


Robbie
Sonex 1517

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[sport65]

But where's the sport in that? :lol

Here I am! Sorry, I couldn't resist. Personally, after two and a half years building, I'm looking forward to match drilled holes and getting to fly quicker. I'll scratch build my next plane, when I'm not flying this one :D .

[EricS]

Just something I've noticed with the laser flash on the backside of the pre-punched holes - I usually only have to hit the hole with a deburring tool to get the excess flash removed after I've updrilled. It seems to work almost every time and then I go back and clean any minor excess up with a scotchbrite pad.

Bryan, since you are building the Waiex, you will need to clean the laser flash off before you build up your y-tail parts for the first time becasue they will need to sit flush with each other. Thick parts back there, especially now with the SB doubler.

[Bryan Cotton]

Thanks Eric, I will do that. I should start this afternoon.

[Bacon8tor]

Hi Bryan. I'm just starting on a Onex and had the same question regarding which side you drill from. On the ugly side the holes aren't always round and some even look clearly rectangular which makes me wonder if a misplaced drill bit will be able to align itself with the hole as it goes through. On the pinhole side I'm wondering if a 3/32 bit will catch the tiny hole. I also noticed a few where the laser didn't go completely through leaving no pilot hole.