Taping CMMs and the essence of time

 After a wonderful Christmas day, nothing beats a day mixing epoxy and taping joints on the Central Mounting Modules.  I formed fillets in all of the corners on Christmas in preparation for taping.  Temperatures are very cold at night, so the epoxy doesn't cure, which is good in this case.  It allowed me to fillet one day and tape the next while the epoxy is still curing, resulting in a stronger bond.  I also cut the glass tape ahead of time.  Today, before mixing the first batch of epoxy, I did some final trimming to fit the glass tape around the circular bolt plate shown in the photo.  Cutting complex curves in glass fabric is a little tricky, so here is my trick ...

 The first step was to make a template out of card stock to locate the cut-out on the glass tape relative to the edges of the CMM.  I then aligned the edge of the template with the edge of the tape and traced the partial circle with a Sharpie marker.  This makes measuring quick and easy.

 Next, I used a rotary cutter to cut the curve in the glass tape, being careful to stay on the outside of the marks.  The rotary cutter does a great job of cutting without distorting the fibers in the tape.  I used a piece of plastic louver from an old window blind as a cutting surface to protect the table.  The cutter is sharp enough to leave a nasty cut in the laminate on my vacuum table.

 And, there it is, a perfectly cut opening to fit around the bolt plate.  Sorry for the poor contrast of white fabric on white louvre on white table.

 Now all of the tape is cut to size and the fillets are firm but still curing.  I estimated it would take a couple hours to tape both CMMs, after which I would relax and enjoy some time playing with my daughter's Christmas presents.  The boat house gets into the mid-60s during the day, and then rapidly cools off after about 3:00.  Starting at about noon, I figured I would have plenty of time ...

Seven hours and 1.5 liters of epoxy later, I finally finished!  And, no, I did not have any difficulties, aside from the plummeting temperatures.  It was just a lot of detailed work placing and wetting out each piece of material.  I did move from the boat house to the sun room when temperatures fell into  the 40's.  It is hard to tell if the epoxy is gelling or just getting thick from being too cold in these conditions. The CMMs are now in the heated storage room to cure overnight.  Funny how things always seem to take longer than anticipated.