Anyone come up with a tool or method to remove endcaps so you don't butcher up the acrylic tube or resin encap? A screwdriver just butchers it. I tried putting sytrene sheet between them, awkward.
Endcap removal tool?
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A bicycle pump. Don't pump too hard!
The new cylinder design (if I ever get the chance to finish up the prototype, won't have this issue.
BobComment
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You pussies! pry away, damnit! You're not conserving a ****ing Rembrandt here! Tool marks won't kill you.
DavidWho is John Galt?Comment
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Don't use a compressor, or anything with a large reservoir of air to blow off the caps, that's asking for trouble.
A bicycle pump is totally safe as you can precisely control the build up of pressure.
I find a light grease of the seals before laying up makes it easy to separate endcaps with radial compression. If you can source 55 shore o-rings in the right size, they compress a lot easier than the normal 70-80 shore type.
I made a little wtc for a fellow modeller with a Norbert Bruggen Deep Rover model which had a cylinder with an equatorial opening that he couldn't get watertight. As he had the room I machined the endcaps with a large lip that overhangs the cylinder walls, which made it a cinch to remove the cap with his pinkies. If you have room you could bond on a ring from some glassfibre or brass sheet to achieve the same thing.Comment
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OK Mr David. But I like things looking as perfect as they can be.
I do 'grease' the o-rings so they go in and out easier. Still the endcap comes off with trouble. If you use a little bit of compressed air it may only pop off one endcap, still need to get the other one off.
When using a screwdriver, the square edges tend to dig into the resin and damage the acrylic tube ends. That's why mine looks the way it does.
I made my own tool. Before anything that matters is trashed, I always take things apart and save items I think may be useful. I had a bad doorbell, took the aluminum bar out of it, that's what I used here. I cut and ground the end down so it fit in the pry slot of the resin. The corners of the pry part were rounded with a file. Stick it in and twist and it pops the endcap out some. When it's far enough out use the other edge to shimmy the endcap out the rest of the way. Works well so far. Could ground the edges of a screwdriver down but don't have one to waste, besides didn't have one that was as wide as the slot.
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