Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The long way is the easy way


I was going to cheat [ok I wasn't really] but I was severely tempted. This foil really needed to be deconstructed before I could properly fix this cell - as it is shown here in this photo. It's tempting to just bridge over the rip - from the surface of one bottom skin to the next. But you never acheive the correct shape that way, and your bridle points, shown here taped temporarily with darker red, won't ever be able to pierce through the patch you would make by cheating without being weak. So, it is best to just take all the stitching out and get to the three layers and fix them independently.  The white is the rib and the two orange layers are the bottom skin panels. This is a small part of an Ozone access that has been completely ripped in half and then some. The edge I had to rebuild is shown here with the slightly lighter orange patch running down its length. The white rib also needed a fix where one of the bridle points won out against the strength of the cloth.

For some reason, I guess because it's winter still, we've been doing a few more foils than usual these days.  They are not as common, and this one will be done soon.  But, as my boss at the old bike shop told me, the long way is the easy way.

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