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cutting bonnet
ajw - 25/9/12 at 06:10 PM

Anybody tell me the best cutting equipement to cut opening for throttle boddies in a new fibreglass bonnet. Want to leave clean edge

big-vee-twin - 25/9/12 at 06:20 PM

A Dremmel would be my preferred tool for that.

JonT - 25/9/12 at 06:21 PM

A recommendation for this sort of stuff would be to buy a Dremel, they're fantastic...

Presuming you don't have one, I'd personally cover the area to be cut first with masking tape, drill a hole in each corner, use a hacksaw blade covered in duck tape and then cover a wooden block with sandpaper (to get a straight edge) and sand back where necessary

Hellfire - 25/9/12 at 06:23 PM

We stitch drilled the shape we wanted to remove and then used a pad saw to cut the links between the holes and finished the edges with the dremel. It's a good idea to use masking tape before drilling/cutting/sanding to stop the gelcoat from chipping and also makes the shape easier to mark out with a pencil.

Phil

austin man - 25/9/12 at 08:32 PM

I used a dremmel with a drill bit in it then sanded the edge, you can buy a cutter for the dremmel or Dremmel clones

maccmike - 26/9/12 at 01:36 AM

any type of rotary tool like a dremel

pewe - 26/9/12 at 08:56 AM

As above Dremel or similar but try to find some tile cutters (like miniature rotary rasps) - think there are some Bosch ones. Here you go ROTOZIP RK164 ZIP BIT 3.2mm TILE CUTTER 5034914005955 | eBay
Mask out the shape you require and carefully cut the hole - remembering once it's cut you can't put it back - ask me how I know!
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe10

[Edited on 26/9/12 by pewe]

40inches - 26/9/12 at 01:43 PM

I used lots of 2" masking tape to mark out the shape on, hole saw and cordless jig saw with a fine steel blade.
Vents
Vents

fimi7 - 27/9/12 at 09:39 AM

Agree thick painters tape and a holesaw, if you want to make a perfectly round hole, my big question is how do you figure out where to cut. Measuring that out can be tricky...

40inches - 27/9/12 at 01:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by fimi7
Agree thick painters tape and a holesaw, if you want to make a perfectly round hole, my big question is how do you figure out where to cut. Measuring that out can be tricky...

Take the radius of the hole you are cutting and reduce the size of the shape you want by that amount, that will give you the hole saw starting points, then join the edges of the holes with the jig saw. Simples?
Description
Description

Ah! Do you mean cutting the hole exactly, so that whatever is poking through the bonnet is central?

[Edited on 27-9-12 by 40inches]

fimi7 - 27/9/12 at 04:05 PM

Yep, the tricky part is getting it central so the trumpets do not look one sided