Cutting a groove into plywood

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LW Bercini

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The balsa tail feathers on my upscale Orbital Interceptor take a beating on landings. So I am replacing them with 1/8” plywood.

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Lacking access to a router, what technique would you suggest for cutting a groove in the stabilizer so that it can be assembled as tongue and groove?
 
The balsa tail feathers on my upscale Orbital Interceptor take a beating on landings. So I am replacing them with 1/8” plywood.

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Lacking access to a router, what technique would you suggest for cutting a groove in the stabilizer so that it can be assembled as tongue and groove?
Ill be an ass and assume you don't have a table saw either? How about a dremel? You can make cool little routers out of dremels. I wouldn't try using any of the other tools pictured.

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clamp some strips on the thing 1/8 apart and run a flat saw/file in tweenis the strips. Can even have a STOP piece on the stabilizer thingy.
or send it out to a machine shop..with the coin you have..why not...? :roll:

I think its a scrub for todays launch.

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Tape off the edges you want, get an x-acto and score the edges along the tape, and then use the edge of flat file.

The tape protects the rest of the plywood from mis-cuts and stray filings. The x-acto scoring gives a clean cut. The file does all the work.

-Aaron
 
Depending upon the thickness of your fin you want to use as the tongue, how about sand paper wrapped on a craft stick (pop sickle stick) or similar piece of wood.
I've got the dremel router base and some bits. It isn't the easiest thing to use.
X-Acto saws run along a straight edge to the dept you wanted, then use sharp edge to chisel out between the cuts.
 
If you have the money, the StewMac precision router base is great. Made for guitar makers and requires a dremel. My son and I used it to cut roman numerals in a set of Stations of the cross, and it worked fantastically. Again, not cheap, but it works.
 
How about if you got some 1/16 inch plywood and laminated the together to make your 1/8 inch ply with a slot in it ? super simple and a quick solution.

Eric
 
Drill an 1/8" hole at the end of the slot you want to cut, draw straight lines out from the hole, and cut them with a coping saw. If the slot doesn't go to an edge, drill two holes at either end of the slot, draw the lines, and again use a coping saw. You can remove the blade from the saw frame, and it will fit through a pretty small hole.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009OYG2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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Instead of cutting a groove half depth for the entire length, you could cut a rectangular hole (drilling and filing) for part of the length, and have a matching tongue on the stabilizer.

Oliver
 
DING!DING!DING! :clap:

Thank you.
Your welcome...oh..sorry that wasn't meant for me and the others that chimed in on this "Q". After all,you did ask how to CUT a groove in plywood.
Most responded to your actual "Q" because they have good reading comprehension.
Lucky for you, someone came up with and posted an alterative way to build this bird .
That's great and now you are good to go.
I'm happy for you.
 
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