Fairing Model: Final Assembly
Dateline: 08/25/99Joining the Halves
One fairing half has a lip to overlap the other half. This lip will serve as a bondline, but we must find a way to hold the halves together while the adhesive cures. Cleco fasteners are made for just this purpose.
Clecos are like removable rivets. You drill a hole (which can also serve as a rivet hole), insert the Cleco, and tighten it down. Later, it can easily be removed.
To permanently join the halves, we removed the Clecos, spread an adhesive resin along the joint, then riveted the halves together (we didn't want our Clecos to get bonded in place).
Reinforcement
Once we had the two halves together, it became apparent that the layup wasn't stiff enough to maintain the fairing's shape. (The Clecos are still on in the picture below, but it looked the same after the halves were permanently joined.)
To fix this problem, we applied two "belly bands" of glass fabric at the top and bottom of the cylindrical section. Using eight inch wide fabric, we wrapped around the fairing about three times, applying resin as we unrolled the fabric. A teflon roller helped to press the layup into the fairing and hold it in place.
It's Done!
After the belly bands cured (no vacuum or pressure was required), the fairing held its shape. The outside surface could have used some paint, but otherwise it was ready to ship.
