Removing/getting past epoxy?

Yeah, I know.

My stupid self attached some gear struts last night and realized today that I installed them backwards. The struts themselves are metal and therefore nice and strong, and the mounting holes are similarly beefy.

Fortunately I was lazy and didn’t put epoxy in the holes, but just spread it around the join while the plane sat on its gear. But now (if I can) I need to get the struts out.

Any suggestions that won’t totally ruin things? I’m hoping I can maybe use an old pair of sprue cutters to chew away at the epoxy enough to free the struts. The area where they go into the mounts will be completely invisible on the finished kit, so I’m not worried about cosmetics, just about being able to pull them, switch them, and mount them again.

Have you tried a microsaw or a scapel? YOu could make a cut right at the join line all the way around. If you can get to them.

Haven’t tried jack yet - just realized my error today and I’m still hours away from bench time. But yeah I’ll see about the microsaw, too. Got plenty of room around the strut - it’s one of those where you have to install the gear before you mount the engine booms kind of deals.

Try freezing it really cold (stick it in freezer for a day). If I remember, expoxy looses some strength and gets brittle when it is really cold.

Managed to get it off! Fortunately I smeared the stuff around the strut and outside of the mounting hole (it’s more to prevent a slight amount of wiggle - it’s a really deep hole with no space for major wandering) and was able to scrape it off with a chisel blade. The gear are now correctly situated.

Glad to hear you got it figured out.

Another trick is the good ol’ rotary tool with a super fine burr. For plastic / epoxy, it doesn’t need to be carbide, but it don’t hurt.

Reid