Thread: Plugs for vents and headset cord holders

1. These pictures show plugs I made for the holes in the wing roots for the CT. They are made of thin wood (about 3/16ths) glued to 1 inch thick high quality foam obtained from an upholsterer. The wood disk is oversize to ensure that it cannot go through the hole and the foam is about 1/8th inch oversize in diameter which grips the hole sufficiently to hold the plug in place. (If it didn't, I planned a little piece of transparent tape to tack it down.)
2. The little stick-on hooks get the headset cords out of the way and leave the controls for the ANR headset handily easy to reach.

Thank you, Russ,

It is starting to get cold ?? (+47F in the morning) here and I was just thinking about how I was going to plug the holes. Thought abouit clear tape but I think I like you idea better. A take-off on what you did might be to use clear plexiglass with some kind of fastener arrangement so you can still see through. I would like to cover my fuel gauge holes too.

I really am from Alaska but 3 years here and I'm getting soft!

Nice mod!

Just remember that carbon fiber has different properties from metal and wood, which most of us are used to working with. CF is very sturdy, but once you cure the CF, making holes in it is problematic. The CF will not have the same strength around the hole, and it will wear, crack or tear if you put strain/stress on the hole. A classic example is the headset jack - the bulkhead there is strong, but if you torque the headset jacks, the CF will begin to wear (I saw this on 775CT, which had been in rental service for a while).

Bicycles use a lot of CF in forks and (if you have enough $$) the frame. The threshold for replacement is any damage that causes nicks in CF parts that go through the clear coat into the CF mat itself.

Doug