Today was about cutting out the access hatch.

First up I used my rough template to reestablish where the internals of the hatch are so I could place the outlines where they need to be. My template didn’t need to be pretty or accurate, just act as a set of x-ray eyes.

I do however like a center-line in the middle. The laser helped to continue existing lines after my layups had covered the old ones.

This photo is after I have cut the hatch outline, of course I first spent a while drawing it out. After cutting I added a frame to keep the hatch in its curve.

After deepening the cutout as far as I could with a hacksaw blade, patience and wiggling eventually had the hatch out.

There was a LOT of cleaning up to get to this stage.

Here I have trimmed the hatch core to just under an inch thick and down to the glass on the edges.

Of course now this hatch needs a lip on the fuselage side to hold it in place. Plenty more to do tomorrow.