Crop circles

Rob

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2024
Messages
216
Working on the flaps and I noticed all the little circles from the suction or whatever? Does everyone really get rid of these? I would say maybe in competition? I know everyone says build the model the way you like but I've never covered them up and never really cared if they were there. What's everyone else think?

20250108_104056.jpg
 
The reason they're there is because after the sprues are made in the injection moulding machine, the two mould halves come apart and the sprue then needs to be pushed out of the half it usually sticks in. For this reason, lots of holes are drilled through the mould and steel rods inserted into them, so that the machine can push on those rods to eject the sprue. Hence "ejector pin marks".

You can see a block of them at 1:40 in this video, and see them do their thing at about 3:03:



As for removing them: no need to bother unless they'll be visible or will interfere with the fit of other parts. Some of the marks are recessed, in which case you can fill them with putty and then sand them down when that's dried. Sometimes, they're raised above the surface instead, which you can file, scrape and/or sand away.
 
Aha! I didn't notice some until I decided to open and photograph under the hood and the front end of my BEEP :(.
These where almost invisible from certain angles, just raised enough to catch the light shone from above and to the side.

I'll know better next time.
 
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