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ACES UK |
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ACES UK |
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This page is a dumping ground for things not mentioned elsewhere.
We use streamer material obtained from Sweden or Germany. It comes in two widths, 20mm or 30mm. The 20mm size is cut using a very simple device, shown in the picture below. It is a peice of medium balsa with strips of thin card glued in place to guide the 20mm streamer material. A Stanley or scalpel blade is pushed into the exact middle of the "gate", at a suitable rake angle. The raw streamer is cut to the appropriate length (12m) and then a 2" scissor cut is made down the middle at one end. This acts as a starter cut. Feed this end through the gate, and past the blade. Then just carefully pull the material through. With a helper, you can wind it onto bobbins as you go.
The 30mm width is a little more tricky, although in principle, the aforementioned technique could apply. We use a home
made machine shown in the picture. Cut off 12m of 30mm wide streamer. Make two 6" scissor cuts in one end, to give
three equal-width "tails". Feed these ends through the gate and past the two Stanley blades (these are positioned to cut
the material into three equal strips). When pulled through, secure the three ends to the drum with tape. Wind handle
until all 12m is pulled through and sliced. Secure three loose ends to drum with three small peices of tape. Then, one at
a time, wind each 10mm streamer onto a separate bobbin or loo roll centre ready for the field. A small scissor cut in the
bobbin will secure the free end.
Note that both ends of the streamer are marked with 6" of felt tip marker ink.