I've been away from the forum a long time, but have a need to tap into the expertise of the group. I have searched and read previous threads but didn't find a direct answer to this particular problem.
I bought a used board with a busted FCS plug (old style plug, not fusion). The fin was pushed sideways, so there was about a half inch around the plug that was buckled.
I routed out the plug and set a new one , and the fin is all nice and flush and aligned. Here's the trouble. The area around the repair isn't even or flat. I would usually wetsand by hand here, but the plug is made of harder material than the resin/cabosil/sand coat and thus getting it level is a task.
What is the right tool for this job, and for feathering the edge of the repair? I have an orbital sander and I'm terrified of using it here because the area is pretty small. Should I mask off and use it anyway? Do I need a grinder with a soft pad?
A small 2" pneumatic die grinder would be my choice but if you don't have a compressor, I'd start out slow with a Dremel with a disc,
Otherwise maybe break out the can of elbow grease. Perhaps in the future you could rout out a larger mortise and fill with a higher density foam plug. Glue in and re-rout the fin box. What is it you are afraid of hitting or digging into? You need to final detail by hand anyway dont you ?
I’ve used the router trick as John suggests. It does work. I made a temp 1/4 inch plywood jig to hold it all and just trimmed it down little a time. Good luck. Don’t be gone so long next time.
Yo Noleash! Sounds like an interesting conundrum. Any chance of a photo?
I dont know if this is any help, but when putting in old-skool FCS plugs, once bonded in I grind the plastic of the plug flush with the lamination with an electric drill with a soft 6" sanding disc / 160 grit paper…carefully. Only do in short bursts to avoid overheating both the plug, the surrounding lam and the drill! The great thing about using this is you can “feel” whats going on under the sanding disc and you can be pretty selective about where gets abraded. If you’ve already stuck in the plug, then you can get it flush as possible and fill any dents with resin/flock and hand finish.