Getting ready to go with the Router to start cutting out my outlines. From my reading on here, it seems the most important part, other than the danger factor, is making sure you have perfect templates. I’ve made about 20 half templates over the last year in anticipation of the transition to the router. They are pretty good, but not as perfect as I’d like em to be. Chasing out in blems at this point, seems pointless, but, If I look long enough, I can still see them. I know, practice, practice, practice. Some like making templates, kinda the whole ZEN thing with making things from start to finish, but, if I had my choice, I’d rather have the template already made and perfect, and spend my time working with the foam. So, this gets me to my original question. Has anyone ever had perfect templates made with a CNC machine? Hell it only costs 25-50 bucks to have a blank cut. Seems like you should be able to have perfect templates made for a reasonable price. ANYONE?
PierreB recently had me shape a 12’2" glider and he did the template himself on his home-made “Surfdesigner” software. He then submitted the file to AtuaCores in Bordeaux (they cut EPS blanks numerically there) and they cut him a perfect template out of 1" thick EPS (at that time, EPS was all that could be cut on their machine, I think that now plywood can be cut, too). He brought me the template and I transferred it to good old plywood for ease of use (and re-use), making sure to follow exactly the original. So, yes, of course, it can be done and the result is excellent.
But I will continue to make my own templates the old way: putting in a few figures, rough-drawing a curve, rough cutting then using the planer and sanding-block to “true” the outline. Don’t ask me why…
I get a lot of templates cut for me on a laser cutter nearby. They work out great for using the router to cut the outline since they are full templates. Just have to draw the template in AutoCAD and email it over to the laser cutting shop. Always come out perfect. I would imagine a CNC machine could do the same.
