what is the best way to trace a board to make a template? thanks
Sharpie and masonite.
Get surfding to scan it.
You want to keep your pencil/sharpie as close to the rail line as possible and as vertical as possible. Place the board deck side up, when tracing the nose, push down on the rocker, in the mid section release on the push, and at the tail push down on the rocker again.
I just lay a sheet of hardboard (masonite) or card over the bottom of the board (fins removed) that's sat on my laminating rack- edge lined up with centre of stringer and trace round board from underside. Just make sure you hold your pencil att he correct angle to ensure you don's add extra width. I've found the flat wide pencils that you can get from buliding suppliers the best as they sit flat against the curve of the rail. Cut out carefully and hey presto - prefect half template.
If you are taking a template off of a board with glass ons just cut a slot in your card so the fins can poke through.
Cheers
Rich
Take a pic of the board you want to copy and use it as the background in a CAD program, like AKUShaper. That takes all the guesswork out of resizing templates or copying imperfect boards. It works great for creating templates for veneers, too.
use double sided tape to fix 1 to 1.5 mm plastic sheet or whatever flexable (light) sheet to the bottom of the board, then you can flip it deck side up.
get the lead out of a builders pencil
make a right angle from an off cut of foam with the stringer still in it, stringer will run along the plastic ( make it thin ).
file a small slot in the foam side of the angle, fix the lead into the slot with one tight piece of 2" tape (maybe some super glue too). make sure the lead is square and everything remains at 90 degrees.
Then rip till your hearts content…
there will be some things you will have to over come as the board starts to bend into the nose rocker… think about that, and shape your right angle accordingly.
Rip Rip Rip we all do it.
Yorky
You are clearly the master of templating boards...that is the most detailed and accurate method I've ever heard of...pure genius...going to rush out now and make myself a new tool. And I thought I'd got it down...Thankyou!
Cheers
Rich
If the board has a stringer then I usually draw a line down the centre of the template material and cut a small piece out right along the line in the middle. I tape the template on the nose and tail and make sure the stringer is visible at the centre through the slit in the template (tape that also) and dead centre. I found it was easy for the template to move around about 1/8th inch. Then flip the board and do the outline with a pencil and square.
Don’t forget to match the finished cut template against the board to make sure it is correct, particularly around the nose and tail.
If you want to plot it into CAD (Aku or Boardcad) then mark the template at 1 inch increments, and 1/4" at the nose and tail. Measure those and plot the guide points into CAD (Over Curve measurements). Don't forget to print out the finished template and check it against the board. Usually takes a few tries to get it perfect.
Some boards are not exactly symmetrical and some stringers bend a bit so take that into consideration. Same principles apply for rocker and rail slice measurements plotted into CAD. Don't forget to print and check them against the board.
EDIT: There is a technical issue here, as Aku and BoardCAD print their templates out as the Straight Line length, not Over Curve length, which is what you want for the plan shape.
A solution is to scale the board length, changing the Straight Line length to the Over Curve length just before you print and keep the width and thickness the same. Next version of Boardcad will hopefully have the option to print the outline Over Curve.
I'm a back yarder though.
I take measurements from the noses every 3", on the 90 degree, using 2 drafting square to keep it at aperfect 90 degree. Then I take the same style measurements from the tail. I do this for about 18 inches or so depending on the size of board you start with..
Then I put those measurements into AKU Shaper along with the final width and blend the wide point either center, back, or forward. depending on the board. Because we don't want to copy someones board...no do we :)
Load in the length of the board into AKU, and now you can adjust the board to what ever size you need at a future date. Print it out on a full sheet of paper...super 77 it down to 1/8 masonite, cut it out with a jigsaw, and true it up with your planer set on Zero to get the humps out. Cut the blank out with a router / router bering combo, on the template.
[quote="$1"]
use double sided tape to fix 1 to 1.5 mm plastic sheet or whatever flexable (light) sheet to the bottom of the board, then you can flip it deck side up.
get the lead out of a builders pencil
make a right angle from an off cut of foam with the stringer still in it, stringer will run along the plastic ( make it thin ).
file a small slot in the foam side of the angle, fix the lead into the slot with one tight piece of 2" tape (maybe some super glue too). make sure the lead is square and everything remains at 90 degrees.
Then rip till your hearts content....
there will be some things you will have to over come as the board starts to bend into the nose rocker.... think about that, and shape your right angle accordingly.
Rip Rip Rip we all do it.
[/quote]
"Truest" method of taking a template. Taking a picture and "tracing" it in a CAD program works but the template is usually a bit distorted and doesn't follow the true length of the curve. Great take on templating (is that a word?) Yorky!
It is now
Make flip templates they take less space. As your collection grows you will be glad you did them that way.
Surfding
[quote="$1"]
what is the best way to trace a board to make a template? thanks
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I use a pencil.
Stingray...Low Tech Lab...Stop over thinking the process....
Anyone ever made yorky’s tool he described? Have a picture? I made plenty of rail band scribe tools…just cant quite figure out the purpose of the stringer(making it thin) how it rides on the plastic. Is it just a stabilizer? Also where the slot is filed for the lead of a pencil.
Assuming you are taking a template off of a finished board; Cut an 8’x 4’ sheet of Masonite in half length wise. This will give you a 96” x 24” piece. Cut the Masonite to the exact length of the board you are tracing. (There is another method for boards over 8’). Align the “Factory Edge” with the center of the board. Masonite underneath, board on top. Always good to determine Exact Center of the board before hand and mark it with a straight edge and Sharpie lengthwise from nose to tail. Stringers are not always dead center. You can use a Shapers Square of the type sold by Foam EZ etc to do this (or a carpenters square in a pinch. Clamp the Masonite at the tail and nose. If you have a clamp that will open far enough, put one at center. Now here is a “key” point; Use a “Carpenters Pencil” to do the trace. They are flat sided and will lay flat against the board. Be sure to hold the pencil vertical and plomb to the board. There are tricks to make sure this can be done. Combination Square or tools similar to those used to mark laps. Cut it out with a Jig Saw and a fine blade. Clean up with a Surform and a hard sanding block and medium paper. Take measurements at six or twelve inch intervals on the board and transfer to the Masonite. Width, thickness, rocker. That’s the way it was done before you and resinhead bought a computer. This description of the process is oversimplified and doesn’t cover things like getting around “glass ones” etc., but you can improvise a little and handle the variable. Some guys put the Masonite underneath, some on top. Some guys flip the board deck up, some deck down. This is just a general method. Improvise and do it the way that works for you.
Use a grinder to grind your pencil to half its thickness so that the flat surface can ride against the board. Stick the pencil in a piece of scrap foam so its easier to ride the rail and remain consistantly square to the outline without the wobbles doing it freehand can create.
This is a 9-yr old thread. Deez just asked a question about a tool that is referenced in it.
yeah but just as pertinent today