build thread

General Discussion
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i've been on Swaylocks a few years and i've always loved the build threads. especially the ones with lots of pictures... here's mine... please don't confuse this with a "how to" thread. this is just a "how i did" thread. full of mistakes and doing things the hard way. please feel free to comment or ask questions...

i wanted to try some of the Timberflex builds. so after Swayloholicks Anonymous 2009 i went in with Lavarat and CJ3 on a big block of 1.5 lb/cubic foot EPS. big thanks to CJ3 and Lavarat. both those guys have been really helpful. i picked up the foam from the Insulfoam plant about an hour and a half from my house in Dixon. for about $90 each, we each got a block that was 20" x 24" x 8'. not bad... i needed to make rocker templates to hotwire my blank so i started this_thread. i found a barely used Lexmark Z611 printer on ebay for about $30 with brand new cartridges and printed out a rocker template. i made the rocker template thicker than what i wanted the board to be by 1/8" all the way through.

 

 

 

i bought a sheet of Masonite and cut it in half lengthwise.

 

 

 

i did it with a jigsaw but, when you buy a sheet at Home Depot, they will do a couple cuts for you for free. unfortunately, their saw was broken when i bought this sheet... then i used 3M 77 Spray Adhesive to glue the rocker template down to one of the sheets of masonite.

 

 

 

i thought it was going to be tough to not make a sticky mess. but this turned out to be easier than i expected. i just rolled the template up, and sprayed a little glue on the masonite then rolled some of the template out and smoothed it with my hand, then sprayed some more and rolled/smoothed some more. took about 5 minutes. then, i drilled holes about 8" apart through the middle of the rocker template and through the other piece of masonite behind it. i put some little bolts with washers and wingnuts bolting the 2 pieces of masonite together.

 

 

 

 

 

then, i got to cutting with the jigsaw. had to remove the bolts to allow the jigsaw to go along the cut-line. so, i would take out a few bolts, cut a little then put them back in behind me.

 

 

 

 

 

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so, then i had 2 rough rocker templates bolted tightly together. i got to work with my sanding block and smoothed them out as best i could. especially on the bottom side. leaving them bolted together while sanding them means that they are as close to identical as i can get.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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so, now to the block of foam. the plan is to end up with a board that is EPS core with 1" XPS rails and bamboo deck and bottom, stringerless. so, i cut my blanks out with the 20" width instead of the 24" width (remember the block size is 20" x 24" x 8'). this limits me to making boards that are 22" wide (20" EPS and 1" of XPS each side) or narrower but, i don't anticipate needing more width than that. and, the extra 4" in height of the block should net me another blank. i planned on cutting my blanks out kinda like Pringle potatoe chips and using the whole  block as the rocker bed when it comes time to vac the skins on... i knew that i wanted to make a 5'6" little biscuity/disc thing for small mushy days so i decided to cut this blank first. i wouldn't need to use the full length of the 6'2" rocker template so, i let the ends of the rocker template run past the block on both sides. as you can see, the holes that i drilled in the rocker template now allow me to screw the template to the block of foam.

nose:

 

 

tail: 

 

 

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oh, bye the way, i got my variac off of Ebay for like $50 shipped. when it got here, it seemed like it had been dropped and didn't really work. so, i had to crack it open and do some surgery. luckily, the damage wasn't that bad and was pretty easy to fix. good think 'cause i'm an electrical idiot.

 

 

 

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so, i sliced out the "fish" blank then moved the rocker templates down so the deck of the next would be about 1/4" below the bottom of the fish blank above. cut that one out, then moved them down again... i got 3 blanks out of the block so far and still have more than half. since they are all the same rocker, i can use the block as the rocker bed for each of them. i will just have to bag on the skins one at a time. hope all that makes sense... lesson learned: add some "runoff" to the front and back of rocker templates. don't end them abruptly because it's tough to cut the tips of the blanks cleanly.

hotwiring foam is fun! this is the part i cut off the top of the fish blank:

 

 

fish blank:

 

 

 

 

 

 

it's kinda tough to keep the hotwire down tight to the rocker template but by the 3rd blank, i was getting the hang of it.

 

 

3 blanks, woo hoo! for about $12 each:

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very clean work mate

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thanks Yorky. i've got more to add but there is a 2 y/o little girl who just woke up from her nap and wants to go outside and blow bubbles so, i'll have to post more later.

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Pretty resourceful Chrisp. Great idea. Seems as though you can use the pattern to make stringers as well. Was there a tendency for the wire to ride up at all during cutting or does it stay tight in the middle? From the looks of the cut outs they came out nice. Do you have to move the wire slowly or quickly to prevent overheating? Nice Job!

ps. What happened to the caltrans endeavor?

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Nice Chris!  Can't beat the price. 

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Tblank: thanks. i'm sure, the rocker template would be the perfect stringer template. if someone were to go that route, they could make their blanks so close tolerance that they'd just need to do bottom contours, and turn the rails and be done more or less... i found that when the wire is hot, it stretches some and kinda gets "u" shaped as you pull it through the block. so i concentrated on keeping the wire stretched tight across the templates and pulled tight in the direction i was cutting. i kinda had to do a slow cross-step as i cut along the templates. when i would step, i had a tendency to release pressure on the wire and it came up off the templates in a few places. as far as cut speed, the variac is 5 amp and i had the dial set between 30 and 35. i turned it on and turned up the heat until it was bright red-hot then backed it off a bit until it was still glowing but not bright pink. don't know if that's the best way but it worked. with the wire set like that, as i pulled the hotwire through the block, it just cut at it's own speed and i didn't have any troubles with overheating. i just kept tension and let it do it's thing... ha ha, i never did look into the Caltrans thing. i forget who the other swaylocker was that had spotted those blocks...

JohnMellor: thanks, it's been fun. yah, the price seems good. even after adding the rails i figure i'm still only about at $15 per blank. funny thing is though, after bamboo skins, glass, and everything else, i figure it's about the same price in materials as a standard EPS / Epoxy board. =)

another thing i forgot to mention is that i waxed the edges of my rocker templates with "Parowax". they had it at Safeway. i guess it's used for jarring preserves and making candles and stuff. Greg Loehr mentioned that tip somewhere and it really worked to prevent the hotwire from burning into the templates. on the 3rd blank, the wax had melted somewhat and i got a couple of scorched spots but nothing that dug into the masonite at all.

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Very cool Chrisp, thanks for the info. I’ve got to laugh though, Parowax was the only stuff we had to use before Zoggs et. al. There was a time when everyone knew what parowax was. And yeah, it is intended to use in home canning.

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Is

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are the

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are the boards

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are the boards coming to

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are you

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are you going to

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I just checked the "watch this post link."  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the build.  Are you going to bring