After being really inspired by some topicks here of SKATEMENT, SHARKCOUNTRY and LEMAT and STONEBURNER and BALSA.
I decided to glue up my blank, i used hotwire for the cuts and right now i am at a point that you can see in the photos.
i used ceys d4 Pu glue, its clear, thin and spreads like resin with a squegge and the hotwire cuts well trough it ( tested)
I need help regarding my next steps (what is the better way?)
So far i have 3 pieces glued togheter and they are rectangles, no rocker yet.
Question?
1- is it better to glue the 3 rectangles and then cut the big slab verticaly in the middle and hot wire the rocker on the two rectangles and then glue??
or
2- hotwire the rocker on the 3 pieces and then glue?
Extra questions???
1-To do the straight cuts like spliting the rectangle in half i can use a saw or a jig saw or should i stick to the hotwire (takes more time to setup the guiding pieces of wood)
2- i foresee there will be some empty space in between the joining parts because of bad hotwiring, not big holes but maybe some parts need filling, can i do it with lighweIght spackle during the sealing or should i fill it with expanding foam?
Glue it altogether and the split it in the middle. You should be able to easily adjust your rocker with fewer pieces. The more pieces involved in a glue up the harder it is to get them aligned. You left out a couple of things. How are you going to align your rocker during the glue up and whether or not you are going to use a stringer. If you cut a stringer to your determined rocker; It is easy to align the rocker during the glue up. Without a stringer you will need a rocker table or some other device .
Yes the thickness of the finished blank is what will limit your rocker. If you are going to use the Hotwire to cut rocker into your blank, you will be very limited. Whereas if you put the rocker into the blank as you glue it up, you should be able to put more rocker into the blank. Without a stringer I would attempt to use your rocker templates to align each piece as I glued. Glue and clamp the first two pieces using your rocker pattern on the outsides. Then glue the last piece on. EPS flexes pretty nicely. So you should be able to get desired rocker. Yes without a stringer donât cut at center, just glue the existing pieces .
@arlosilva You may want to make you rocker templates âlongerâ to allow the wire to start and catch up without nicking the important parts of the blank.
Last time I cut rockers I forgot this. I ended up using small still sticks (red in graphic) and a hot melt glue gun to add 2-3-4â (5-10cm) off each end. The joint needs to be smooth so the wire does not catch and redo the placement when cutting the other side.
thank you, i was going to start in the midlle and pull to one end, and then go the middle and pull to the other end because i saw someone doing it like that, but it seems your idea is best cause allows for one single cut.
BTW you can clean up/true up those long edges of those 3-pieces with the fence-post level, sander technique @OSS1 â Sways member formerly known as McDing â gifted us a long while back. Maybe he can post some photos of his.
Helps make those long foam edges flat and perpendicular. Should help get tighter seams between/among your foam segments/sections. Pull your fence-post-level sander towards you along the full length of the foam segment for each stroke.
Problem is glue donât hotwire cut like foam, it"ll deviate wire + foam will be cut deeper around glue line. More glue line = more stray cut. Even if first choice should be cut and glue, when you have to make blank from pieces you quickly move to cut and glue, keep some margin and play planer.
so when joining the 3 pieces i shouldnât spread the glue all over the surface?
How should i do it then?
ok, hardway i see. well i have started.
it seems i go cut the extra foam with saw and true it woth the 90 degrees piece of wood.
since i know its never perfect on first time i made my rocker templates to guide the hotwire 3â thick.
Now the glue i used i think its really good, it spreads thin and from the foaming bit it spat from the joining lines it seams almost the same density as foam l, i could scrtch it easily with my nail.
If you still have 3 separate, long pieces, you can just true up the long-sides of each of those pieces as best you can with the fence-post-level like tool before you glue. No need for more sawing at this point.
Regarding a long vertical hotwire cut, your foam must be level/parallel to the ground in the lateral/widthwise dimension. If the foam is tilted slightly to either side the hotwire cut will not be perpendicular.
Havenât tried yet (havenât needed to). My approach to making a long perpendicular cut was going to be done with a my Rockwell Versacut mini circular saw (Dremel makes one too). Then that shallow cut serves as a handsaw guide, cutting slowly. Clean/true it up with a fence-post-level sander. If your foam surface is flat and no longer than 8â, you can use a length of square aluminum tube as a saw guide. Seems plausible anyway.
