I wonder whose ship is faster…
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I wonder whose ship is faster...
Shipman’s arrived on Sways first so it must be the faster ship.
good idea Dan. Everyone listening???
I’d even say the first dimensional splitting should be that 39" into three 13" wide pieces…
Based on the hotwiring I’ve done, its easier to cut your templates twice in 12" wide stock than cut it once in 24" wide stock and then split it later for a stringer. If you have a 2’ wide thickness-cut blank, your ends are going to be very thin. Getting your center cut (for the stringer) started might be dicey. Sure, you can cut it & then glue the original outside cuts together in the middle, but why risk the drama?
If you cut it to 12 or 13" from the beginning, you can make a smaller hotwire bow which will use less current - or will heat up a thicker wire, making it less likely to break or to stretch & make funky cuts. 12" wide foam also cuts a lot faster than 24" wide. I actually cut down my bow from 26" wide to 15" and it works much better now, and uses 26 ga ss wire, not 30. Even if you don’t want stringers (I don’t use any under balsa sandwiches) the glue lines stiffen it up a bit & help with shaping. 12" wide blocks also fit better inside most cars 
Just my $0.02.
thanks Benny!
good ideas coming in; us crew never having done this.
Split the 39" dim three times at 13" OR the 49" four times giving a 12.25" cut giving us an equal amount of cuts (4 at 12.25 = 2 boards at 24.5 after glue up)
Second cuts at a predetermined thickness as suggested?
Thoughts…
So if we go the 49" dim cut 4 times @12.25" = 2 blanks @ 24.5" after glue AND
39" dim cut @ 3’’ = 13 slices we get---------->26 blanks total per block.
Most boards not going over 3" thick (?) then if you want two boards you get a 6" piece or two 3" split as described above. Or a compsand at whatever thickness.
Any ideas or thoughts on…The 16’ block from Insulfoam we can cut to two 8 footers or a 10 footer and a 6 footer. If you want a 6’3" you get 8 feet. If you want something longer than 10 feet you get 16 feet…
suggestions…
Let’s try and keep it simple (KISS)
I for one would not want a block narrower than 24". If people want to stringer the blank I’d leave that to them.
I’d suggest halfing the 49" dimension creating 2 blocks.
for simplisity I’d then suggest splitting in to multiples of 6.5" thicknesses. You’ll need more than 3" inorder to get your rockers. I would think a person could get 2 sub 8’ blanks cut from a 6.5" thick block and this would enable lots of rocker options. i.e. think 5-6" nose rocker.
one (1) 16’x39"x49" provides four (4) 8’x39"x24.5" blocks
and would produce twenty-four (24) 8’x6.5"x24.5" blocks
with carefull layout I think you’d get 48 boards in the sub 8’ range.
So my sugestion is that people buy a multiple of the 6.5" thick block.
If people want help cutting into smaller dimensions then that would be easy.
As for the folks wanting longer than 8’ to keep it simple have them slipt an additional 8’ block and glue it back up as Benny does. i.e. if 4 people want 10’ers then each would buy 1.25 blocks, or an 8’ and 2’ block and glue it back together to create 10’ers.
hope these sugestions help.
Its nice to have the foam come in one piece. Thats the only what that I would want to get it. I think theres a lot to be said for buying a 16 foot block. The best cut might be 9.5’ and 6.5’ on one half and 8’ and 8’. However, I agree with the 24" width.
On the balsa thing . . . I think I’ll watch someone do that. I gotta start with baby steps . . . Heck I still need a planer! And I’ve only glassed once, with regular goods. After all I’m pretty new here. Got Shaping 101, and will be getting masta shaper I and II. I can settle for two 6’0’s if need be . . . I was looking for 6’2" or 6’3" but if you must cut an 8 footer (and it be a waste to cut off 1 foot and 10 inches of EPS . . . ) . . . I’ll just go for 6’0’s.
So are we going to with Benny’s idea (stringer our own blocks, time to search on how to do that!) or the lenght[=1]'x6.5"x24.5 [=Black][ 2]method? [/][/][/]
You know this is pretty awesome . . . but confusing as Shipman said. And which ship is faster … Anyone have a steamer?
Or isn’t not the speed of the voyage, but enjoying the voyage itself that counts?
Has everyone who raised their hands given their wishlist first? Thanks for the xperienced block cutters giving their ka ching on this.
Merry Christmas all
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On the balsa thing . . . I think I’ll watch someone do that. I gotta start with baby steps . . .
There are no “baby steps” do those in your head. Leap right into your project and do 600 dry runs untill you know that what you are doing will work, like I did. Baby steps just make the journy longer. You’ve “B[=1]een doing a search for balsa related shaping” [ 2]scince August, proably much longer, I say it’s time to get a hold on some wood. Unless you move out of “A cool idea” and into you workshop, your board/dreams/IDEAS will never manifest, and your soul will die. So go buy a planer, choose a method, buy your stock and create.[/][/]
Cheers,
Austin
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On the balsa thing . . . I think I'll watch someone do that. I gotta start with baby steps . . . Heck I still need a planer!
2 comments:
Baby steps… that is researching the archives. Benny1 has a number of great pitorial process threads that offer some great insight into how to make life easier. Bert’s vacuum bagging sadwich construction thread while not showing working with balsa shows a way to do the full process.
planer… if you design your rocker template to final thickness then a planer is much less useful than it was when working with a clark blank. Still nice for turning the rails but you don’t need to remove nearly as much foam with EPS. Just cut to final thickness, template, contour and turn rails.
look dude
a planer is way overkill for working with eps
a hotwire template can give an exact foil,and then you only need to shape the rails
that doesnt take long with some course sandpaper
planers are cool but if your on a budget id say skip it for now
a good hotwire and accurate templates is all you really need .oh and some foam
benny
i hadnt though of doing 12 inch halves
that sounds way easier if there is only one person using the hotwire.
cheers for the tip mate
re: blocks vs profiles…I’m pretty sure you guys can get more blanks if you “stack” the profiles.
The problem is that there is a certain about of skill involved in cutting out a blank. The hotwire hates if there are imperfections in the mdf template. If you let everybody cut their own template you are at the mercy of their workmanship. The foam is so cheap that the added waste isn’t too big a deal. I figure that I would easily get two blanks and a rocker table out of a 1 foot thick piece of foam.
I’m working on a rocker template right now
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I for one would not want a block narrower than 24". If people want to stringer the blank I’d leave that to them.
I’d suggest halfing the 49" dimension creating 2 blocks.
for simplisity I’d then suggest splitting in to multiples of 6.5" thicknesses. You’ll need more than 3" inorder to get your rockers.(edit by surf4fins; “oh yea. DOH! Rocker, whoda’ thought?) I would think a person could get 2 sub 8’ blanks cut from a 6.5” thick block and this would enable lots of rocker options. i.e. think 5-6" nose rocker.
one (1) 16’x39"x49" provides four (4) 8’x39"x24.5" blocks
and would produce twenty-four (24) 8’x6.5"x24.5" blocks
with carefull layout I think you’d get 48 boards in the sub 8’ range.
So my sugestion is that people buy a multiple of the 6.5" thick block.
If people want help cutting into smaller dimensions then that would be easy.
As for the folks wanting longer than 8’ to keep it simple have them slipt an additional 8’ block and glue it back up as Benny does. i.e. if 4 people want 10’ers then each would buy 1.25 blocks, or an 8’ and 2’ block and glue it back together to create 10’ers.
hope these sugestions help. help hell,sounds like a plan, done deal, get 'er done! All in favor say EYE…
"I’ve got $40 that I’d like to put towards a block of EPS.
I’m not an event organizer…"
Just quoting myself
You guys are fun
Ray
HA HA, you’re an event STARTER! Troublemaker ;)~
I finished my rocker template. Copy of a 6’6"P (Timmy Patterson). Nose rocker 5 1/2". Should work for a wide range of short board shapes
Four Fins you need to call me…
I’m still interested ,
Ray
pic of the balsa I got. 4 foot lengths, about 3/8 thick. We need to schedule a January Sway’s get-together I suppose…
I want to make a Boogie Board out of a Balsa core and an EPS skin. Something with 6 fins. Some one make me a template & rocker profile please.