Haavard,
I’m so glad I re-read this just. I’ve just got around to preparing an eps blank ready for shaping and was pondering the best way to attack a squared off rockered blank…Bingo!
I’m so onto this later. I’m going to make another with a 90 degree wire top square the edges first though. The cut down in mess will be brilliant.
Top job, cheers mate.
Peace!
Chipper, come home!
Sure would like to look at the cleaned up version of this
and hopefully with a little instruction.
Here is a simplified step by step crossection drawing:
Of course this is only showing one crosssection, you need to repeat this for crossections at nose and tail as well. After you have marked this, you find a straighter (longer) template then your outline template and blend your markings. Then make the first railband cut.
Note that the measurement is done on the line of the first cut line of the drawing and marked on the first railband cut on the blank. Otherwise the procedure is the same.
For those of you who think this is too slow, note that the first railband is approx. 1 1/8" deep at the deepest and over 5" wide. That’s nine passes at 1/8" cutting depth just to get to that depth. If you are good with the planer and have a good planer, you can probably do it faster. For me as a novice, the hotwire is definetely faster, cleaner and more accurate.
thanks Paul Cannon and Haarvard.
Havent had time to go through these yet, but I have time to thank you gentlemen.
I will definetly employ these ideas.
I’m glad to see this is getting recognized as a good technique for the planer-averse
out there. The diagrams and pics will help a great deal.
Just a few suggestions for those that might try this: One, read Barnfield’s tapered rail
band thread. Two, cut all the way to nose and tail, cuts should fade to zero (or near)
at the ends. And three, if you leave the first offcut in place when you cut the second
side primary band, you’ll have a better chance of keeping the guide level when you get
to the narrow parts at nose and tail (not an issue on big wide noses and tails).
I hate using words, but here is my experience / thoughts
Anybody knows an online shop to buy NiCr wires?
[*]Using a preset angle is shit. Better get good freehanding it. [Since you have to fade to near -0- degree angle, see pic-2-]
[snip]
p.s. It is hard to cut two lines at once with one wire!
Anybody knows an online shop to buy NiCr wires?
Hi wouter, I think it will be very hard to make consistent and symmetric railbands if they spiral as you suggest. As I get closer to the nose or tail, I reduce the cutting depth instead of the cutting angle. Freehanding creates way too much woobles for my liking, even cutting with a hotwire using templates create more wobbles than I care for. I find that since I have two markings on the tool that matches up with my marked line the wobbles are reduced to a minimum. A fixed angle may not always be optimal for removing the maximum amount of material in one cut, but depending on your crosssection design you may choose a fixed angle that will be close to optimal and that will give you a nice even flow. After all you can only cut as deep as a you tangent the final rail shape so one or two single bands will never remove all the required material. I think it will make sense to choose the angle such that you remove as much material at the center as possible, since the rail and profile is thinner in the nose and tail anyway, there will be less work there afterwards regardless.
I get nichrome wire from the hardware store, but you should be able to get it from good electronics parts stores like elfa. It’s listed as resistance wire.
Mike,
I’ve been thinking about this and if there where a few things that could possibly improve on how well the cutter rests against the blank I think it would be:
1)Extend the flat part so you have more area resting on the blank on the inside of the hole
2)Make it adjustable to 10 and 20 degrees.(Make vertical part longer, add another eyescrew… simple really)
This way you could do the 20 degree cut first with the flat part resting on the flat deck surface of the blank, then the 10 degree cut with the cutter still resting on the flat deck surface of the blank. Might have to do this next time around just to check.
regards,
Håvard
Hi HAavardus
very true!
how about having a flexible angle?
i want to make one, simply by putting a coil on the bottom of the wood that can be pulled down vertically, to increase and decrease the angle.
Whaddayatink?
Wouter
Mike,
I’ve been thinking about this and if there where a few things that could possibly improve on how well the cutter rests against the blank I think it would be:
1)Extend the flat part so you have more area resting on the blank on the inside of the hole
2)Make it adjustable to 10 and 20 degrees.(Make vertical part longer, add another eyescrew… simple really)
This way you could do the 20 degree cut first with the flat part resting on the flat deck surface of the blank, then the 10 degree cut with the cutter still resting on the flat deck surface of the blank. Might have to do this next time around just to check.
Extending the ‘‘flat part’’ (baseplate/level-guide) works for me.
I’m having trouble getting my head around whether doing the 20 degree cut first will yield the same as
doing it second. When we do that second band with the planer, it’s off the lower part of the first band
and the geometry of doing it first with the hotwire would seem to work, but there’s this little nagging
doubt in my brain. I have a friend who has always started his planer bands with a big steep cut, and then
he does what most would consider to be the "primary’', flatter band after that. Exactly the same as what
you’re proposing.
The other thing is that you’re going to need another line drawn on the deck for the 20 degree cut, it’s got
it’s own taper relating to primary band.
IMO the initial concept is GREAT for setting rail volume and getting a big head start on deck roll for DIY’ers.
You could also use it on the bottom for anything with a lot of bottom rail shape (like a longboard). But the rest of the bands I think you’d be better off with a #36 block. Or the planer, us planer purists have to throw that in there.
I still think this is going to be up for ‘‘gadget of the year’’ when we do the 2008 "Best of Swaylock’s’'.
And to Wouter: careful with that ‘‘coil’’ you’re gonna put on there to vary your angle, and just skip the
nichrome wire and use stainless steel wire fishing leader - cheaper, stronger, and uses less electricity
I’m pretty sure would be the same, but maybe a little harder to get your head around. Another thing, you could layout and mark both your railbands on the same surface which might be a good thing. I think it’s a good idea to use the planer to clean up and do the final railbands. I add balsa rails and use the planer once those are on.
Wouter, an adjustable cutter would be a good idea, but be careful. I’m not too fond about being electrocuted (my cutters are connected to variacs that go up to 280V), so I have yet to find an adjustable solution that I’m comfortable with.
regards,
Håvard
I’m thinking of making something like this. Do you guys think it will work? I’m sure it’s been done before but I’m new to all this.
Hopefully shaping my first board real soon!
Cheers
Brendan
Hey Brendan. Read your post a few days back on this thread and liked the idea of an adjustable angle. I was messing around today came up with a pretty simple but effective solution. It was ridiculously easy to make and seemed to work well on some scrap foam I had lying around. Image below.
Not the best image but hopefully you can see how it is put together. The 1"x1" lying flat on the board has an arm made of a piece of oak attached to the tip (running vertical) with a bolt and a wing nut (this is the bolt in the center.) You can rotate the arm in our out and lock it with the wing nut. The hot wire is attached to the top and bottom of the oak arm on screws that goes through to the other side. The hot wire also goes through the horizontal 1"x1" through a metal electrical thingy that is salvaged from an old ceiling light hanger. It’s just a hollow metal tube that is threaded on the outside. When you rotate the arm out (away from the board) the wire moves up and flattens out the angle. Moving the arm inward has the opposite effect.
I haven’t tried in on a real blank yest but was pretty happy with the sample cuts I made. I put some guide marks on the top and sides of the 1"x1" where the wire meets it and it was pretty easy to just sight it down a rail band mark. I could add a guide to it to hold it to a certain depth too. May try that this week.
Anyway, thought this might be a simple solution to the angled cutter.
Following Haavard's lead I also used Paul Cannon's idea of a guitar tuning peg and came up with a basic adjustable hot wire rail bevel tool. It helps knock the corners off of a rectangular blank. Per Mike's suggestion I entered the images with descriptive labels.
[img_assist|nid=1044936|title=Adjustable angle hot wire tool (1)|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
[img_assist|nid=1044937|title=Adjustable angle hot wire tool|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=0|height=0]
