Form Making
Form Making
My Redbird forms just aren't coming out as nice as some of the forms I have seen on these pages. So far I have four station molds and two stem molds made. I went with 3/4" BC plywood. I am tracing the pattern off the Bear Mountain plans and using a jig saw to cut. I am trying to hold a 1/16" off the line but I can't always maintain that gap. Sometimes it goes out to a 1/8" sometimes down to 0. I then try to sand it true with an orbital sander and a rasp.
To what tolerance do I need to hold to get a fair hull and how can I get that tolerance? :?:
To what tolerance do I need to hold to get a fair hull and how can I get that tolerance? :?:
Last edited by Its Me on Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
molds
It's Me -
You will be OK. I also used a jig saw and orbital sander to cut the molds and mine came out fine. What I tried to do was cut about 1/16 to 1/8 from the line and finish up with the sander. This will work fine. Obviously the better you cut the molds the fairer your canoe will be, but believe me no body is going to notice a difference of 1/16th of an inch (probably even 1/8ths of and inch either). Having said that, do the best you can and it will be fine.
You will be OK. I also used a jig saw and orbital sander to cut the molds and mine came out fine. What I tried to do was cut about 1/16 to 1/8 from the line and finish up with the sander. This will work fine. Obviously the better you cut the molds the fairer your canoe will be, but believe me no body is going to notice a difference of 1/16th of an inch (probably even 1/8ths of and inch either). Having said that, do the best you can and it will be fine.
my dad and i just finished cutting our molds, we just put the blade of our jigsaw right on the edge of the line, while you are cutting, if you cant see the line, you are too far in, if you can see wood between the blade and the line, you are too far out. we got pretty good molds, and we will fair it up with a sureform and mabye sandpaper.
- Erik, Belgium
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form making
mounting the belt sander with the belt vertical (rather than horizontal) allows you make use of all the belt's surface. better for belt life and also heat dispersion
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Form Making
Givin the challenge in transfering a plot of the forms to the plywood (battens, carbon paper, finishing nails), has anyone glued the paper right to the plywood and then rought cut with a jig saw and then sanded to the "true" line.
I haven't tried it but I can't see why it wouldn't work.
I haven't tried it but I can't see why it wouldn't work.
- Glen Smith
- Posts: 3719
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
- Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada
Yes, I used 3M spray on glue (Super 77) and it worked fine. Make sure the edges are well glued or they may lift when you cut and sand the forms. Some builders brush a coating of diluted wood glue on the forms and let it dry. Then they spray it with a bit of water and lay the plans on the wood and press well. I haven't tried that one yet but I would test it first.
Re: Form Making
That's how I did mine. I used a bandsaw and sanding disk on the table saw, in place of the jigsaw & ROS, but its the same principle. Doing it this way, you can arrange & rearrange the paper form patterns on the plywood sheet to nest them as close as possible together, and therefore minimize waste.IslandStripper wrote:...has anyone glued the paper right to the plywood and then rough cut ....