Wednesday 2 May 2007

Real Sawdust!

Well I had a busy weekend, and real sawdust has finally hit the floor (and just about everywhere else).A lot of Saturday was spent scratching my head trying to fit Bulkhead 2, the transom, and the forward side panel onto one sheet. After lots of drawing and rubbing out, I decided the only way I was going to get it right was to cut out the bulkhead and transom first then make the other side panel and use that as a template for the "hard to fit sheet". I eventually managed all that (and boy was that a tight fit - not a single mm spare wood). So now at close of play Sunday I had Bulkhead 2 and the two forward side panels cut out. I also had partially cut out the Transom, but was unsure if the sides should have a slight curve or not. No dimensions were shown on the plans. I also have Bulkhead 3 and the 2 aft side panels marked and ready for the saw.
Tonight (Tuesday) I finished cutting out the transom (with curved sides) and ripped five 25mm strips of 9mm plywood for my first deck beam lamination.
I clamped the laminate to my jig, but on measuring I'm not happy with the final overall curvature. I decided not to glue up the beam tonight, and tomorrow I'll probably knock up a sturdier jig with the correct offsets. Shouldn't take long and it's better to get it right now before I waste wood and epoxy.

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