Thursday, February 28, 2008

Mixing Epoxy


I took a tongue depressor (bought by the box) and a disposable chopstick.

I Cut about 4 inches off a chopstick, then cut the tongue depressor in half. Taped them together to make a long narrow spade.

I put the chopstick end in an old cheap variable speed electric drill, and Voila, one gloop mixer.

When adding Silica and Glass Beads to the mix, I folded them in by hand first, then mixed it with the drill.

I wore gloves, a face mask, goggles and a boiler suit and did this in a shed.

I do appreciate that grabbing a handful of trigger on the drill would result in a hazardous epoxy spray.

I intend to get a chuck for my electric screwdriver, since this has a fixed and slow rpm.

I suspect this would not be great for a clearcoat, as you stand to introduce to many bubbles into the mix.

Disclaimer: If you try this yourself, take all precautions you deam necessary. This has the potential to go horribly wrong. If you do not understand what will happen if you grab to much trigger, then sit down and think about it until you do understand. All of the ingredients in an Epoxy Gloop are harmful to you in some way or other.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Stem


I didn't like the idea of putting screws into the side of the ply that makes up the stem. Screws into the side of ply are not generally considered "A Good Thing (tm)".

Instead I bought some bronse rod, a tap and die set (spend some money here. Cheap taps and dies are marginally less use than chocolate teapots), and set about making double ended bolts.

I clamped the stem in place, using a block cut at 90 deg on the table saw, and drilled two holes right through the frame into the stem.

I then drilled through the side of the stem, to intersect with these holes, to put nuts in. This gives me a sort of bed bolt.

I spent some time with a sharp plane making sure the end of the stem was at 90 deg, then I prepared some Epoxy, Silica and glass beads.

I soaked the end of the stem in epoxy first, this was to prevent the ply wicking the epoxy away from the joint. Then I glooped up the joint, and bolted it all in place.



As you can see in the photo, the epoxy could have been neater, but I doubt that anyone will get much of a look at this joint. I'll cut back the bolts next. Then clamp it all back in place on the scaffold.
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Just to see the lines


I ran some softwood battens along the frames to see if things lined up, and also to see how it might look.
It is starting to look kind of like a boat.

There's still so much to do. But it's progress.

Incidently, The stem is just sitting there in place I see a bit of goo and some bronze in it's future.

D

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Lining It All Up

To get the frames in the right places, I cut a few blocks with accurate 90 deg Angles on my table saw. (A sled helps for this)

Then I clamped these in pairs to the frames, now the frames would sit bolt upright at 90 deg to the scaffold. A roofing square allowed my to check that the frames were square across the scaffold.

I marked off the distances on a long batten and ran that from the transom.

A quick check with Pythagoras ensured me that the difference between measuring along the batten and the strict horizontal distance was less than 1/16 of an inch, so I just ignored it.

The frames are now held in place by these blocks which are pocket hole screwed to the scaffold.

I now need to center the frames left and right and make sure that they are level.

Just to see what it looked like, I cut a half dozen soft wood battens and held them up against the frame notches, They line up pretty well and it starts to look like a boat.

Pictures will follow soon.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Out of the kitchen

In spite the forecast, it's hardly rained at all today, but it always appears to be on the point of a downpour. You know, two or three drops here and there.

I took a chance and clamped the frames in place on the scaffold. They are just roughly in place so that I could get an idea of the final shape and size. Also the front frame needs cut into the scafold to sit a few inches lower.

I think that for final placing I will cut pairs or square blocks to clamp fore and aft each frame so that the frames sit vertically, that will mean one less thing I need to worry about as I place them.

Right now, the blue plastic is covering it all once again, and as usual, I await better weather.

D
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