WhiteRook

My Feedback: (38)

hey , i spent 2 years in alaska, loved it.

as far as the sanding , i hate it too


Alaska rocks.


Dan

wormburner

Gus - I build on 1/2 glass, but it will bow significantly if it's not supported. I used a long level to make sure it's flat by putting shims between the glass and the frame where needed. It was a pain and tedious and after a month I had to do it again, but it's pretty darn flat now.
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I used to work with sheets of flat glass of all sizes and thickness. It's truely astonishing the amount thick pieces of glass will flex!

Just curious, Cafeenman, what size is your board? How much did you pay for it (i've been out of the business for about 10 years)?
do you put your plans under the galss and build on top? Do you just tack parts to the board with thin ca?

I use a hollow core door (set over a small table ) with styrofoam squares glued to it. Works well for now and is relatively portable but I am looking for something a little more permanent.

Thanx

CafeenMan

My board is 1/2" thick tempered glass. It's 4' x 8'. I paid roughly $600 for it but found out a while later that I could have gotten it for about $100 less.

Although I really like the board, I now wish I had purchased a large piece of steel plate because I build with magnets. I don't build on the glass and 90% of what I build is scratch built in the truest sense of the word - I make it up as I go along, so I don't normally build over plans.

The glass is nice because I can mix glue on it and scrape off drips and such with a razor blade without tearing it up as would happen if I had a wood bench top. Even if I did build on the glass, it is too thick to put the plans under - there wouldn't be a lot of accuracy in lining things up over the plans.

The bench is built from 3/4" press board with 1/4" masonite shelves to store wood. You can see pictures of it in various places on my site.

wormburner

Thanx, man!![sm=RAINFRO.gif]

IllinoisHermit

I use an old slate pool table. You can pick them up for next to nothing sometimes free. Lotsa room for parts and plans.

Deadstik

My Feedback: (8)

And I thought I was the only one....

Illinois and I use the same thing. I use the Slate bed from a 6 foot pool table that is covered in 1 in thick cork. The slate sits on a table made from 2x4s and topped with pieces from two solid core doors. Very stable and I've never have a problem with "straight". I still measure everything at least twice and am in the process of making a digital incidence meter. I fly pattern ships and make pattern kits and the last thing I am going to have is an airplane that is not as straight as I can make it. Funny how now it is rarely used as I now cut my own custom cores from foam, lighten them, and then cover w/balsa. You would be hard pressed to get stronger, straighter wings than those. It may seem I'm too serious about flat building boards and making a plane as straight as possible... but it only seems that way...If you are a serious builder... it's the only way to go.

Nice to hear somebody is still building...I was beginning to thing it had become a lost art !!!


Deadstik...

aka Dan Hines
Carolina Custom Aircraft

fprintf

Well my kit arrived today. What I ended up doing was measuring another 10 times and deciding to leave well enough alone. So I am just going to build on top of a 2" piece of foam. The pins stick right into it and it is relatively inexpensive. I figure it will last me through one plane and a big piece (double this size) is $10 or so. I used the other half for foam wings.

lennyk

My Feedback: (12)

If using glass as a surface it is best if it is supported by only a few points so that it can be easy to adjust by shimming.

My table consists of a frame which props up 2 rails which were jointed and aligned as flat as possible. The glass rests on the rails and checked with strings pulled all around.
Any corrections are easily done by shimming between the rails and the glass.

Baelzebob

I use an old hollow core door... plenty straight, but over the years has gotten pretty gouged up, so each time I build a new plane, I cut off a piece of leftover wall board (drywall/gypsum) and use it over the door to take up any irregularities. Always seems ok with the straight edge, and the pins will stay nicely.