Boxy Fisher Catamaran

[Fanie]

Still waiting for the glass to be delivered. New South Africa. Also waiting for stuff from the metal guys. Also in the New South Africa - you can wait for up to two weeks for a quote only. BEE - Black enpovernment alias the steady downhill.


I am also changing the roto jig drive. I had a 3 phase AC motor on the gearbox, but I suspect the rotation speed is going to be too fast. I'm going to put a 12V gate motor with it's gearbox on it.

[masalai]

Jeeees Fanie, building the machinery to build the components for your boat - Next one may be easier in Thailand or Australia? But good to see you are WIP (Work In Progress)... put the link in your signature area, then your build will be easy to find

[Fanie]

Building the equipment have some piority Mas, besides making the work a lot easier it may also be a way to cut a lot of the associated labour costs on making a hull. The target time to make a hull is one day, if not then two days but the target time is one day. Besides, I may have another 10 hulls to make for someone pending the outcome of mine. And then I may make myself another small 9m cat for local fishing also.

Since I don't have a sailboat any more it's kinda nagging at me. Don't sleep so well. God may decide to flood this friggin place and I don't want to be caught without a boat like Noah's one friend.

[Fanie]

Oh dear, the glass was delivered today. Now I HAVE to do something It is the preparation that is taking so much time and consideration, I'm still waiting for more parts to be laser cut. I'm trying to get everything set up to glass the first beam in next week. I'll probably wind one beam each week to allow it to cure enough not to want to deform. Once the prep is done I'm sure the work would be relative easy and fast.

[masalai]

Oh goodie, now two Saffa's are busy, What about Wynand?

[Fanie]

Wynand who The louse was supposed to make a turn here when he fetched stuff from Krugersdorp. He either hasn't made the trip or is avoiding us

I have taken the 3 phase motor off, it is turning too fast. I then tried a gate motor but this again is too slow. I could use a drilling machine with a speed control to turn the gearbox with, but I'm not too sure if it could work non-stop.

If the jig rotates too slow the glass is going to start curing before the resin is used up. If it is turning too fast... you can imagine.

[masalai]

HAND crank? surely someone has that skill level???? - - Oh "caseing the joint"

[Fanie]

The idea is two or three people only Mas. Labour is expensive, if one can do away with that it makes it more reliable and more affordable as well. You can make the whole proces semi automated as well, for production it would be producing the same hull repeated very much alike.

I had a serious talk with the laser cutter today to get a move on my stuff.

[masalai]

Serious? water-pistols across the swimming pool

[Squidly-Diddly]

used to apply a thin layer of clay paste to sheets of wall paper as they unroll.

[Fanie]

I made a fixture so the pipe would not rotate inside the beam jig. To remove the pipe I have to unscrew the four nuts and pull the pipe out.

The sprocket will be fitted approx where I hold it. The R10 bike chain will rotate it from there.

[masalai]

OK Fanie, in all eagerness I await vision on UTube of your fantastic glassing maching... I will rejoice when I see it working effectively - Keep going... I presume the "woodchip" structure is the former onto which the beams are wound, then the woodchip parts are removed?

[Fanie]

Hopefully next week Mas. I'm still waiting for parts to arive.

Correct.

[Fanie]

I'm still on the pins

I painted the pin area that does the rotation in the housing, sanded it some and painted a second coat. I will sand it down lightly again tomorrow when the paint has hardened. The unpainted top and bottoms will be glassed directly to the two main bulkheads in each hull.

I also decided to make a friction sleeve from HDPE sheeting, 2mm thick that gets wrapped around the pin. Since PE doesn't allow anything to stick to it, it will never allow the pin to get stuck to the beam. The hinge action will thus turn on the snotty HDPE sleeves. You can see one of the sleeves on the right of the pins.

The pins looks bent It is an illusion it seem formed by the old witch's car in the background, I assure you they are very streight They were properly rounded in a lathe as well.

[Fanie]

I can't use the glass machine yet. I'm putting a narrow metal 'platform on it's front that will get a piece of 3mm PE on top so you can cut the glass with the roller knife. Waiting for some other small parts as well.

This is how the pin sleeves will connect to the beam. The brown is a rough indication of fiberglass that will fit inside the beam as well as on the outside. It may not look very clear but I will post pics as I go along. It was confirmed with my fiberglass expert and he confirmed it will work and be strong enough.
The inside glass gets bolted to the beam and the outside to prevent the chance of delamination.