K800

I've now read about a way to cut foam with a hot wire.

 

This is what I decided to try making a foam cutter out of.

I know that hobby stores tell you to use special wire, but copper should do the trick for a cheapo cutter.

I have here,

6 AAA batteries in series,
A frame for a subwoofer grill that keeps the speaker from getting damaged,
last, but not least, a 4 ft category 5 cable with solid core wires in it.



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Back to the old way of doing things. It got hot, real hot, but only for about a minute. Just enough to get the wire stuck in the piece I was trying to cut, then the terminal on the battery pack melted and and the wire got cold and stuck in the foam. Better luck next time huh!?! I think I need a variable transformer really. I don't have the money for one of those.

I did however find 8 square foot of fiberglass material for only $6.00 so maybe after all my bills are paid I can get some. I only have a couple of bills left, but the money runs out quick. Anyway, because I decided I might want to make more than one K800 and have one with a swing rig, and the other built as a sloop I might just want to make the styrofoam into a mold of some kind since I found small pieces of FG for cheaper than $13.00 for 8 sq ft.

I bought $3.00 worth of interior/exterior spackel when I went and got a vent cover for my bathroom so I can have the vent open when it is raining. I will try to use that to make the foam perfect and fill in the holes I accidentally made when the sand paper slipped off the block. (It got UGLY! LOL!)

 

Well, I started spackling... Then my OCD kicked in big time.=0( Now most of the bow is spackled...


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NOW it's time to heat this place above 50 degrees and wait... err maybe clean my house, that might be a good option...

 

:idea:now that I think about it, I might cut the spackel with foam dust I collected when I was cutting earlier. That might make it go a lot farther, but at $3.00 for a small can of it... well every penny helps right. =0)

 

Adding the screen to make the spackling paste stronger was a huge mistake!! Don't do it

Well, I got a lot done despite having to wait for too thick a layer of spackling to dry. It is getting much easier now that I don't have to remove so much material that doesn't looks like a K800. I guess I'll just keep removing stuff that doesn't look like a boat tomorrow since it is getting early.

Here's what she looks like right now:



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Only 4 more frames to cut out. I accidentally sanded away the upper middle chine so I had to spackel it all on that side too.


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Today was a BAD day for my model. I should have decided that not being in the mood to carve it today was good enough reason not to carve on it.

I think that this method is actually not all that great a method of building model boats. I may start cutting 'plywood' from other foam I have and start making yet another model, but this time modular like I was first going to.

My friend is lending me a real foam cutter this weekend, so we will have to wait and see what I can do with that.

I should have made the boat like I was going to in the first place by making thick foam frames, ligning them up on a jig and laying foam ply over that.

 

My friend let me borrow a battery powered foam cutter. It was not really up to the task of cutting my boat hull since it did not have enough length in the wire to do anything with. Some of the laminated foam pieces did not adhere so I had to apply glue using a piece of card stock with gorilla glue smeared on one side, and water soaked in on the other. I'm about ready to find out if the UL electrical tape did a good job of clamping the problem areas.

I can't believe that I am not done carving this thing out!! It takes SOOO much to make it precise with this foam because I can easily sand too much away with my two by four sanding block. (about 3 ft of 2x4 with a piece of belt sander belt attached to it)



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I'm getting better at making precise cuts, but it is not as easy as I thought. I am not near 75% accurate. I don't like this method of making a model.

I prefer bending wood around wood frames. Maybe next month I can work it out so that I can buy enough material to make a wooden model with balsa plywood. I think it will be expensive, but probably worth it.

Appearently now that I have glued one side the other didn't have as much support and when I was sanding her smooth the whole piece sheared right off!!! I may never get it finished if this kind of thing keeps happening!!

I am kinda proud of this cut: I got all the way through and was only 1/2 mm off.


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THen disaster!!



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Schooner:

First, pardon me for spelling your name this way. I just can't bring myself to spell it your way.

Your enthusiasm is undeniable, as is your desire to comprehensively document your progress. Given the limited resources you've got to put into this project without endangering heat and light you ARE making progress.

You might find that proper tools will make your life a lot easier and progress will increase several orders of magnitude. Even a cheap Chinese copy of a Japanese Dozuki back saw will be a revelation to you. Fast AND accurate is possible. Your hacksaw blade (in view) is making a simple job almost impossible.

Best wishes,

--
CutOnce

 

I might be able to buy a replacement blade for that kind of saw, but not till after I buy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Ship-Resistance-Propulsion-Estimation-Propulsive/dp/0521760526

 

So. today, I cut the last of the hull out, but it is off. I don't like it at all, and nothing about it is spot on. This one certainly won't be a mold:!:

When I got to the transom I could see that the rest of the hull was slanted. I guess that somehow the center line where the pieces are glued together is warped. So much for having a really nice boat. I call it mediocre.

Oh well, maybe next month I can build a decent plank on frame model if my friend pays me back for some carbon fiber rods I gave to him. I have to go all the way to Covington to get wood which is like 30 miles as the crow flies. Almost 60 miles by car. They have the right stuff there though.



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Cutting the mast out of the umbrella handle... Man this thing was way over engineered!!



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