laser projector for templates

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by robwilk37, Jun 7, 2014.

  1. robwilk37
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    Location: san diego

    robwilk37 Senior Member

    so there must be a way to do this...

    I need to cut the final inside curve of a ring frame. 8' span in a 1" thick laminated MDF bulkhead. im great with hand/power tools but not with computers so ive been drawing in windows 'paint' program and then running down to kinkos to have it printed then cutting on the lines and transferring the shape to plywood. a hassle and time consuming but gets the job done for small stuff. but the ring frame arch is a long and skinny cut so im thinking there must be a laser projector or beam splitter that the computer will talk to that I can just shine on the bulkhead, fine tune through the laptop, then trace directly onto the ply.

    any ideas?
     
  2. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
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    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    Any video projector will do that. However, there will be considerable distortion. If you have the offsets, lofting the frame full size should take half hour or so, with a lot more precision.
     
  3. SukiSolo
    Joined: Dec 2012
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    Location: Hampshire UK

    SukiSolo Senior Member

    Welcome to the Forum.

    Firstly beware of paper shrinking if you Spray Mount it, enough to affect the size by quite a bit. Several mm's even maybe 12mm over that 8' length. Like Gonzo I would be very wary oftrying to use a projection, too much distortion.

    Secondly try and draw in a proper 2D CAD system which you can then print out with dimensions. These dimensions (size up the numbers) on say A4 or A3, should allow you to recreate the shape on the ply. A straight edge, tape/rule, large square, maybe some flexible battens(s) and it should not be too hard. There are a number of free (2D) systems and they generally use vector graphics, much better than stuff like Paint!.

    Thirdly, the old one, measure twice, cut once.

    Best of luck.
     

  4. gonzo
    Joined: Aug 2002
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    Location: Milwaukee, WI

    gonzo Senior Member

    Kinkos can print architectural size
     
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