I've been struggling on and off for a couple of days with laying out a pattern. I just got back from Office Depot with a set of French curves, and a 24" flexible curve. I was then able to successfully lay out a complex shape in about 5 minutes! Thanks to all who suggested these items!
dave
Thu, Feb 19, 2004, 10:35pm (EST+5) snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com (Bay=A0Area=A0Dave) says: I've been struggling on and off for a couple of days with laying out a pattern. I just got back from Office Depot with a set of French curves, and a 24" flexible curve. I was then able to successfully lay out a complex shape in about 5 minutes! Thanks to all who suggested these items!
Boy, easy to tell we live in two different worlds. If I couldn't freehand the curve I wanted, I'd probably just lay out the curve with a water hose, and trace around it.
JOAT Georges Clemenceau supposedly said, "War is too important a matter to be left to the military". If this is so, it is then obvious that peace is too precious to be left to politicians.
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 19 Feb 2004. Some tunes I like.
But then you wouldn't have been able to post a mindless gloat to the wreck!
scott
Leftover Romex electric cable works well too.
-- Mark
Hi Dave, know the feeling. I've built cabinet frames in the past and glueing them up with biscuits and trying to keep everything straight while clamping and waiting for the glue to dry. Today I went to St. Louis Rockler store and picked up the Kreg pro 2000 and got a free video and large clamp (beside the one in the kit). Just got in from playing with it and it is sure going to be a time saver not only in frames but several other things.
what I was doing was too small for a water hose :)
dave
J T wrote:
I used some solder like someone suggested, but I prefer the stuff I bought today. I got JUST the curves I needed.
dave
Mark Jerde wrote:
Stranded THHN wire would work better (more flexible). :-)
-- Regards, Doug Miller
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Impossible to let that one go *completely* unscathed....
Jim
add to the list used bandsaw blades and flexible wall angle molding for suspended ceilings
Fri, Feb 20, 2004, 1:10pm (EST+5) snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (BUB=A0209) says: add to the list used bandsaw blades and flexible wall angle molding for suspended ceilings
Yeah, thin tree branch, whatever. Basically, buying something like that would be about the last option, for me.
JOAT Georges Clemenceau supposedly said, "War is too important a matter to be left to the military". If this is so, it is then obvious that peace is too precious to be left to politicians.
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 19 Feb 2004. Some tunes I like.
Sounds like the big splines they used to use for laying out ship component curves. Ever seen how they do that? They used to design the whole ship up in the lofts of big buildings, on wooden floors. "Loftsmen" were draftsmen who worked in full scale. After manufacturing, they'd bring the parts in and lay them down on the loft floor to see if they matched the drawing.
Anyway, the basic geometry was laid down on the floor, and then they'd bring in big flexible strips of steel that had, at intervals, places where ropes could be tied. You tied a rope to the spline at a particulat place and stretched it across the floor to bend the spline in some particular way. You just kept doing that -- pulling segments of the spline this way and that -- until you got the curve you needed. You would also use heavy "ducks" (weights) to establish points that the curve had to pass through. The spline could be threaded through the ducks left and right, or held against the ducks by the ropes. The spline would only bend so far, so that gave you the smoothness for interpolating through your basic points.
When the spline was the way you wanted it, you drew along the edge with chalk and then sometimes actually cut into the floor along the chalk line to permanently preserve the curve after you cut the spline loose. When a new design came along, you had to plane off the old design or replace the floorboards in the shipwright's loft.
In modern CAD/CAM software you have the same ideas. Mathematical curves "splines" are given "ducks" and "knots" to control their layout, and the inherent degree of freedom in the curve dictates its springiness.
--Jay
Fri, Feb 20, 2004, 1:15pm (EST-2) snipped-for-privacy@clavius.org (Jay=A0Windley) claims: Sounds like the big splines they used to use for laying out ship component curves. they'd bring in big flexible strips of steel that had, at intervals, places where ropes could be tied. You would also use heavy "ducks" (weights) to establish points that the curve had to pass through. The spline could be threaded through the ducks left and right, or held against the ducks by the ropes. When a new design came along, you had to plane off the old design or replace the floorboards in the shipwright's loft.
You've been reading different books than I have. I never read about steel splines, ropes, threading thru the ducks, planing off the olde design or replacing the floor (you did say they chalk the pattern, easy enough to clean up chalk).
What I read was wood spines, held in place by nailing, at times, and/or ducks - a lead weight, with a bent wire, that put weight on the spline, holding it in place. If you want to try it, here's instructions. Course you may wind up with a Viking longship, but that's not a bad thing.
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 28 Feb 2004. Some tunes I like.
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