"Save The Manatee "

[Teamster]

Mighty funny advice coming from the guy w the new to him non-tiller Starcraft

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It's a Fisher FX18 DV,......

Although the kicker is a tiller,............................lol

 

[sphelps]

Not much done today other than a long Fathers day nap .. I highly recommend it if ya get a chance !
Did manage to at least get started on installing the foam ..

Should be able to get it all installed over the next couple of afternoons ..
Hope everyone had a great weekend !

 

[gm280]

Sam, I like the precision cutting to make the foam fit. It looks like a lot of cutting, but it should do the job very well... Keep posting the pictures so we can see your progress. I also see you installed the pipe to run the electrical wires through. I'm doing the same thing with mine so if there ever is a need to remove wires or even install more, there is a tube/pipe there to allow that without any problems. Good work going on... :thumb:

 

[archbuilder]

Nice work Sam. How are you cutting it? I wonder if a hot wire would speed things up? Or maybe that is how you are doing it.

 

[jbcurt00]

Several of the tin boat fellas used a hot knife

Grandad used a telephone or model train transformer.

All thought it worked GREAT...

 

[sphelps]

Thanks guys ... I am cutting it with an electric knife ... I just score it about a half inch or so on each side eyeballing it square then snapping it across a straight edge . Been working fine so far .. On the pipes I just cut the piece then slide it down to the pipe .. Mark both sides then flip the piece over . slide it back down to the top of the pipe and mark the side at the top of the last piece of foam . Then eyeball mark the sides of the pipe cut and round it out a bit .. Use the electric knife to slice the chunk out .. Works pretty well ... A hot knife would be nice if I had one ..

 

[kcassells]

Nice!

 

[gm280]

Sam, probably too later for this boating project, but what about buying some nichrome wire, and make a little hot wire hand held tool to apply some tension on the nichrome wire when it heats up and stretches a little and then you could use a little voltage to cut through that foam like...well...like a hot knife through butter.... :facepalm: I have used nichrome wire in the pass and it really takes very little voltage/current to make a glowing wire to cut things. And the nichrome wire comes in so many gauges and lengths for not a lot of money. I may design such a tool myself and when I get it working flawlessly, I'll post the design... :thumb:

 

[Woodonglass]

This is really kool, IMHO...[video]http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Homemade+Handheld+Hot+Wire+Cutter&Form=VQFRVP#view=detail&mid=E3068D6F78C16BB7CD5FE3068D6F78C16BB7CD5F[/video]

 

[gm280]

This is really kool, IMHO...[video]http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Homemade+Handheld+Hot+Wire+Cutter&Form=VQFRVP#view=detail&mid=E3068D6F78C16BB7CD5FE3068D6F78C16BB7CD5F[/video]

WOG, that is exactly what I was referring too in making a hot knife to cut foam. I use to fly R/C aircraft religiously and teach it too. And we use to make the inter and outer wing rib patterns and then tack them onto a large piece of foam and the take a long hot nichrome wire stretched between the two wing templates and cut foam wings out so fast and smooth. Then sheet them with either very thin balsa or veneer ply woods or even white construction cardboard or poster board and you have made a very sturdy wing... Extremely light and very strong too. So with a little thought, anybody can make a great foam cutter to cut boat flotation foam... :thumb:

 

[Woodonglass]

Yeah this was discussed a few years back on another thread and I found this vid and put it in my library. Thought it was kool then and still do!!! There's a lot more out there using PVC pipe and using old PC power supplies as their power source. Pretty amazing stuff.

 

[kcassells]

That's too funny gm, I use to fly, crashed alot could and still need an instructor. But my interests have certainly moved towards another direction....oh yea, me boat!

Use to build alot of planes for my friends to fly.

 

[gm280]

That's too funny gm, I use to fly, crashed alot could and still need an instructor. But my interests have certainly moved towards another direction....oh yea, me boat!

Use to build alot of planes for my friends to fly.

Nice collection there kcassells. I still have about nine large plane kits, but honestly lost the interest presently. I remember days when I would get to the field and never fly my own planes even once because as one student landed, I would take another up. But I always used a buddy-box setup and I never had even one accident or crash. In fact the club I was in actually talked about turning on another radio on my frequency when I did fly my own, so I would crash... But in three years, I never ever crash even one plane... Yea pure luck not skill. I did my share of crashing learning to fly though. :facepalm:

 

[sphelps]

That's a cool hobby ! I was into the rc cars for a while .. Electric and gas ..
Slow going on the foam .. I smoked my electric knife . That thing was pretty old and has cleaned it's share of fish though .. I got one of those hot knives from h/f ... Do not waist your money ! What a pos ! May try and get my 20 bucks back ...
Table saw works great for cutting the pieces but just to much climbing in and out of the boat .. So I started cutting with a hand saw and drywall saw .. A little rougher cut but faster ..
Anyway here are a couple of pics I stopped and took this morning on the way to the grind ..


Sometimes ya just have to stop for moment and take in all that the man upstairs gives us for our short time here on earth ..

 

[gm280]

That's a cool hobby ! I was into the rc cars for a while .. Electric and gas ..
Slow going on the foam .. I smoked my electric knife . That thing was pretty old and has cleaned it's share of fish though .. I got one of those hot knives from h/f ... Do not waist your money ! What a pos ! May try and get my 20 bucks back ...
Table saw works great for cutting the pieces but just to much climbing in and out of the boat .. So I started cutting with a hand saw and drywall saw .. A little rougher cut but faster ..
Anyway here are a couple of pics I stopped and took this morning on the way to the grind ..


Sometimes ya just have to stop for moment and take in all that the man upstairs gives us for our short time here on earth ..

Amazing how places like that can take you away for everything and make you feel great all at the same time... :thumb:

 

[zool]

Sam, the inspectors here made me use rigid foam insulation anywhere below the base flood elev, so i had to cut it tight between studs, around flood vents and elec boxes, in the end, the handiest tool was just a drywall saw...

http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/t...mpaign=Saws-Specialty&infoParam.campaignId=WR

 

[sphelps]

Yep ,d/w saw is what we use on the foam at work .. We install miles of the stuff .. I may try the multi -tool out and see how that works ..

 

[sphelps]

Update on multi-tool ... Cuts very well .. Much cleaner than the saw .. If the blade was about a half inch longer it would go completely through the foam . But you can easily snap to finish the cut .. Still have to use the d/w saw on the pipe cutouts though ...
Boat work may slow down a good bit for a while . I'm starting a 10 floor office building remodel next week so I see a bunch of OT coming up over the next few months ..Will be nice to get away from the hospital work for a while . They can be a real pita sometimes with infectious control procedures we have to follow ...

 

[zool]

OT means more boat bucks Sam!.....Im down south now still trying to finish this never ending house project.....put in a 12 hr day today,,,sometimes I wish someone would pay me overtime

 

[sphelps]

Foam update ... Slow and steady .. :facepalm:
2 more sections and it will be done . Hopefully knock it out tomorrow afternoon ..