Monday
This is the final week of our small craft building project. This morning, we started with cleaning up the inside of the dory. Which means to get rid of glue. Then we realized that how much glue we have put on our boat. Kind of mess.
The bulk head is another task for today. Bandsaw and jigsaw were used to cut the shape of the bulk head. In order to make it the right size, plane and sanding were necessary. Before working on the bulk, Chris showed us how to find the exact location for the bulk (as the real dory is little bit different from its plan). First make sure that the boat is level (use level to check at the forward, midship and afterward stations of the boat), then put the midship frame back and make it right angle with bottom. Next step is to put bulk head frame back (make sure it is right angle with bottom.
Afternoon, we were preparing lamina for the quarter knees and Jade was working on the fore deck.
Showing posts with label Small Craft Building. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Small Craft Building. Show all posts
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Small Craft Building: Week 5
Monday
Last week, we set up a goal for today: attach the strake (upper topside) to the boat. It is good that we made it today, although this took us 3 hours extra work (We left the workshop at 7 pm).
The first thing this morning was to plane those two scarfed strake (port and starboard), and sand them. Next is to measure their exact size. We tried several times for the measurement.
Another important step is to make the Box Landing at the forward of the garboard and the strake. This requires good skills. Vaughn explained it to us. But I did not really understand until I started work on it. Well, practice helps a lot to understand. But I made a mistake by beveling the box landing too much. This resulted in a big gap between the strake and the garboard when we tried to put them together. The solution? Fill the gap with lot of glue.
In order to fix the strake, we spread two layers of glue, and then nail it to the garboard. This is not enough. We also use several sticks to keep pushing it against the garboard. This makes the boat looks like a spider rather than a dory. Then we fill the gap between garboard and strake with glue. The process took us lot of time and lot of glue.
It is good that we finished this today. Otherwise, it probably will us the whole week and drag us behind the schedule (as we are not ahead of it, so time really matters). I think we have finished the most difficult parts of building the dory.
Sebastien and Tian also finished the skeg this morning and we also glued them together. Tomorrow we will be able to attach the skeg to the boat. Good jobs, Team Morris.
Last week, we set up a goal for today: attach the strake (upper topside) to the boat. It is good that we made it today, although this took us 3 hours extra work (We left the workshop at 7 pm).
The first thing this morning was to plane those two scarfed strake (port and starboard), and sand them. Next is to measure their exact size. We tried several times for the measurement.
Another important step is to make the Box Landing at the forward of the garboard and the strake. This requires good skills. Vaughn explained it to us. But I did not really understand until I started work on it. Well, practice helps a lot to understand. But I made a mistake by beveling the box landing too much. This resulted in a big gap between the strake and the garboard when we tried to put them together. The solution? Fill the gap with lot of glue.
 |
| Box Landing |
In order to fix the strake, we spread two layers of glue, and then nail it to the garboard. This is not enough. We also use several sticks to keep pushing it against the garboard. This makes the boat looks like a spider rather than a dory. Then we fill the gap between garboard and strake with glue. The process took us lot of time and lot of glue.
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| Chris (tutor) spreading glue |
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| Spider-look dory |
It is good that we finished this today. Otherwise, it probably will us the whole week and drag us behind the schedule (as we are not ahead of it, so time really matters). I think we have finished the most difficult parts of building the dory.
Sebastien and Tian also finished the skeg this morning and we also glued them together. Tomorrow we will be able to attach the skeg to the boat. Good jobs, Team Morris.
 |
| Glued Skegs |
Tuesday
The skeg gave us some problems today. First is that one of those two skegs are not glued properly, so we had to take it apart and re-glue it. Secondly, our skegs are 300mm shorter than it should be. So we had to extend it by scarfing. So we have to wait till tomorrow to put these skegs on.
There is another mistake in the stem cabin. We used the wrong nail (steel nail will go rust easily when it touches salt water. Copper, bronze or stainless nails should be used ) to fix it to the stem and did not use the block between the nail and the stem cabin (this makes it difficult to take the nail out. Fortunately Chris promised to take his tool tomorrow and help us to fix the problem).
The center skeg is also cut. James showed us how to draw the curve of the bottom on a piece of wood. And then we transfer the curve to the wood block and got the center skeg cut.
Chris (tutor) also explained the difference between lamination and sawn. As the boat will face constant waves in the water (which might be very strong and cause lot of shock on the boat),the sawn stem or midship frame is not strong enough for these waves. This is because as sawn stem or midship frame, there will be long grain and short grain areas. Short grain areas are very weak and easy to break. So lamination is better choice as it produces much stronger stem and midship frame. More over, we can learn more from lamination as it. By the way, lamination is also more expensive.
The first boat flipped over today! (see the video)
Team 'Hory Dory" flipped their boat (James is the owner) over in the afternoon. This is really a big step forward, not only for the team but also for all CAT program students. As this is a milestone for our learning process.Congratulations! Team Hory Dory.
Hopefully we can flip our boat at the beginning of next week. I am looking forward lot of sanding work.
Wednesday
This morning, Chris (tutor) came to us before we started our work, and asked us to take 15 minutes to discuss and make a plan for the rest of our small craft building project. The reason for this is that with a clear plan and goals, we can work 10% more efficient. Actually the final plan is almost as the same as we discussed before: skegs and gunnels are for today, and other components are for next week.
Chris (tutor) also talked details about fore deck, bulk head, thwarts and other components. Especially about the fore deck, as it is not included in the plan. It seems a real challenge as there are lot of challenging details. I will write more about the fore deck after we finish it.
Another important technique Chris taught us is how to get nails out of the wood. See the video below:
The skegs are more complicated than I expected. As we extended them yesterday by scarfing, this morning is for shaping skegs to the exact shape. The first thing to do is to draw the curve of the bottom of our boat and transfer the curve to skegs. James showed us a good method to do this. So this is not a problem. Then we plane off glue and sand skegs to make it the right shape. Then, skegs are put through big sander machine to get smooth surface and right thickness.
In order to install the skegs to the boat bottom, we have to fix the location of the skeg. Measured from the center line and draw lines for the skegs. And then we drilled several pilot holes on the bottom, these holes are right position for screws and reference for the skegs. After finished these preparation, spread glue on the skeg and put it on the bottom. Then screw the skegs to bottom to fix them.
After the skegs, it is our turn to work on the gunnels. Lot of cramps are used to hold the gunnel to the strake, screws are used as well. We made screws same common spacing.
It is good that we put skegs and gunnels on today. Tomorrow, we will do the sanding and clean up and we will flip over our boat tomorrow afternoon. One big step forward! Cheers!
The skeg gave us some problems today. First is that one of those two skegs are not glued properly, so we had to take it apart and re-glue it. Secondly, our skegs are 300mm shorter than it should be. So we had to extend it by scarfing. So we have to wait till tomorrow to put these skegs on.
There is another mistake in the stem cabin. We used the wrong nail (steel nail will go rust easily when it touches salt water. Copper, bronze or stainless nails should be used ) to fix it to the stem and did not use the block between the nail and the stem cabin (this makes it difficult to take the nail out. Fortunately Chris promised to take his tool tomorrow and help us to fix the problem).
The center skeg is also cut. James showed us how to draw the curve of the bottom on a piece of wood. And then we transfer the curve to the wood block and got the center skeg cut.
Chris (tutor) also explained the difference between lamination and sawn. As the boat will face constant waves in the water (which might be very strong and cause lot of shock on the boat),the sawn stem or midship frame is not strong enough for these waves. This is because as sawn stem or midship frame, there will be long grain and short grain areas. Short grain areas are very weak and easy to break. So lamination is better choice as it produces much stronger stem and midship frame. More over, we can learn more from lamination as it. By the way, lamination is also more expensive.
The first boat flipped over today! (see the video)
Team 'Hory Dory" flipped their boat (James is the owner) over in the afternoon. This is really a big step forward, not only for the team but also for all CAT program students. As this is a milestone for our learning process.Congratulations! Team Hory Dory.
Hopefully we can flip our boat at the beginning of next week. I am looking forward lot of sanding work.
Wednesday
This morning, Chris (tutor) came to us before we started our work, and asked us to take 15 minutes to discuss and make a plan for the rest of our small craft building project. The reason for this is that with a clear plan and goals, we can work 10% more efficient. Actually the final plan is almost as the same as we discussed before: skegs and gunnels are for today, and other components are for next week.
Chris (tutor) also talked details about fore deck, bulk head, thwarts and other components. Especially about the fore deck, as it is not included in the plan. It seems a real challenge as there are lot of challenging details. I will write more about the fore deck after we finish it.
Another important technique Chris taught us is how to get nails out of the wood. See the video below:
The skegs are more complicated than I expected. As we extended them yesterday by scarfing, this morning is for shaping skegs to the exact shape. The first thing to do is to draw the curve of the bottom of our boat and transfer the curve to skegs. James showed us a good method to do this. So this is not a problem. Then we plane off glue and sand skegs to make it the right shape. Then, skegs are put through big sander machine to get smooth surface and right thickness.
 |
| Skegs going through big sander |
In order to install the skegs to the boat bottom, we have to fix the location of the skeg. Measured from the center line and draw lines for the skegs. And then we drilled several pilot holes on the bottom, these holes are right position for screws and reference for the skegs. After finished these preparation, spread glue on the skeg and put it on the bottom. Then screw the skegs to bottom to fix them.
After the skegs, it is our turn to work on the gunnels. Lot of cramps are used to hold the gunnel to the strake, screws are used as well. We made screws same common spacing.
It is good that we put skegs and gunnels on today. Tomorrow, we will do the sanding and clean up and we will flip over our boat tomorrow afternoon. One big step forward! Cheers!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Small Craft Building: Week 4
Monday
Tuesday
Our goal for today was to scarf topsides and glue them together. So we can put them on the bottom and frames tomorrow. This goal made today a combination of good day and bad day. Anyway, it is a challenging goal.
The reason why this is a bad day is quite simple: we made an big error on scarfing. We scarfed the wrong side of the plywood. Which means that we can not put two pieces together. We forgot what Chris told us: check twice, cut once. I think this is because everyone in the team put too much attention on the shape of the topside as this is our first time dealing with flattened developable surface. We ignored basic skills on scarfing: mark the scarfing side, and flip it over to check it. We did not notice the error until we started to put scarfed pieces together. This is really a bad news for the team.
Luckily, after discussion with Chris, we found that we still have enough space to fix the error: cut off the wrong scarf surface, and make a new one. The plywood is just enough for this cut off. This again proved Chris' advice: always make it bigger than the plan. this second chance is quite an encouragement. The team decided to work on the scarf and finish the gluing today. Although this made us stay in the workshop until 6 pm, but this is definitely worth it.
Another exciting thing is the sanding machine. This powerful machine speeds up the scarfing and helps to save a lot of time.
Kenny glued the transom fashion piece. It took him lot of effort and time to fix the shape of the fashion piece.
Wednesday
Today's major task it to glue two garboards (lower topsides) to the bottom and midship frame. In the morning, we cut the garboard to its shape on the bandsaw. This process includes two steps: first, we cut two boards to it approximate shape; then, we nailed two boards together and cut them to the exact shape at once.
The next step is to plane their edges to make them nice and fair. Then, we put the garboard on the temporary frame, locate a fix position by screwing a hole through the garboard and the midship frame. There are several preparation work need to be done before we start gluing: put tape on the edge of the frame to prevent to glue the frame to the garboard; spread two layers of glue (first time without powder, and second time with powder). And then, we push the garboard against to the bottom and use nails and tape to attach garboard and bottom.
There are two ways to attach garboard to the bottom. One is to use nail and the other is to use tape. We decided to use the combination of these two method. On one hand, we can get less nail holes than simply using nails; on the other hand, as we are not confident (giving consideration that this is our first boatbuilding experience, we think nails, as a more conservative way to fasten the garboard to the bottom, is safer). After fastened two garboards to the bottom, we also glued the out edge between them.
Chris (tutor) also showed us an efficient way to fasten garboard to the bottom. Use a wood block, and put it between the garboard and bottom, screw through the garboard from outside to the wood block. So the block and the screw play roles like a cramp which helps to push the garboard and bottom together.
This is not the last working day of this week, as we decided to continue our work tomorrow.
Thursday
Got to the workshop at 10:10 am and started today's work with beveling the garboard. It is a little bit confusing with the bevel edge. Consulted with Chris (American) and Chris (tutor), and got several helpful advices. We used saw to cut a small gap on the garboard edge at each station (except station 0,1,2, this is because of the bevel angle of these stations, the intersects will be too high) and the transom. This gap plays as a role of the extension of the frame, and its end point is the intersect of the garboard and the frame edge. Then we used a batten to draw a line through these points. The first line was too high for bevel edge and the second was little bit low, so we decided to take the middle.
After beveled the edge, we measured the size of the strake (the upper topside), and lofted it on cut board. After several times of checking and arranging it on the plywood sheep, we get our strake (as the process is exactly the same as the starboard, so this time it is much easier). One thing needs to be noticed is that we are also going to cut the bulk head from the same sheet, so it took us a while to arrange the cutting plan in order to get the most out of the plywood sheet we have.
Then it is time to scarf the strake pieces. This time we double checked the scarf surface and make sure that they are the right sides that should be scarfed. We marked them and used the belt sander. Then, we planed them by hand.
After scarfing, we spread glue on scarf surface (twice, one without powder, and the second with powder). Fixed them on the table. Next Monday, we will cut them to the exact shape and attach them on the boat.
This morning, I started with beveling the stem. It took me about 40 minutes to finish the beveling and get the stem the right shape.Later, the stem was fixed to the jig and ready for the bottom.
Sebastien continued working on the midship section, while Kenny and Tian continued working on the transom.
Later in the morning, Jade and I worked on the beveled frame. Using batten and wood block to measure the bevel of the frame (for the topside of the dory).
In the afternoon, we put the bottom on the frame. Clue it to the stem and transom. We also used crump and screw to fix it to the frame and bend it to the right shape. We had a small problem with midship section as we found a gap between the midship section and the bottom. Vaughn's recommendation was to bevel the midship section's surface which was attached to the bottom.He showed us how to use 'plane' in style: quick and accurate. It only took him about 10 seconds to fix the problem and get the midship section the right shape. I did not even got a chance to make a video. Quick hand Vaughn.
It seems we are a little bit behind as there are only two weeks (8 working days) left for our dory. Tomorrow we plan to finish the topside which include 4 pieces of plank (scarf them and glue them). And we will also finish the transom fashion pieces. Hopefully we can turn the dory up next Monday and start to work on the inside.
Tuesday
Our goal for today was to scarf topsides and glue them together. So we can put them on the bottom and frames tomorrow. This goal made today a combination of good day and bad day. Anyway, it is a challenging goal.
The reason why this is a bad day is quite simple: we made an big error on scarfing. We scarfed the wrong side of the plywood. Which means that we can not put two pieces together. We forgot what Chris told us: check twice, cut once. I think this is because everyone in the team put too much attention on the shape of the topside as this is our first time dealing with flattened developable surface. We ignored basic skills on scarfing: mark the scarfing side, and flip it over to check it. We did not notice the error until we started to put scarfed pieces together. This is really a bad news for the team.
Luckily, after discussion with Chris, we found that we still have enough space to fix the error: cut off the wrong scarf surface, and make a new one. The plywood is just enough for this cut off. This again proved Chris' advice: always make it bigger than the plan. this second chance is quite an encouragement. The team decided to work on the scarf and finish the gluing today. Although this made us stay in the workshop until 6 pm, but this is definitely worth it.
Another exciting thing is the sanding machine. This powerful machine speeds up the scarfing and helps to save a lot of time.
Kenny glued the transom fashion piece. It took him lot of effort and time to fix the shape of the fashion piece.
Wednesday
Today's major task it to glue two garboards (lower topsides) to the bottom and midship frame. In the morning, we cut the garboard to its shape on the bandsaw. This process includes two steps: first, we cut two boards to it approximate shape; then, we nailed two boards together and cut them to the exact shape at once.
The next step is to plane their edges to make them nice and fair. Then, we put the garboard on the temporary frame, locate a fix position by screwing a hole through the garboard and the midship frame. There are several preparation work need to be done before we start gluing: put tape on the edge of the frame to prevent to glue the frame to the garboard; spread two layers of glue (first time without powder, and second time with powder). And then, we push the garboard against to the bottom and use nails and tape to attach garboard and bottom.
There are two ways to attach garboard to the bottom. One is to use nail and the other is to use tape. We decided to use the combination of these two method. On one hand, we can get less nail holes than simply using nails; on the other hand, as we are not confident (giving consideration that this is our first boatbuilding experience, we think nails, as a more conservative way to fasten the garboard to the bottom, is safer). After fastened two garboards to the bottom, we also glued the out edge between them.
Chris (tutor) also showed us an efficient way to fasten garboard to the bottom. Use a wood block, and put it between the garboard and bottom, screw through the garboard from outside to the wood block. So the block and the screw play roles like a cramp which helps to push the garboard and bottom together.
This is not the last working day of this week, as we decided to continue our work tomorrow.
Thursday
Got to the workshop at 10:10 am and started today's work with beveling the garboard. It is a little bit confusing with the bevel edge. Consulted with Chris (American) and Chris (tutor), and got several helpful advices. We used saw to cut a small gap on the garboard edge at each station (except station 0,1,2, this is because of the bevel angle of these stations, the intersects will be too high) and the transom. This gap plays as a role of the extension of the frame, and its end point is the intersect of the garboard and the frame edge. Then we used a batten to draw a line through these points. The first line was too high for bevel edge and the second was little bit low, so we decided to take the middle.
After beveled the edge, we measured the size of the strake (the upper topside), and lofted it on cut board. After several times of checking and arranging it on the plywood sheep, we get our strake (as the process is exactly the same as the starboard, so this time it is much easier). One thing needs to be noticed is that we are also going to cut the bulk head from the same sheet, so it took us a while to arrange the cutting plan in order to get the most out of the plywood sheet we have.
Then it is time to scarf the strake pieces. This time we double checked the scarf surface and make sure that they are the right sides that should be scarfed. We marked them and used the belt sander. Then, we planed them by hand.
After scarfing, we spread glue on scarf surface (twice, one without powder, and the second with powder). Fixed them on the table. Next Monday, we will cut them to the exact shape and attach them on the boat.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Small Craft Building: Week 3
This week is a short week, only two working days due to the labor's day (Monday).
Tuesday
1.Finished the scarfed transom and glued two piece together
2.Started to bevel the frame
Two methods for measuring the bevel degree: first, use the sliding bevel; second, use a wood block （Vaughn showed us this method, and we found that this method is more convenient and easy to use)
Video: Using sliding bevel to measure frame bevel
3.Fixed one of those two laminated midship section
We found that our laminated midship section is not thick enough. We need some add-ons at corners. We use the cut offs of the laminated section, and shape them according to the shape of corners, then glue them together. Finished on midship today and will continue to fix another one tomorrow. Anyway, at least we can work on half of the boat tomorrow while waiting for gluing another one.
4. We decided to move our blog from typepad to blogger. And we will use Google platform (including blogger, Google docs and Buzz) for our teaching and studying communication.
Wednesday
Yesterday was really an intense day. Because several technique and skill problems had been discussed and solved by consulting with Chris and other team (thanks for Chris, Greg and James for their help and explanation on several issues), our task is to finish these components, including midship section, beveled frame, angled transom and the stem.
In the morning, the blade of band saw broke when I was cutting the stem. Then Sebastien, I and Tian replaced the blade with a new one (of course with help from Chris, the tutor as we were not sure how tight should the blade be).
In the afternoon, we assigned different task to every member of the team in order to accelerate our work.
I beveled the frame (lover topside), and next week I will finish the upper topside as well. Jade, Sebastien and I also used band saw to cut the bottom. And Sebastien and I beveled the edge of the bottom and make it exactly the size.
Sebastien worked on the midship section. He planed the component to the exact shape according to the frame. However, he beveled one corner of the midship section off. Well, this is not a problem. We found a off cut of our laminated midship, and glued it to the corner to make it up. But we have to wait until next week to finish this part.
Jade processed the stem, and draw the bevel lines according to the stem detail in the plan. It is really amazing that everything in the plan can be transfered to the actually processing stages. Take the stem as an example, you can transfer 2D drawing information to the real stem.
Kenny and Tian worked together to set up the frame to hold the angled transom.
Extra:
1. Chris talking about side planking:
2. Chris showing us how to sand the scarfed bottom:
Tuesday
1.Finished the scarfed transom and glued two piece together
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| Me scarfing the transom parts |
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| Jade spreading glue on scarfing surface of transom |
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| Gluing the transom |
2.Started to bevel the frame
Two methods for measuring the bevel degree: first, use the sliding bevel; second, use a wood block （Vaughn showed us this method, and we found that this method is more convenient and easy to use)
Video: Using sliding bevel to measure frame bevel
3.Fixed one of those two laminated midship section
We found that our laminated midship section is not thick enough. We need some add-ons at corners. We use the cut offs of the laminated section, and shape them according to the shape of corners, then glue them together. Finished on midship today and will continue to fix another one tomorrow. Anyway, at least we can work on half of the boat tomorrow while waiting for gluing another one.
4. We decided to move our blog from typepad to blogger. And we will use Google platform (including blogger, Google docs and Buzz) for our teaching and studying communication.
Wednesday
Yesterday was really an intense day. Because several technique and skill problems had been discussed and solved by consulting with Chris and other team (thanks for Chris, Greg and James for their help and explanation on several issues), our task is to finish these components, including midship section, beveled frame, angled transom and the stem.
In the morning, the blade of band saw broke when I was cutting the stem. Then Sebastien, I and Tian replaced the blade with a new one (of course with help from Chris, the tutor as we were not sure how tight should the blade be).
In the afternoon, we assigned different task to every member of the team in order to accelerate our work.
I beveled the frame (lover topside), and next week I will finish the upper topside as well. Jade, Sebastien and I also used band saw to cut the bottom. And Sebastien and I beveled the edge of the bottom and make it exactly the size.
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| Lower topside beveled |
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| Sebastien shaping the midship section |
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| Marked stem ready for bevel |
Extra:
1. Chris talking about side planking:
2. Chris showing us how to sand the scarfed bottom:
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Small Craft Building: Week 2
This is the second week of our small craft building program. In this blog, you can find following contents:
- Review of the week 2 (video included at the end of the review)
- Looking forward to week 3
- Extra: Using Router to make the fillet edge of the laminate midship section (video) and marking gauge (video)
Review of the week 2
Monday
The first task finished on Monday is to glue the laminated stem,as last week we already fixed the stem to shape it.Vaughn showed us how to make the glue. Get yourself a icecream container, and then you can start to make glue: first, mix two liquid following the proportion of 1:5 (this is already set by the machine, so you do not have to worried about it, just push the pump and get what you want). Then, you mix the liquid from corner to corner until they are well mixed. After that, put powder in, and mix again. Notice do not put too much powder, it may smoke. Once you get your glue, you can start to spread it on those lamina of the stem.
After finishing spreading glue, we put all lamina together and use cramp fix them on the board again.Use hammer ( you do not want to crack any of these lamina, so when you hammering, use a piece of wood the protect them) to make all lamina flat. Then all you need to do is to wait for the glue go hard.
In the afternoon, we just draw the cutting plan on the wood from which we will get our skegs, thwarts and gunnels.
Tian and Kenny continued working on setting up frames.
Tuesday
We tried to cut the dory's bottom and transom out of the plank. According to the plan, the plank is really full used. Some of edges of transom and bottom are so close to each other, there is no enough room for the blade (another team, Hory Dory, does not have the same problem, as their plank is little bit bigger than ours, they have enough space for everything).It took us lot of time to figure out how to get everything we need from the plank. Chris (tutor) came and helped us for the planning. As the size of the plank is not big enough, he suggested us divide the transom into two parts, and scarf them. Then this solved everything (at beginning we thought we should strictly follow the plan and should not divide transom into two parts, hehe). Notice that you should leave enough space for the forward part of the bottom side for scarfing.The ratio for scarfing should be 1:8 (the ratio can be 1:6, 1:12 or sometimes even 1:4, in this case, the ratio is 1:8, which means that as the thickness of the plank is about 12mm, we should have 76 mm longer for scarfing)
We also cut lamina for midship section. Steam them soft and shape them according to the plan. Later in the afternoon, Tian and I glued one of the midship section as another one needs more time for shaping, so we decided to leave it for Wednesday.
Wednesday
In the morning, Sebastien, Tian and I finished glueing the second laminated midship section. Kenny and Jade was working on the bottom side scarfing.
After finish the scarfing, we need to glue these two parts get our bottom. The glue is the same used for laminating but without powder. And we need to spread glue on scarfing surface twice. The second time spreading glue should be when the first layer of glue become little bit hard.
Putting two parts together is a task that requires skills and experiences.Film is used to prevent the holding wood being glued with the bottom. In order to make sure that the bottom parts are glued strong enough, we first need to crump them on the table), then, use some long sticks (see picture below) to keep pressure on the scarfing surface.
Looking forward to week 3
Extra
Using Router to make the fillet edge of the laminate midship section
Marking gauge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKLsbCp7qc8&feature=autoshare
- Review of the week 2 (video included at the end of the review)
- Looking forward to week 3
- Extra: Using Router to make the fillet edge of the laminate midship section (video) and marking gauge (video)
Review of the week 2
Monday
The first task finished on Monday is to glue the laminated stem,as last week we already fixed the stem to shape it.Vaughn showed us how to make the glue. Get yourself a icecream container, and then you can start to make glue: first, mix two liquid following the proportion of 1:5 (this is already set by the machine, so you do not have to worried about it, just push the pump and get what you want). Then, you mix the liquid from corner to corner until they are well mixed. After that, put powder in, and mix again. Notice do not put too much powder, it may smoke. Once you get your glue, you can start to spread it on those lamina of the stem.
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| Shaped Stem |
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| Making glue |
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| Jade and I spreading glue on lamina of the stem |
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| Laminating the stem |
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| Hammer with a piece of wood |
Tian and Kenny continued working on setting up frames.
Tuesday
We tried to cut the dory's bottom and transom out of the plank. According to the plan, the plank is really full used. Some of edges of transom and bottom are so close to each other, there is no enough room for the blade (another team, Hory Dory, does not have the same problem, as their plank is little bit bigger than ours, they have enough space for everything).It took us lot of time to figure out how to get everything we need from the plank. Chris (tutor) came and helped us for the planning. As the size of the plank is not big enough, he suggested us divide the transom into two parts, and scarf them. Then this solved everything (at beginning we thought we should strictly follow the plan and should not divide transom into two parts, hehe). Notice that you should leave enough space for the forward part of the bottom side for scarfing.The ratio for scarfing should be 1:8 (the ratio can be 1:6, 1:12 or sometimes even 1:4, in this case, the ratio is 1:8, which means that as the thickness of the plank is about 12mm, we should have 76 mm longer for scarfing)
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| Cutting plan for bottom and transom on the plank |
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| Two parts of the bottom side |
Wednesday
In the morning, Sebastien, Tian and I finished glueing the second laminated midship section. Kenny and Jade was working on the bottom side scarfing.
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| Kenny working on scarfing the bottom |
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| Chris showing us how to use plane to make the scarf |
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| Finished scarfing (Good job! Kenny) |
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| Me spreading glue on scarfing surface |
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| Crump parts so they do not move side to side |
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| Carefully place the film |
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| use some long sticks to keep pressure on the scarfing surface. |
Looking forward to week 3
Extra
Using Router to make the fillet edge of the laminate midship section
Marking gauge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKLsbCp7qc8&feature=autoshare
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Small Craft Building: Week 1
So this is the first week of our small craft building project.We have set up our teams and the bench on which we are going to work out our dory before the semi-semester break.On Monday, we just kicked off.In this blog, following contents are included:
- Review of this week (our work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday)
- Looking forward to Week 2
- Team name
Wednesday
Setting up frames on the bench is a challenging task. As the bench itself is not leveled , we need to use widget to level the frame. Use the level to check the level, then make the appropriate widget, and put the frame on the widget. This is the first step. Then,we must make sure that the center line of the frame is aligned with the center line of the boat (which is marked by a string on the bench).The third step is to drill the frame to the rib, and then using 'support arms' to hold the frame tight. Make sure the frame is perpendicular to the bench.
Later in the day, in order to accelerate our progress,and also to work more efficiently, we decided to split our team in to two groups. Tian and Kenny work on setting up the frame, while Sebastien, Jade and I work on the cutting plan and the stem. But I need to do the cutting plan in AutoCAD before I join Sebastien and Jade.
Talking about the cutting plan, I think it is one of the highlights for Wednesday. We need 9 pieces of yellow cedar pattern to make the stem.But actually at the beginning we did not have necessary clues to cut the wood we have. At first, we just take some spare wood from Team A (as they are working on Chris' boat, Chris provided them additional wood for the stem, so actually they did not cut them from their yellow cedar) for stem. However, Chris came to us and stopped us using these woods. Then he showed us how to make the cutting plan for the yellow cedar: which means how to get the most from the wood you have. A good start would be lists of main parts and cut offs. And he also suggested that AutoCAD is a good tool for cutting plan.
We cut off segment of the yellow cedar for the stem before we made the cutting plan, despite Chris told us to ask him before we start to cut.Luckily this does not cause much waste. Chris said that one of the yellow cedar may be enough for the whole boat. And my cutting plan shows that one is enough.Obviously Chris had the idea that students may make mistakes and they surely need more woods in his mind when he ordered those wood.(to add picture of our cutting plan)
We used the segment we already got for the stem (actually this was exactly what it was cut for). We need 8 batten with 5 mm thickness to make it 40 mm thick and another one for the out surface. Bandsaw is used for cutting. And then this 9 batten are put into the steam to make them soft. This took about 30 minutes.We also printed out full size (1:1) drawing for the stem and fix it on a board.
Looking Forward to Week 2
We will continue our work on the frame. There are some errors we need to fix for the frame. And we also need to bevel edges of frames according to the curvature of the hull. Have not got any clue on how to do this.
The second is to finish the stem, glue those 9 battens together.
The next thing is to finish the laminated midship section.
And finally we are going to cut yellow cedar following the cutting plan to start to make parts.
Team Name
We decided to name our team Team Morris after the name of the owner of the dory, John Morris.
- Review of this week (our work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday)
- Looking forward to Week 2
- Team name
Review of this week
Monday
we started to do some adjustment of the bench in the morning. There were two major issues we have for the bench: the first is that the bench is not long enough. As Vaughn told us that the bench should be at least as the same length of the dory.Given consideration of the space we have in the workshop (Team A just next to us), we decided to extend our bench on both sides.
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| Extending the bench |
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| Extending the bench |
The second is about the level.As one side of the bench is slightly lower than the other side, we need to find a way to solve this.A level is used to check the bench.We also planed the bench.
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| Checking the level |
After the setup of the bench, we used a string to mark the centerline. Just make sure that the string is tight enough and is straight from one end to another.
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| Marking centerline |
Marking stations comes next.One thing needs to be noticed is that we should have 40mm at the forward for the thickness of the stem. So station 0 is actually marked 40mm behind the edge of the bench.
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| Marking stations |
After finishing the bench, we started to work on temporary frames.But we made a error here. We did not cut the first board according to the plan. We just cut it into three parts with the same size. Then we realized that as the temporary frames are in different size, we might have problems on some of them.Luckily, after calculation and planning for the cutting, we found that we can still get all frames. The lesson is, before cutting, do the calculation and cut it according to the plan.
Next thing is to drawing the frame on the board as preparation for the cutting. This is similar to lofting.
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| Tian is drawing the frame |
Tuesday
On Tuesday, our first task is to continue the frames.In order to cut the frame as accurate as enough. We first used the bandsaw, then used the sander. We also tried to sand the edge of frame to correct minor errors by hand. Just as Chris told us, keep the lines. If you can lost the line, then you lost the reference (but unfortunately,we found out that one or two frames lost their lines, and this error made them 1mm shorter than they should be) .After finish all of them, we need to set them up on the bench.But before we do this, 'ribs' are added to the bench on each station. Here comes one question: which side of the station should we put these 'ribs'? This is little bit confusion. We asked Vaughn for help and guess what, we got a perfect answer: you need to consider the curve of the hull.Because the frames are supposed to support the hull during the construction process, we need to bevel the frames' edge. So if you put the frames on the wrong side of the station, you can not make it. So, for statoin 0,1,2,3 (actually as station 3 is the midship station, it's frame side does not really matter), we put the frame in front of the station lines, for station 4,5,we put frames after the station lines.
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| Continue working on frames |
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| Cutting frames on bandsaw |
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| Sanding to make the frame accurate |
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| Vaughn explaining frame positioning |
Setting up frames on the bench is a challenging task. As the bench itself is not leveled , we need to use widget to level the frame. Use the level to check the level, then make the appropriate widget, and put the frame on the widget. This is the first step. Then,we must make sure that the center line of the frame is aligned with the center line of the boat (which is marked by a string on the bench).The third step is to drill the frame to the rib, and then using 'support arms' to hold the frame tight. Make sure the frame is perpendicular to the bench.
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| setting up the frame |
Talking about the cutting plan, I think it is one of the highlights for Wednesday. We need 9 pieces of yellow cedar pattern to make the stem.But actually at the beginning we did not have necessary clues to cut the wood we have. At first, we just take some spare wood from Team A (as they are working on Chris' boat, Chris provided them additional wood for the stem, so actually they did not cut them from their yellow cedar) for stem. However, Chris came to us and stopped us using these woods. Then he showed us how to make the cutting plan for the yellow cedar: which means how to get the most from the wood you have. A good start would be lists of main parts and cut offs. And he also suggested that AutoCAD is a good tool for cutting plan.
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| Discussing cutting plan |
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| Hints for cutting plan |
We cut off segment of the yellow cedar for the stem before we made the cutting plan, despite Chris told us to ask him before we start to cut.Luckily this does not cause much waste. Chris said that one of the yellow cedar may be enough for the whole boat. And my cutting plan shows that one is enough.Obviously Chris had the idea that students may make mistakes and they surely need more woods in his mind when he ordered those wood.(to add picture of our cutting plan)
We used the segment we already got for the stem (actually this was exactly what it was cut for). We need 8 batten with 5 mm thickness to make it 40 mm thick and another one for the out surface. Bandsaw is used for cutting. And then this 9 batten are put into the steam to make them soft. This took about 30 minutes.We also printed out full size (1:1) drawing for the stem and fix it on a board.
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| The stem |
We will continue our work on the frame. There are some errors we need to fix for the frame. And we also need to bevel edges of frames according to the curvature of the hull. Have not got any clue on how to do this.
The second is to finish the stem, glue those 9 battens together.
The next thing is to finish the laminated midship section.
And finally we are going to cut yellow cedar following the cutting plan to start to make parts.
Team Name
We decided to name our team Team Morris after the name of the owner of the dory, John Morris.
Small Craft Building: Preparation
After the break, we will start our first small craft building project: Don's dory. We are going to finish this dory in 6 weeks. This is exciting and challenging.Finally, we are going to do boatbuilding works.
The preparation includes three parts: establishing the team, organize the cutting list, general time table (project planning) and calculation of the material.
1. Establishing the team.
14 students plus Vickle are put into 3 teams. Chris will be there for all teams and I am sure Vaughn will be another important tutor to supervise and support us. Our team has Sebastien, Jade,
Kenny, Tian and me. Have not got a name for our team, but I think we can figure it out later.
2. Organize the cutting list
Cutting list tells what parts we need to build. For Don’s dory, the cutting list is below:
(Photo by Tian)
3. Project planning
4. Calculation of the material.
Calculation of material for Don's dory is a hard task. Although we have got the cutting list, we still have the problem for the amount and kind of material we need. Vaughn told me that figuring out the material stuff is really a challenging issue in boatbuilding, even for experienced boatbuilders like himself. It may take days or weeks for him! Sounds scary? Yes. For us, boatbuilding students, lack of experience and knowledge in the material and building process makes it even harder. But calculation of material is very important as it determines the cost of the boat and the benefit for boatbuilders.
We used AutoCAD for the calculation. After all, the plan of Don’s dory is there and it has all information needed for the construction of the dory. Materials includes pine, plywood, yellow cedar…
We also built the bench last Wednesday, see pictures below:
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