I have just woken up from a drinking induced nap and figured the dream I had about shaping/sanding the bodies squarely and quickly down to 1/4-.025 could be done. How about an aluminum sheet 1/2 inch thick 8 inches long 2 1/2 inches wide with hardened 1/4 square steel bar stock epoxied to the Aluminum in a way to not only hold the body side but the front end as well. This would make a very quick way to sand the body down quickly on my Dewalt oscillating belt sander or any belt sander. Opinions needed before I go off and embark on this experiment.
Body Shaping tool.
- Thread starter blkhunter01
- Start date
I bought 1/4" square tube from the hobby shop, cut them down to block size & epoxied them together.
It works, just leave some meat for the weight pockets or you'll route through the top & expose the weights.
Or you can get a band saw from H. Freight for 100
It works, just leave some meat for the weight pockets or you'll route through the top & expose the weights.
Or you can get a band saw from H. Freight for 100
I plan to put 1/64 ply on top of the weight pocket area after getting the body down to 1/4 thickness I use a scroll saw for cutting all the way through the body.
Well... my process is a bit rough but works for me. I just cut my blanks about 5/16”. Then just hold onto them and hit it on the belt sander down to 1/4” and use the TLAR method. I’ll measure to make sure I stop at 1/4”.
I notice my finger nails are often quite short and smooth after this too. Kills 2 birds with one stone.
I’m often too rushed to worry about additional tooling to get it exactly 1/4”. It gets close enough. That part of the build I’m not too picky with and they are quite light when I’m done.
Just sharing my process.
I notice my finger nails are often quite short and smooth after this too. Kills 2 birds with one stone.
I’m often too rushed to worry about additional tooling to get it exactly 1/4”. It gets close enough. That part of the build I’m not too picky with and they are quite light when I’m done.
Just sharing my process.
I cut my ladder and weight pockets from the bottom, with my CNC router, out of a full thickness block.
Then, I run it through the table saw, to cut it just a little thicker than I need and sand down the rest, by hand on a piece of sticky sandpaper stuck to a nice flat surface.
This leaves the top of the car with an intact "skin" that's translucently thin.
Then, I run it through the table saw, to cut it just a little thicker than I need and sand down the rest, by hand on a piece of sticky sandpaper stuck to a nice flat surface.
This leaves the top of the car with an intact "skin" that's translucently thin.
Update ... this weekend I mad a jig, to hold the "thick" body, and run it through my tablesaw. No more worries of a lost finger!
