Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So... My frame and floor are done and I am going to pick up my 4x10 sheets of plywood soon and I have the full size profile of the tear from Grant, and I was wondering what people have done to use those plans. I don't want to destroy them by cutting them up or poking holes in them. How do you guys use your plans to transfer to the plywood?

2bits wrote:So... My frame and floor are done and I am going to pick up my 4x10 sheets of plywood soon and I have the full size profile of the tear from Grant, and I was wondering what people have done to use those plans. I don't want to destroy them by cutting them up or poking holes in them. How do you guys use your plans to transfer to the plywood?

You say you don't want to cut or poke holes in the paper? Well I guess you could lay carbon paper on your plywood and then lay the pattern over it and then take a Popsicle stick and go over the lines transferring them to the ply wood. You can see how I used one of Grants patterns to lay out the template to mark the sides of the KIT I'm rebuilding at the following link. http://www.gages-56.com/Kitproj2.html

That's a good idea with the carbon paper. Funny I wonder if kids in their 20's even heard of the stuff.

I guess cutting the edges off wouldn't "damage" the template really because it would all still be there, and the door and cabinets would jut be transferring straight line measurements and one little angle on top of the door.

One thing I was thinking about was using a sheet of the same size thin white paper and using it like tracing paper, then I could maim it all I want, and keep the original as it is.

Open to other ideas!

If you look hard enough, you can get carbon paper in larger than the 8 1/2 by 11 sheets that typists used to use. IMHO...that is the simplest way. Alternatively, some woodworkers use a pounce wheel. That is a simple tool with a small roller that has needle sharp teeth. You run that around the pattern, then dust the pattern with colored chalk that transfers to the wood. Works pretty well!

Do it like I did. Cut out the paper to act as a master template and trans that to a sheet of masonite and then use it as the working teamplate. Roll the paper one up and put it back in the tube that it came in. Don't be in a hurry cutting the paper temp.

Pattern wheel and a blue pounce pad, like Dave said...Doug

Instead of a wheel, I just tapped a finishing nail, thru the pattern into the wood template. I did this every couple inches or so. The holes spacing was tighter along the curves and more spaced out where the radius wasn't as tight. Tap, Tap, Tap

I used a template like Gage but I used 1/4in ply.

I cut out the paper and marked up the profile on the 4x10 walls tonight. I was going to do a hard template as Gage said, but the box stores don't have 4x10 sheets of anything and I didn't want to take time off work to go to a real lumber yard. This worked good.

For the doors, I cut out the lower corners and the full upper curve, and finished the straight lines with the template removed, that way the original smaller door is still there in place if I ever want to use it.

What do you guys suggest to cut out the door of the wall? The outer profile is easy, knock off the big stuff and belt sand it down, but the door you have to be perfect on because you need to use the wood for the door I would assume a jig would be in order, but do you guys use a jigsaw or a straight router bit or ???

Thanks, here's a pic:

I used a jigsaw. It has a very thin kerf so that buys you some leeway. I still had to trim the door slightly after I installed the hinge and the weatherstripping.

Thomas!

Mark both the rough door opening and the finish door size on your plywood (you should have a 1/4" gap 'round all non-hinge sides of the door, and a 3/8" gap on the hinge side) ... use a circular saw and cut to the finish door line first (maybe a little fat, the beltsand to finish) and a jigsaw for the curved portion (and the corners where you didn't go all the way with the circularsaw) ... then go back and cut to the rough door opening (again, maybe a little fat, and beltsand/grind/file to finish).

Now, if you made a pattern of just the door area and used a 1/4" router bit ... ... !

CHEERS!

Grant

I should have seen this sooner. You guys can go to the fabric stores or Walmart and get a tracing wheel that doesn't have teeth and use carbon paper or buy some tracing paper from the store. It comes in colors and doen't rub. You can also get carbon paper that doesn't rub.

Sorry for the late. Use it for details.

Miriam C. wrote:You guys can go to the fabric stores or Walmart and get a tracing wheel that doesn't have teeth and use carbon paper or buy some tracing paper from the store. It comes in colors and doen't rub. You can also get carbon paper that doesn't rub.

In So. Cal. we have Joann's fabric stores here. Can the tracing/carbon paper be found at fabric stores? Can you tell us what are the larger sizes of paper that may be available in the stores, or do I have to go to an specialty art supply store?

http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp? ... rce=search

They have a kit too but you want the smooth tracing wheel so you don't perforate the pattern. They are 6"x 19" long.

The tracing wheel is:
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp? ... D=prd17172

This stuff is waxy and comes in red, orange, white, Yellow and something else.

Any place that sells fabric for dress making has them.

I was hoping for larger sizes, and thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I will visit the store to check the papers out.

Or you can just use a CNC router