#1

[GPW]

5 at a time !!! That sounds like a great tool !!! Pics Please !!!

[ghcoe]

5 at a time !!! That sounds like a great tool !!! Pics Please !!!

Here you go.....

[wagondude]

Now that is just slick.

[Wolffarmer]

That's finer than frog's hair.

Randy

[atahoekid]

Just getting caught up with your build. It is great! I really appreciate your craftsmanship and am amazed that you got all the interlocking joinery to fit so nicely. I would never have tried it. If you're off just a bit, it doesn't work but you've somehow managed to make them perfect! Sweet! Keep up your great work. For what it's worth, I kerfed two 1" thick pieces and faced the kerfs to each other. Worked great, but that meant twice the number of cuts. You're going to have one great Foamie when you're done

[GPW]

Cool kerf tool !!! I may have to re-think mine ....

[AlgoDan]

Now that's a slick tool and idea, very smart.Good job

[ghcoe]

Thanks for the coments guys.

I was not sure if this last jig was going to work or not,being that it went through the wood so many times and had lots of screws. Seemed to cut just as fast as my other jigs.

[ghcoe]

I really appreciate your craftsmanship and am amazed that you got all the interlocking joinery to fit so nicely. I would never have tried it. If you're off just a bit, it doesn't work but you've somehow managed to make them perfect!

I make the jigs so that I know the distance from the edge to the wire. Just measure to the cut and then subtract the edge distance and set your straight edge, usually a real straight 2x4 for me. You can see I have the jig below set up for 3/4" on each side. I find that the foam is forgiving some so even if you are off 1/8" you should still be ok. I cut the galley all at once and then cut the bulkhead portion out of the middle so that both sides would match up perfect.

jig

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I like the hot wire method because I get no foam dust and the grooves make for some pretty strong joints. Also, the cut is so clean compared to the jig saw cuts.

Hot wire cut

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For what it's worth, I kerfed two 1" thick pieces and faced the kerfs to each other. Worked great, but that meant twice the number of cuts. You're going to have one great Foamie when you're done

Going to try that this week end. I like the idea because I will not have to sand or fill any voids. Might take a bit longer making all the kerfs, but I believe it will still be faster and less of a hassle than filling and sanding voids.

[Mary C]

That's finer than frog's hair.

Randy

Gosh Randy, I know it is silly but that reply brought tears to my eyes. Just when I am totally dis armed and vulnerable someone will say or do something that reminds me of my late husband. Thanks for memory s it triggered. I havent heard that in over 15 years.



I am going to cut my kerfs the old method, straight edge and knife. I will have them done by the time I build something like that but it is a nice design.

Mary C.

[Wolffarmer]

[ghcoe]

Went and got a couple of sheets of 1" foam today. The selection was a little poor today, lots of damaged foam. Luckily I was able to find a couple of peices that were not too bad. This foam has the tongue and groove edges which I do not like any way, so I just cut the bad edge off and got rid of the groove at the same time. Only had to remove 1/2".

Cutting a clean edge

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Back side

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Then I fired up the new hot wire jig.

New Hot Wire Jig

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[ghcoe]

I timed how fast the hot wire would cut the width of the foam. It took 4 minutes to cut and 2 minutes to reset for the next cut. Worked great!

I could use the last cut for the next straight line. I would then double checked the distance form the end before starting the next cut. I did not time myself towards the end, but I believe I shaved at least a minute off the reset time. That makes five cuts in 5 minutes, 35 cuts = 35 minutes. 45 minutes from setup to tear down not bad.

Foam set up for Hot wire

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Foam set up for hot wire 2

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After kerfing I checked to make sure the foam would bend around the radius. I am pleased to say it bent just fine...... I applied some Great Stuff to the attachment points and layed the new roof section in place.

Glue

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[GPW]

Very NICE !!!

[ghcoe]

After getting the roof on I made sure the walls were flush. I did one side and then the other, then I noticed it was off again on the other side. I fixed that and then the other side was off....... The glue was too slick and I did not want to wait till it got tacky so I came up with this. I placed a finishing nail in every other groove, as I aligned the wall AGAIN, I would press the nail in all the way to the bottom of the groove. This fixed my problem

Finishing nail

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Finishing nail 2

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After I got the walls aligned again, I still had a slight bow in the middle along the bottom. I used a 1x2 and some scrap wood to wedge it back to where it should be. It did not take too much pressure this time so all should be good......

Roof on

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