pre-fabbed sides

[DustinMoore]

I am located in Monterey, CA and ideally I would like to purchase the sides pre-cut. I am working on a 5' x 9' frame and was wondeinng if anyone knows of a supplier in California with 5' x 10' exterior grade plywood that will cut out-the pattern of my choice?

I know its alot to ask but with my limited working space I believe this may be my best option.

Your suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Dustin

P.S. My budget is nearly non-existant lol.

[Jiminsav]

Dustin, I bought 3 sheets of AXC plywood and took it to a place that does water jet cutting. Andrew was kind enough to make a file that the water jet could read and then I just attached the end piece with biscuits and glue held together with pocket hole screws.

[DustinMoore]

Jim,

How much did this cost you? How did you combine the sheets? I assume you had them combined before they were cut? Did the shop with the waterjet butt the plywoood as well? Your input is greatly appreciated...

[bbarry]

Dustin,

I think you can accomplish your goal with little trouble and money. I too am working on a non-existent budget! I assume you're going to be skinning the walls on both sides with a finish grade ply? If so, I would examine whether your design needs a 5' height. I originally thought so, but redesigned my floor so I could accomplish both good sitting headroom and a small skirt to cover my frame. I was able to do so in just 4'.

5x10 or even 4x10 ply is getting harder and harder to find. My wife works for a lumber company and all of their suppliers have stopped producing oversized ply. I have chosen to join a very small piece of ply to the end of a 4x8 sheet to get my length. It only ended up needing to be 18x31" due to the angle of the rear profile. I am biscuit joining the two pieces. If you don't have a biscuit joiner, you can get a cheap one at Harbor Freight, or use a table saw to cut a slot in the butt edges and insert a thin spline along with some Titebond III. It doesn't need a ton of strength in that direction as your main forces will be vertical. If you are skinning it with finish grade ply, you'll be just fine.

By the way, I think if you have enough workspace to house a tear, you have enough to do any of this...I work in the space of about a one-car garage. The shop is bigger, but it's filled with stuff!

While Jim's solution of waterjet cutting is quite cool, you can easily cut this out with a jigsaw. Hopefully I'll post some pics on my thread of my walls cut out by Saturday or so. I have no time to play before then.

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=27225

Check out this thread that give some good ideas:

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=27570

Hope that helps!

Brad

[aggie79]

If you don't have a biscuit joiner, you can get a cheap one at Harbor Freight, or use a table saw to cut a slot in the butt edges and insert a thin spline along with some Titebond III. It doesn't need a ton of strength in that direction as your main forces will be vertical. If you are skinning it with finish grade ply, you'll be just fine.

Don't attempt to cut the spline with a table saw. There is no way to wrestle a large (or even small sheet of plywood) and keep it perpindicular to the table.

I would look for a router. It is a really versatile tool. A router can cut a spline (or biscuit slot) quite easy. They are not too hard to use. Also, a router with a pattern or template bit can be used for cutting the plywood. Take a look at my album. I made a template, then rough cut the plywood with a jigsaw, and then finish cut the plywood with the router.

[Senior Ninja]

What he said about the router.


I built my walls complete with wiring and insulation flat on a pair of saw horses. I left a slot open along the bottom between the inside panel and the outside panel, then stood the sides up over a tongue glued and screwed to the floor. If you did it that way you could place a "stud" over the joint and between the walls and you'd have a very strong joint.
Steve

[Esteban]

Dustin, hello from a neighboring CA Central Coast teardrop builder.

Are you planning on building solid plywood or with sandwich walls?

How do you plan to skin and or finish the outside of your teardrop?

If you're going to use sandwich walls then 1/4" plywood is rigid enough for the outside plywood skin. You can butt join the plywood sheets over an inner wood frame member to get a longer wall. That's how my walls are built.

I'm fiberglassing my walls, roof, and hatch with Raka.com epoxy and fiberglass cloth which strengthens them, bridges the joints, and will waterproof the exterior. IMHO it's lighter and less costly than skinning them with aluminum.

Best of luck whatever you do.

[Jiminsav]

Dustin, the water jet cost me 200 bucks...the best money I ever spent. as for how they cut it, well, they butted it up on the table, cut one side out and flipped the half piece over and did it again, they also cut the doors out and i used the waste as the doors..at least till I build better doors.

[madjack]

Dustin, try these folks http://www.socalteardrops.com/ ...they have been very helpful to SoCal builders...a thought/question...why the 5W ply...unless you are trying for some sort of standy, the extra height is not really needed...I'm 6'2 and after subtracting for frame/roof/bedding, we end up with 38" of head room and come no where near bumping the ceiling....also, oversized ply has gotten prohibitively expensive and using the slot and spline method to "stretch" your ply is a VERY viable and inexpensive(relatively) way to get that extra size...I like using epoxy for adhesive to make it just about bulletproof but almost any waterproof adhesive will work satisfactorily........
madjack

[So-Cal Teardrops]

Give us a call anytime. We have a CNC router with a 5x10 table and can cut anything your heart desires. (909) 982-1199

[madjack]

Give us a call anytime. We have a CNC router with a 5x10 table and can cut anything your heart desires. (909) 982-1199

...well, there ya go .................................................

[bbarry]

Don't attempt to cut the spline with a table saw. There is no way to wrestle a large (or even small sheet of plywood) and keep it perpindicular to the table.

A jig is necessary to do this with a table saw, but it is possible. You're right, a router is the preferred method. Personally, I went straight for the biscuit cutter as it's extremely simple and is perfectly strong enough for this purpose.

Brad