I'm building a new mid-power scratchbuild (haven't built one in a long time). I had to cut some 1/8" birch plywood and really wished I had a bandsaw. I had the idea to use a jigsaw so I searched the net and found plenty of examples. Just to cut a few fins I clamped my jigsaw in the vise, rigged up a plywood platform on top and cut the fins out pretty easily. I clamped them together and cleaned them up with a disk sander.
I had bought the plywood about 10 years ago and finally getting around to building this model. The plywood had a slight warp in it from the beginning. I clamped it flat for a long time and that didn't make any difference. I searched the net and couldn't find any information on straightening plywood. Knowing that people steam wood to bend it I wet both surfaces of the plywood with a wet sponge, folded a piece of cardboard to about 1/8" thick, then clamped the 4 pieces together with the cardboard in between so they were all bent backwards. A day later and the plywood was relatively flat so I went ahead and cut out my fins.
Somewhere I had gotten a phenolic tube for this rocket, don't remember where, so the next adventure is to fill the spirals with epoxy putty.
I had bought the plywood about 10 years ago and finally getting around to building this model. The plywood had a slight warp in it from the beginning. I clamped it flat for a long time and that didn't make any difference. I searched the net and couldn't find any information on straightening plywood. Knowing that people steam wood to bend it I wet both surfaces of the plywood with a wet sponge, folded a piece of cardboard to about 1/8" thick, then clamped the 4 pieces together with the cardboard in between so they were all bent backwards. A day later and the plywood was relatively flat so I went ahead and cut out my fins.
Somewhere I had gotten a phenolic tube for this rocket, don't remember where, so the next adventure is to fill the spirals with epoxy putty.
