Quote:
Originally Posted by brinesharks
BTW - can anyone suggest a way of cutting the aerofoil profile inside the struts? I could do it easily if they were 'through' grooves but not sure how to do stopped ones with that profile. Is it a case of using various plane iron cutters and smoothing the rest by hand/scraper?
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Hi Bryan,
I am sure there would be various methods which would be suitable for creating these cut outs. When I started my apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner I did quite a lot of joinery, and used to help the wood machinists regularly. I suspect that one of the most likely methods used to construct these cut outs would have been with a spindle moulder. It is essentially a very large router which is set into a work bench, and has a guide at the back - in the same way that a hand held router has a moveable guide to control the depth of the cut, or the distance from the edge of the timber. For specialised sections, which they very often were, the wood machinists used to create the shape of the required cut out by sharpening a piece of cutting steel with a bench grinder. If you had one for each side of the required section, you would be able to replicate the shape perfectly. You could also have strategically placed ramps which could force the timber to gradually move away from the spindle moulder, thus reducing the depth of the cut until it exits the timber. Be warned about spindle moulders - as with all of these super sized machines, they are exceptionally dangerous, and there are no excuses for any mistakes. If you make a mistake you will lose a finger or worse.
Alternatively you could use a router, if you are able to obtain cutting steel which you can grind to the appropriate section. Although routers are also very dangerous, they are much safer to use, and much more readily available than a spindle moulder.
Regards,
David.