I decided to start a new long term project this weekend - building a Adirondack Guide Boat. I have gone back and forth about building rib or ribless but have ended up going with the more traditional ribbed design.
I started by lofting the offset tables in AutoCAD to build the rib templates. I will use the rib templates as a top mount template to flush cut the laminated strips on the router table after they have been laminated on forms created from the rib templates.
Week 1 AutoCAD.jpg
I then converted this to a dxf file for importing into VCarvePro to cut the rib patterns out on my home built CNC.
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The rib templates took about 5 minutes each to cut. My wimpy machine only cuts at 10-inches a minute and I decided to cut them in one pass with a 1/8" spiral up-cut to avoid some of the backlash problems that I have been having.
I had envisioned being able to cut the rib templates out full size and then use these "ribs" to construct the forms that will be used for bending and laminating the spruce strips that will actually form the ribs of the boat. The forms need to be of the of the interior surface of the ribs. I had then hoped to use the rib templates as a top mount template to flush cut the rough blanks of the laminate forms on the router table. This was not to be since I need the other side to properly use a router to cut these out.
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Continued....