[Sandy Nelson]

Well the good thing about not getting out in all this cold weather has meant i've been holed up in the garage a lot more than i thought and i'm making great progress with my Project.

Thanks to Irvine and his plane, i've been looking for alternative methods of making bamboo strips. I will probably use the Plane to make the tapered sections but i've built a mini milling machine to rough the strips into squares and then into  untapered triangles.
Using some scrap componants from a helicopter door, some MDF, sheet aluminium and a basic router i have a functional if crude milling machine.
So far i have been able to cut square sections quite easily and will be trying out the triangles tomorrow.

Well ahead of schedule, so perhaps the Ice aint so bad after all.






 


Sandy

[Mike Barrio]

That looks quite good Sandy ..... You should think about taking up engineering

Great stuff, I'm impressed
Cheers
Mike

[Sandy Nelson]

Got going properly this morning

And have been roughing squares and now triangles. The triangles are a bit trickier and i had quite a few attempts before i got the techniques.
But i'm there now, so the rest of the day is going to be spent making lots of strips, so i can get onto final tapers and then some gluing.
I've an interesting idea to try for this too So we'll see



Sandy

ps. It was suggested i did a blog for this project, but i don't really know how and i'm more interested in making the rods, so i hope you don't mind me expressing myself on the forum instead.
I'm finding it all quite exciting, hope i'm not too boring

[Mike Barrio]

Great stuff Sandy

It is good fun following all the photos and story on here ..... keep it coming

Cheers
Mike

[Rob Brownfield]

Great stuff Sandy

It is good fun following all the photos and story on here ..... keep it coming

Cheers
Mike

I second that...not boring at all..quite the opposite!!!..can I order 2 10 foot Mark IV blanks please ...I have the original measurements and tapers at home somewhere..hint hint

[stickleback]

i hope you don't mind me expressing myself on the forum instead.

hope i'm not too boring

Definitely not.  Keep up the good work    I find it all fascinating, and can't wait to see the build progress.

Cheers

Cammy

[Sandy Nelson]

I second that...not boring at all..quite the opposite!!!..can I order 2 10 foot Mark IV blanks please ...I have the original measurements and tapers at home somewhere..hint hint

At the current rate of progress, if i charge 50p an hour they would still be bloody expensive Still anything's possible
Still trying to get a 3ft section to turn out right, never mind 5ft Thats just scary

Thanks for the encouragement though

This is how my garage looks at the moment



Lets hope chinese finger puzzles are as good for bamboo as they first appear

Sandy

[Mike Barrio]

Keeping your tools in the boot of a red Ferrari then

[Sandy Nelson]

Keeping your tools in the boot of a red Ferrari then

Well, it keeps them at hand, and makes a much nicer roll cab than Snap-on
 


Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

Another day spent.

Another step forward

With a lot of scrap to show for much effort (it'll keep us warm in the hut) i finally produced a Tapered strip today, that was accurate to a taper
Starting to suffer cabin fever a little now though need to go fishing.

Thick end of the strip



Thin end of the strip



You can see the spots where i had to remove splinters, this cane is bloody sharp Guess thats why the Japs used it for torture.
Perhaps they got people to learn how to build rods, it would explain why someone invented fibreglass

Now all i have to do is make another 5 exactly the same, and then another 6 for the other section

At this rate i might even have a working prototype for the start of the season

Well maybe depends how much snow we get, the snow did get me to thinking. I had been reading about 4 sided and 5 sided rods and could see that they may have practical benefits in terms of casting dynamics, However Snowflakes always have 6 sides so perhaps if nature decrees that 6 is a good number then natural rods should have 6 sides too. It could be fun finding out

Sandy

[Sandy Nelson]

Just found another splinter, thanks to the photo i just posted

Blasted stuff