bricklayer

Gaetan Over here in Germany the public electricity network is terminated 3ph 400V, L1 L2 L3 N PE. I think that it`s the same in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. It just isn`t availiable in all rooms of the buildings. The outlet for electric stoves is always 3phase. If I had acces to a 1ph outlet, only, then I`d use a proper VDF. It generates 3 phase output at variable frequency usually between 0 and 400 Hz. Some 20 years ago our rotary phase converter died. It had driven an internal vibrator for compacting concrete. I`m grateful for it`s dead. It`s successor with build-in VDF is lightweight and makes less niose. There`s just one disadvantage of VDF`s. They emit electric noise. Kind of high frequency square waves. So proper filtering and shielding is required. Michael

Hi Scott The paint on the hull of your model should resemble white lead paint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_lead Unfortunately its use on vessels is mentioned in a single sentence, only.

There`s an Englishman who seems to be laser-addicted. You`ll hardly find a better teacher. It takes several hours or days to watch and listen to the videos attentively. After having done so you can take a sound decision whether a laser cutting/engraving machine is the right tool for your workshop or not. Be aware that those cheap chinese machines are class 4 lasers. If you want to operate a machine that complies to european and US laws, then you have to get a class 1 device. Only a class one device guarantees save operation. The DC excited laser tubes have a limited lifetime that varies from some hundred to some thousand hours. If the cutting job requires 50 to 60 W power then you`d buy an 80 W tube. The CO2 in the tube degrades less when it`s runs below maximum power rating. The laser tube has to be water cooled by means of an external chiller and tubing. There`s got to be permanent air flow through the nozzle. Fumes and smoke have to be extracted from the machine and led outdoors with a blower or led into a three or four stage filtering device. It takes some effort to run a laser cutting/engraving machine save and properly. Bill, I don`t want to scare you. I advise to obtain knowledge before to take a decision. A laser cutter makes sense, only, if you create the cutting/engraving files yourself by means of any software that generates vector graphics. If you depend on third party files, only, then you`re lost. My incomplete contribution to this subject. Michael

If someone gave me one of those Sixis or Aciera (watchmaker?)-machines, then I`d put it in a sealed showcase to protect it from dust and humidity, I wouldn`t dare to touch it without wearing cotton gloves. If I did any damage to such a machine while operating it, then I`d have seven sleepless nights in sequence. I think that one shouldn`t recommend these swiss precision tools to a beginner. Michael

Vaddoc I`d plank the hull entirely before to apply force to the stem post. The assembly of molds, keel and stem looks too fragile to me to do any machining on the stem post at present state. I`d glue the planks to the molds and stem one by one rather than to attach them all with screws temporarily. A glued or welded structure is more rigid than a screwed, riveted or nailed one is. If the stem post is tapered prior to sanding or scraping the hull smooth, then minor scratches on the planks won`t do any harm. That`s my opinion. I may be right or wrong. Michael

Ron If you want to run the drum sander at high rpm with low vibration, then you have to balance the drum, I suppose. There should be equal distribution of mass around the longitudinal axis. See balancing vehicle`s wheels. The drum should be balanced with abrasive paper mounted, like a wheel is balanced with tire mounted. Nonetheless I like your simple design that you can modify according to your needs. What about a conveyor belt to ensure constant feed of material to be sanded? Michael

Point, I just found a link to a free nesting soft on a german forum for cnc-machining. https://deepnest.io Yet I havn`t installed and evaluated it. I read the brief description, only. I think it`ll do the job. I don`t know whether parts are rotated during nesting or maintain their original orientation. Rotating them may not be desirable because it changes the run of wood grain. Michael

Eberhard I think that hyw - unfortunately he didn`t tell us his name - built the winch strictly according to the drawing released by ANCRE. So there`s got to be a different way to lock the gears to prevent the winch from spinning reverse. A gear that`s shaped like a circular saw blade with a pawl, that engages at the steep side of rhe teeth, is self-locking indeed. But I think that self-locking of the winch on this particular ship is obtained in a different way. Moving the long two-sided lever seems to spin the winch. Perhaps friction prevents it from spinning reverse. E.g. you turn a rotary table by turning it`s worm gear. But you can`t turn the worm gear by turning the table. It`s self-locking without a pawl to be engaged. Michael Marvellous work on Gemma.

Hello Carl What about domestic cheese like edamer and gouda. don`t they contain enough gas bubbles? We should return to the original topic, I think. And I think, that you`re the one, who lives closest to my home town. I live some 20 km south of the place, where the rhine divides to waal and oude rhin. Maar ik spreek geen nederlands. Michael

Hi Tony You got to divide the hull surface into longitudinal sections, first. They represent the plank strakes. Each strake is a sub-surface on it`s own. Then you apply the develop or flatten command in your CAD application. This command doesn`t just project the selected entity on a plane. Rather than that it straightens the entity. Be aware, that the thickness has to be taken into account. By default surfaces don`t have thickness in virtual modeling. The development command may only work, if the surfaces (plank strakes) are straight or flat across their length. So the station lines should be polylines rather than arcs or curves. Development works best on stations, that have knuckles and straight portions. I`ve never done it myself, but I know that Rhino 3d, the CAD I use, provides this feature. I can hardly await to see more pics of your Chaloupe built. Michael

Hi Ben Your second approach to lofting the hull seems to be the right one. Now you have a single surface. Before it looked like a "pile of patches". There`s no bad intentions in telling you that. Does fusion 360 have analysis tools other than zebra striping? Can you apply gaussian curvature to the hull? It shows the amount of curvature all over the surface in colours. It shows the direction of curvature, too. Inward or outward. Is there a tool called curvature graph in fusion? It`s a set of "needles", that point perpendicular to a curve or surface. Or rectangular to an imaginary tangent at a given point. The length of the "needles" indicate the amount of curvature. In your post #31 two control points are close to one another. At midships. One of the points is located inside the curve. Does the curve bend inwards over there? Is there a hollow? I`m curious, because I lofted hulls in Rhino. Finally I discarded those lofts. After having applied analysis tools, none of them satisfied me anymore. My findings are not meant to disencourage you. Not at all. I`ll follow this thread. Michael

Tony, I wondered whether you installed the rear hoisting beam, too. In post #55 I found the answer. You work pretty fast and the things you do look good. I think, you machined the brass parts flawlessly. I cross my fingers for the surgery and your recovery. Don`t let us wait too long to follow your "tutorial" again. Indeed you explained the essential steps of the build in detail. A guideline for everyone, who intends to build the same or a similar boat. About piercing the hull. It`s the projection of an object on a surface. Whenever the object, that pierces a surface, isn`t perpendicular to it, use trigonometry. Lay a tangent on the surface, measure the angle between the tangent and the longitudinal line, vertical line, too, in case of a compound angle. One side of the triangle is given. It`s the width of the pearcing object. Two angles are given. One is a right angle and the other one is the angle between the tangent on the surface and the longitudinal or vertical line. Michael

Yet I haven`t built the chaloupe armee. I bought the folder years ago at the annual modeler`s fair in Dortmund. I thought it was a tiny boat and tiny things are quite easy to build. Then I took a close look at each drawing and the manual. It seemed to be too tricky for a beginner like me. I do remember lots of details that made me decide not to build this one as the first model. Currently I´m building "Glad Tidings" by Model Expo. It`s big enough for the clumsy hands of a bricklayer. I don`t dare to start a build log. Let`s see whether and how it grows, first. I noticed few imperfections at the hull of your chaloupe. Some planks don`t lay dead flat to the ribs (bent frames). They`re tilted a bit. I think it`s due to insufficient edge bending. The stress of the wood fibres wasn`t entirely released, when being attached. But who cares? It`s good as is. I assemble things in my imagination, too, before I do the physical assembly. It prevents me from making mistakes, that can`t be undone. Let me have a look at my drawings of the chaloupe again. I may find a fool-proof way to build authentic hoisting beams. Let`s not argue about nails. I think that the timberwork itself counts more. Michael

Tony, I noticed that the hoisting beams of your chaloupe are inserted into it`s hull. In Mr. Dealcroix`s drawings those beams pearce the hull. How come that you deviated from the genuine design? I just wonder. The longer I follow your build log, the more I believe that you`ll succeed. Michael