HMS Thorn by Kevin Kenny - 1:48 scale - Swan-class - David Antscherl practium

[Kevin Kenny]

Hi Maury

 you are absolutely correct that if there is a lot of pressure when pulling the stock through the draw plate that mounting it in a table top vice helps greatly with the stress of pulling it through the plate. I found this particularly true with hard wood stock where it is difficult to get the raw stock small enough. But with Bamboo i found it quite easy to reduce the size of the stock down to  say .030 which means that you can literally pull the treenail stock  through the plate without using the thong puller to get down to .020. Most of the time i was able to get to .020 without any pulling device at all, just with my fingers. The technique was getting to split the bamboo and the hammer was the tool that did that so effectively. Also if for some reason i was having difficulty getting it into the next hole, simply backtracking to the previous hole easily solved the problem. I any case my wife would not allow a bench top vice to be located on our porch in Tobago while i sat  on the chair in our porch  , on the golf course. Haha.  

[Kevin Kenny]

 

[Kevin Kenny]

[giampieroricci]

good job, Kevin!

[Kevin Kenny]

New addition.

 

 

[Kevin Kenny]

All hooked up to the vacuum system. I don't know why i can find this adaptor to fit my system. 

[No Idea]

Hi Kevin - I had this problem when I bought my table saw and thickness sander.  A mate of mine made me some inserts so that my extraction fitted.

 

So when I ordered my sander from Jim I asked if he could modify the extraction port to suit my needs.  He did  😀 so when it was delivered it fitted just as the others did........Sorry maybe I should have told you this about 6 months ago!

 

The thickness sander is something else and I use it all of the time.  I have discovered though that if you want a really smooth piece without any dips - as it passes through to the sanded side place a lot of pressure with your thumb onto the piece of wood that emerges and continue to feed it through with a push stick.  This method gives great results - enjoy your new tool 😁

[AON]

thumb and push stick - that has been my limited experience also.

I should have bought mine years ago! (instead of late last year)

[dvm27]

Nice job on those sheer planks Kevin. I think you will find that shaping and installing the planksheers, especially those short pieces over the hancing pieces, will be one of the more challenging tasks on the model. To that end it is imperative that the sheer/toptimber line be perfectly fair. Consider if you will be shaping the timberheads in situ or off the model. Shaping them in place is extremely difficult so if you decide to make them off the model I would cut the timberheads off now and use a sanding stick athwartships to fair the toptimber line (it looks a bit wavy to my eye). I found that making the timberheads on the Byrnes saw assembly line style was easy and the results were very consistent.

[Maury S]

Kevin, create a simple "sled" for the sander.  I use a piece of1/4" "Plexiglas" about 12" x 6".  I think you will find it much better than just feeding a piece of wood through.  Same technique...push stick and thumb pressure on the output.  The sled also gives you a longer table.

Maury

[Kevin Kenny]

Maury i would love to see a picture of what you made

[garyshipwright]

Kevin I wouldn't mind seeing it to and was wondering how Maury keep's it in place. Have a couple of pieces which would work just fine. Enjoyed your last Video and look forward to the next one. Gary

[AON]

Me too!  Me too!

 

A good picture is worth 1000 words.

[Kevin Kenny]

Not sure if this is what Maury had in mind. I use to have various jigs for the Preac sander and most of the time had to remove the cover to keep the piece from flying off. Also the paper roll would turn the piece when i pushed it through. I would love to see what you guys do. Now that i am using this it would have been great if the aluminum base extended back another 6 inches, to make sure i push the sled in flat. It has a tendency to lift at the front. 

[Kevin Kenny]

This is the type of jig i make when i do not want the part to move left or right

[dvm27]

Obviously the major advantage to the sled is that you can thickness wood to incredibly thin widths. I use plexiglass for dimensional stability

[Kevin Kenny]

I have written to Jim to see if he has any suggestipns

[Maury S]

A sled does not have to be fancy, just stable (thickness).  Like Greg, I used 1/4" Plexiglas.  This one has been used for years and is beat-up but still fits the bill.

If the piece I'm working on is too short, I might use double stick tape to hold it.  I've been advised, to rotate side to side and end to end when thickness-sanding.

Maury

Edited January 7, 2023 by Maury S

[No Idea]

Maury S - you are spot on there mate.  To get a completely flat piece of wood it needs to be rotated end to end and on both sides.  This removes any cupping from it 👍

[dvm27]

I also use one continuous sheet of 180 grit paper vs. two individual sheets. I find that with two sheets I can get a line when passing through the center. OF course that's only a problem when the piece to be thicknessed is wider than half of the carrier.

[Kevin Kenny]

[Kevin Kenny]

Large soldering pad/board arrived along with ceramic pins for holding stuff that will not provide a heat sink. The silver soldering station is now complete.

[Kevin Kenny]

 

[Kevin Kenny]

Completed external planking

[dvm27]

Nice job Kevin. Preac makes a fence thats1/2" tall. If you can find one it makes cutting mortises a lot easier.

 

Maybe an optical illusion but the first gunport (not the bridle port) looks a bit short.

[Kevin Kenny]

I have the Preac fence. Ill be checking all the ports this week. I hope not because i checked and corrected them before i started the planking.anyway if its too small thats an easy fix, if it too large thats a pain in the butt.

[tlevine]

Preac fence still in production?  I assume this is an aftermarket product since the company no longer exists.

[Kevin Kenny]

Hi Toni

when i buy a tool i usually buy all the accessories, so i have had the fence since  i purchased the original saw.

[Kevin Kenny]

Gregs comment

“Maybe an optical illusion but the first gunport (not the bridle port) looks a bit short.”

i have checked all the gun ports. the forward gunport is 27” high and 18” wide, aft is 27” high and 24” wide and all others are 27” high and 28” wide. So unless i have my measurements off the plan they are all ok.

 

 

[Kevin Kenny]

Shooting board using the Lee Valley miniature plane