Rubber for a template?...

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Hello folks,

I need some rubber to act as a guide for my router:

Basically I make a lot of pine furniture like this:

One piece of 6mm mdf, one jigsaw and a bit of smoothing out the curve I had a guide for my router. Used a V-Groove cutter and routed one pass over the top, then took off all the clamps excluding the one right at the end, then rotated the mdf so that the clamp acted as a pivot point. Then clamped down again and routed.

But I couldn't rout the whole thing (including going right over from the base of one of the legs/ ends & over the top and down to the base of the other leg). This was because the mdf wasn't flexible enough, so I need a replacement.

I was thinking rubber, but all I can find is neoprene sheeting, 1m x 1.4m @ £70 odd quid, plus P&P.

Has anyone got any ideas on an alternative?

(p.s I know that side/ end table in the image is a bit ropey, but it's my first one from years ago, so please excuse! )

Cheers for any info/ replies_Dan.

 

[mailee]

I would have thought that rubber wouldn't be a good choice as a guide as the router won't slide over it very easily? Forgive me if I have the wrong idea on this but wouldn't some flexy MDF be a better option for this job? :?

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Hi Mailee,

I've never used flexible MDF, is that the common name for it?

It's got to bend over a radius of about 2". I thought the rubber would be good if I took my time smoothing it with some fine grade stuff, 240, 320, 1000 etc. Then applying some wax.

As I say, I've never used flexible MDF, but I'll ask my timber yard if they've got any.

Cheers_Dan.

 

[tisdai]

Will this be any good to you Dan, or maybe just give you an idea.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/drawing-and-draughting-equipment-dept208128_pg1/

Cheers

Dave

 

[laird]

Conveyor belting, and spray with silicon ?

 

[Shultzy]

Cut grooves across the mdf and it will bend. If the 6mm won't bend around a 2" radius then use two 3mm with grooves and glue them together using the work as a former.

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Cheers for the Axy link, but I need something a lot bigger/ more substantial than anything there. The end table I've posted is a small version of some of the stuff I make. So it needs to be in the realms of a full MDF sheet, ripped lengthways.

I had thought about cutting grooves in the back of the MDF, but it seems like it might take ages to cut all the grooves. I've got an idea about making a jig for it, just using a V-Groove cutter, or maybe a small straight bit, then have a pin that can locate into the previously cut groove.
This would be pretty time consuming if I have to use 2 x 3mm sheets glued together (let's hope that's not the case!), because they would only work for that exact size table, as they would be glued to it's dimensions. The 6mm would do fine.

I just thought there might be something that I could order, off the shelf and keep in a roll in the 'shop, to use as and when I need it.

Laird, do you know where I could get some conveyor belt by any chance?

Cheers_Dan

 

[Tinbasher]

A strip of thin metal might be more flexible?

 

[tisdai]

Have you thought of Steaming some stock then bending them into shape and clamping them so they stay the shape you want them.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Lons]

Hi Dan

Another possibility is to use sheet polypropylene.

It is relatively cheap and you can get an 8 x 4 sheet in 3mm or 6mm from a semi finished plastics distruibutor or occasionally a shopfitter.
such as:- http://www.amariplastics.com/amariplast ... sp?tid=128

It is used to line walls in hygene areas such as kitchens and food prep areas.

3mm is pretty flexible though you might need a little heat (heat gun) to get at around a 2" bend. 6mm def needs heat. Surface is "slippy" and makes great templates.

You could also thermform perspex, polystyrene, foam pvc etc though some of them are more brittle.

Pity you're so far from me as I could have given you some to try out - left over from a job.

cheers

Bob

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

A strip of thin metal might be more flexible?

good thinking, but it needs to have an edge for the router to ride against, at least 4-5mm thick really. Could get away with less maybe, but not much less. I'd want 6mm ideally.

Have you thought of Steaming some stock then bending them into shape and clamping them so they stay the shape you want them.

yeah another good idea I've not got into steaming yet, I'm planning on making a steamer with a wall-paper stripper and some decent sized downpipe or similar.

Another possibility is to use sheet polypropylene.

I think we have a winner people! I'll ask the sellers on Ebay how flexible their stock is, and I'll let you know how it goes. There's some 4.5mm stuff that's very cheap, and I'll see what else they have going that's flexi.

Once again you lot have solved my problemo, top notch guys, Cheers_Dan.

 

[ondablade]

Re. polypropylene ad the like. There's quite a variety of sheet plastics used by the guys in the plastics fabrication business - from the quite flexy to the rigid. Might be worth dropping into one to grope the merchandise.

Gasketing suppliers tend to do sheet rubbers of various forms off the roll, but it could be a bit expensive.

 

[laird]

.....................................Laird, do you know where I could get some conveyor belt by any chance?

Cheers_Dan

We get chunks of it (5ft x 8ft x 3/4ich ish) from a local port. When their conveyors break there's always lumps like this dumped after they splice a new bit in.
There must be someone in your area using belting.
I'll check and see if I can find who supplies it new (and if they'll supply less than a mile of it ).

 

[laird]

Sudden thought, "let google be your friend".
http://www.touchderby.com/business/sear ... pply+Repai

 

[Steve Maskery]

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, have you tried using a template for just the flat areas and carving the corners by hand? I'm no carver but even I would have a go at tackling that.

If you really do want to rout over corners, I'd recommend standardising your corner joint and making an L-shaped template to clamp over the corner. 3x3mm layers would do it well.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Eddie]

goldeneyedmonkey, You can get old conveyor belt from Gravel Pits, They use a lot of it.
Eddie

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Steve (The king of jigs and the like!): I don't want to get into carving at the moment, I'm really pushed for time as it is. But I like the idea of the L-shape going over the corner joint. The only drawback with this is that there would still be a lot of faffing about with making the templates, as opposed to just rolling out a length of precut rubber template and clamping and going for it. I like the speed of that.


What I did with the MDF templates on the larger tables, was just draw a huge curving/ flowing line, then jig' it out, smooth with some v.fine sand paper and clamp down. Really quick to make and also to get going.

Eddie: Cheers I'll look into it, I have a mate who I've not seen for a while, and he's an engineer @ a quarry. I reckon he'll be able to 'acquire' some while no-one's looking :lol:

Cheers all_Dan.