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Minicooper - 3/8/07 at 09:24 AM

Hello all,
I'm making a spaceframe floor to replace the normal rusty floor in a mini, I have fitted a safety devices 6 point roll cage and attached to the body in lots of places.

Anyway the point is I need a piece of plywood 60"*70" which means buying a 10'*5' sheet of ply, the options are buying a 10*5 sheet 1" thick plywood at £116 and cut it down or piece a table together from a 8*4 sheet about £48 with at least two joins, ideally it would be better as a single sheet but £116 is a lot of cash for a piece of ply which is likely to be slung straight after

Anyone know of a cheap/cheaper source of decent ply? I'm based in Chandlers Ford, Hampshire

Cheers
David

novacaine - 3/8/07 at 09:48 AM

could you use mdf/chipboard and brace it with lengths of timber? much cheaper that way

[Edited on 3/8/07 by novacaine]

NS Dev - 3/8/07 at 02:20 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Minicooper
Hello all,
I'm making a spaceframe floor to replace the normal rusty floor in a mini, I have fitted a safety devices 6 point roll cage and attached to the body in lots of places.

Anyway the point is I need a piece of plywood 60"*70" which means buying a 10'*5' sheet of ply, the options are buying a 10*5 sheet 1" thick plywood at £116 and cut it down or piece a table together from a 8*4 sheet about £48 with at least two joins, ideally it would be better as a single sheet but £116 is a lot of cash for a piece of ply which is likely to be slung straight after

Anyone know of a cheap/cheaper source of decent ply? I'm based in Chandlers Ford, Hampshire

Cheers
David


check how level your garage floor is, many are not too bad and if you shim as you go and use a spirit level, you will be plenty accurate enough.

It did make me laugh when Ron used a jig board in "the book" and then made such a pigs ear of the rest of the dimensions!!

kb58 - 3/8/07 at 03:03 PM

There's nothing wrong with using small pieces. Just back them up with some stringers (I'd use 2 x 4s, not sure what you call them) that are long enough, and screw the plywood sheets to it. It's just as accurate as one large sheet. Using stiff backing also means you can buy thinner, cheaper plywood.

I mean, it's not like you're need accuracy better than 3-4mm anyway.

Minicooper - 3/8/07 at 04:37 PM

Thanks everyone,
I think I'm going to go for 8*4*1 inch, maybe even going for 3/4 ply which is a lot cheaper and brace the two joins I need, should be very strong.

NS dev
My garage floor is horrible! but thanks for the suggestion

Cheers
David