kerf cutting
Hi Guys,
Does anyone know a DIY method for bending wood like on a Marcos chassis. I think that the industrial method is to steam it and bend it round a jig.
I need a DIY method!
Thanks,
Steve
google is you friend
kerf cutting
A couple of weeks ago Grand Designs showed the process for making Gluelam (sp?) beams. They looked like several pieces of softwood bonded together and
before the resin goes off they are forced into shape and held. No steam - just brute hydraulic force. They were machined afterwards to get the shape
and curves dimensionally correct.
I seem to remember ages ago seeing a TV prog where someone had a diy steamer. Looked like a big wooden box, probs plastic lined and something like a
Burco boiler sitting underneath with the lid off. Timber will probs need some form off force applied after steaming to make it take a shape.
What are you trying to achieve?
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
google is you friend
kerf cutting
Lots of ways to do it but laminated ply is one of the strongest and easiest to do, it's used a lot in boat construction.
Dare I ask what are you up to?
quote:
Originally posted by DarrenW
What are you trying to achieve?
now I'm confused
A bit too leftfield for me.
I have a mate who wants me to help with a Morgan restoration for a hill climb car!
We have considered a full tubular spaceframe but then quite fancied the challenge of something like the original although welding some 3x2 isn't
easy!
Cheers guys for your help.
Steve
oh oh there's a lot of wood in a morgan. Wooden car bodys are a lot harder than they first look. Personally I'd seek out a good carpenter and ask for advice.
Do you reckon it's more than a dab of PVA and a couple of galv clouts?!
Thanks,
Steve
er yes..
I have a book that shows them being made, were talking craftsmanship here. Morgan’s are also notorious for the steel rusting away leaving only the
wood to support the car. Even a car that looks ok usually needs huge amounts of work, that's why I never bought one and got a JBA Falcon
instead.
I also have the manuals for the bull nose Morris which also has wood framed steel panels, frighteningly complex, woodwork.
I once knew a guy who was restoring a wooden framed lagonda. iirc he was on over 5 years just doing the frame. It sure was a craftsmans job. I dont think id give it a second thought.
There's loads of websites about restoring Morgans eg. Woodwork
To be honest I don't think it would be THAT bad and people with Morgans like to waste their lives on internet forums as much as people building 7
alikes do so there is plenty of help and experience out there - not on here I suspect though - no one's started about what a rubbish thing wood
is to build a car out of yet...... but it shouldn't be long now 
I'm not even going to start on comparing a Morgan to a JBA Falcon.......
[Edited on 15/2/08 by D Beddows]
Wood frame on my first car an Austin 7 Ruby used Ash.
Seem to recall that was because it was a) damp resistant but also b) capable of being curved to shape with a bit of steam (wallpaper stripper comes to
mind).
Don't know where you'd buy Ash today.
Can you imagine going into Jewsons or worse B&Q and asking for it?
Cheers, Pewe 
Most benders (ooer!) use one of those wallpaper strippers with a base unit that looks like a flying saucer and a hose up to the stripping head.
Make a box, insert wood, connect the steam hose, wait a half-hour or so then take the wood out and bend to shape ASAP. Oh - and pray that your wood
doesn't have knots or wild grain in it. 'cos it'll snap!
Alternatively, get a number of thin strips about 2 - 3 mm thick, glue them with a good resin glue and bend them round a former. Once the glue dries
you'll have a laminated piece that's at least as strong as something made from a single length, probably much stronger.
quote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
Alternatively, get a number of thin strips about 2 - 3 mm thick, glue them with a good resin glue and bend them round a former. Once the glue dries you'll have a laminated piece that's at least as strong as something made from a single length, probably much stronger.
quote:
Originally posted by D Beddows
I'm not even going to start on comparing a Morgan to a JBA Falcon.......
chap in sweden , rebuilds and makes new marcos chassis in wood , do a search - it looks bloody good .
You could update the morgan by getting rid of the wooden frame and have a nice U-PVC one made up by Coldseal!
I got talking to a man in a white V8 Morgan when I was at my DVLA inspection.
He said it was a common misconception that the chassis was wood, it was steel; only the bodywork being a wooden frame.
[Edited on 15/2/08 by 02GF74]
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
I got talking to a man in a white V8 Morgan when I was at my DVLA inspection.
He said it was a common misconception that the chassis was wood, it was steel; only the bodywork being a wooden frame.
[Edited on 15/2/08 by 02GF74]
Morgans are interesting 
If you came on here and said you were thinking of building a car consisting of a timber frame body attached to a ladder
frame chassis AND you were thinking of using sliding pillar front suspension.... you would get pages of advice telling you to stop being so silly and
it that will handle like a wheelbarrow with a flat tire when you finished it etc etc - but then you go to a race track and see someone like Keith
Ahlers in his extremely sorted Morgan Plus 8 routinely destroy anything else that comes up against him in Sports and GT races and it puts the value
of some of the arguments/advice dished out on here into a bit of perspective.......
Wood is a good material for a car, it's really very strong weight for weight compared with steel (bamboo* is actually stronger than steel weight
for weight).
However it requires a huge amount of skill and time to make a decent job of it, and then no-one would buy your car because it wasn't a steel
spaceframe or an aluminium monocoque or whatever is the current fashion must have in car design.
* Technically it's a grass but that's not important here.
quote:
Originally posted by D Beddows
... it puts the value of some of the arguments/advice dished out on here into a bit of perspective.......
quote:
I usually regard the info I receive on this forum as a 'seed' for my own ideas. I sift through them, pick the bits I like and combine them into something new.
I also weight some people's opinions higher than those from some others... and I'm not listing who comes into which category!
(and very true...)
Why don't you make an alluminium chassis for it?
My dad was a cooper and he used to set the barrel staves in the hoops at the bottom and then make a fire with some oak shavings inside the base. he
would then use a rope around the splayed staves at the top and twist the rope ends which pulled the staves together until he could load the top hoops
on and drove them down with a bloody big hammer and a grooved drift.
The oak staves were bent to shape with the heat and not a little skill.
It was great to watch as a small boy.
Regards Kipper.