Guidance

[Limber LumberParticipant @limberlumber84666]

I thought I would join to ask a few questions, as I guess model boat builders know something about cutting small section wood.

I want to cut some thin wood from seasoned raw/rough timber, I have some spruce, but would like to use whatever I can find for model building.

And by thin I mean make accurate sheets of 1mm or less, but the goal here to produce strips of 1.5mm x 1mm, for small scale model railroad ties.

I have a proxxon bandsaw, fetsaw and scroll saw, all need setting up properly.

The fetsaw was a bargain but the fence is missing. I Have to clamp a bar down as a a guide. I think the fetsaw will cut up the thin wood sheets nicely using the small blade.

Is the bandsaw up to cutting accurate thin wood from a block?

I would like to have a thicknesser, but the only way I can do that now is to build a sander type based on what I have seen, using existing belt sanders or custom wide drum diy type.

[Limber LumberParticipant @limberlumber84666]

[Chris EParticipant @chrise]

If you own these machines what is stopping you trying to do what you want to do?

When using any saw good setup, sharp blades of the correct type and practice are the key to success.

What do you mean by "sheets" of 1mm or less? What depth of cut is involved? You will need a good fence. A well clamped piece of wood/metal is often better than the fence supplied with saws.

Edited By Chris E on 19/10/2020 08:03:50

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Lim.

Welcome to the forum.

I believe this topic has been discussed before, and the consensus of opinion was that small circular saw was best, like the Proxxon one (missing from your collection!).

Bandsaws using a thin and fine toothed blade can wander a bit especially trying to make such fine parallel cuts, as they tend to follow the wood grain.

i can’t imagine the fretsaw will do the job but unless you try??

Ashley

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi Limber,

You don't mention how large you rough timber is? but there is no substitute for a circular saw bench for cutting the timber into manageable thickness's, most of the smaller size equipment you have is more suitable for finishing work.

Or buy it ready prepared from SLEC ?? if you are unsure how to set up your machinery.

Ashley you beat me to it !!

Regards Ray

Edited By Ray Wood 2 on 19/10/2020 08:21:48

[Dave Cooper 6Participant @davecooper6]

Hello

You could do a lot worse than have a look at Jerry Rosa's videos on Youtube. (Rosa String Works).

He's a guitar /Mandolin /Violin /Double-bass etc luthier and uses a lot of wood cut from his own farm using a variety of power saws, sanding and thicknessing kit that he's built and modified himself.

Although he's based in the 'States you can email him with sensible questions and I know he works with very thin wood sections during his day-to-day life. This will include all types of soft and hard woods…

Good luck with your projects,

Dave C

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

As far as I remember SLEC use a circular saw-bench to square up the rough sawn logs of balsa. Sheet cutting is done on a big industrial bandsaw with a wide blade. The squared block is fed in and held down on the bed and up against the fence with two powered rollers. The rough-cut sheets are then put through a planer/thicknesser before finally being sanded to exact thickness. I assume that their other woods are machined in a similar way.

There is a US company which specialises in model-size woodworking machinery, including a planer and a saw-bench which would be ideal for the job. 'Banjoman' (aka Matt Halin), who has posted on here, could tell you the name and address of that company. I'm afraid I've lost it somewhere in the outer reaches of my PC.

Dave M

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Was it Byrnes Model Machines Dave? I remember reading a forum post about someone who had bought one. Expensive but lovely quality.

Chris

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

That's it, Chris. I saw one of their planers once when I was collecting a kit and it looked very nicley made indeed.

DM

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