Materials and setting up
I am going to keep my posts relatively basic with simple steps with the goal in mind to not just provide a blog of the process I have undertaken but to assist other builders with limited experience like myself.
In early October my ply, hardwood and screws arrived from Denman Marine in Tasmania who are the suppliers for the CNC kit here in Australia. Items included:
- All Ply is 9mm Okoume. This is a certified marine to that meets the standards as required within the Class Globe 580 Materials specification list.
- The hard wood supplied was Red Grandis - A plantation eucalypt.
- Polycarb window templates
- 3D bulb template
- 20 boxes 8G x 1/14" 316SS CSK self tappers
- 2 boxes 10G x 2" 316SS self tappers
Below is a picture of the package that arrived at my house where I will be building all in good order.
Given the lack of space available, I have cleared out the shed I am now storing all of the materials to keep it out of the weather. I did start building in the area below with the first of the frames but have since moved out to an area underneath our carport.
I have decided to utilise West System Epoxy for the gluing the frames together. Whilst this stuff isn't cheap, I managed to get what appeared to be around the best price I could find in the Country from Denman Marine so made my order through them. I was relatively low on funds at the time due to ordering at the same time as timber but wanted to get as much as possible that I could afford as it is exponentially more expensive (on balance) in smaller portions.
I ended up ordering:
1x 20L container of 105 Resin
1x 4L container of 206 Slow Hardener. I was unsure weather to go with fast or slow hardener not having used the stuff before but after getting some advice from local shipwrights I went with this option and am glad I did in the Australian summer. I may consider the fast hardener if another order is required in winter
3x 4L bags of 411 Microsphere blend. I haven't used this to date (December 2020)
1x 12L bag of 413 Microfibre blend. This is what I have been using to mix with resin/hardener for gluing the frames down.
I have also ordered and received my stainless steel pack which was via the Golden Globe website and received a discount due to ordering early in the first run. To be honest I'm not even sure what some of the pieces are for at this point but it looks good!
Aside from the above information I have managed to get a lot of other working materials that I either had in my shed or from my Dad. I have had purchase a few items however having a relatively small budget I am trying to save on cost wherever possible. Some main items that have had a lot of use for the frames include:
- Cheap black bristle paint brushes from bunnings. They are about 85 cents so I just grabbed a heap of these
- Plastic containers for mixing epoxy
- Nitrile Gloves. Plenty of.
- Sharp pencil / Sharpener
- Tongue depressor sticks for spreading epoxy
- Face masks for wearing when mixing epoxy
- Cordless drill, drill bits/counter sink set
- Router with 3mm bit for routing edges
- Jigsaw for cutting out tabs that hold CNC wood in place
- Wood file to file back any CNC tabs as required
Well that's about all I can think of for now. It's not an exhaustive list however is a good start. Now onto stage 1 of the builders blog requirement- "Making Frames".
