Portable building board
06-12-2003 | 03:37 PM
#1
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From: Milton Keynes, UNITED KINGDOM
Portable building board
A couple of years back I bought myself a metal workbench and topped it off with a nice flat piece of pine. I started on a kit (a SIG Seniorita) but didn't get far with it.
Since then I've mostly used the bench as a work area for assembling ARF's.
I'm thinking of building a couple of kits, but the worktop is no longer as flat as it used to be. I haven't got the room to accommodate a hollow door or something similar so I've been looking at the portable building boards on offer.
Here are the ones I've seen so far:
Great Planes Pro board
Guillows balsa board
and last, but not least, the Porta-board from Retrop Industries (no web site).
Has anyone used any of these? Any opinions?
Since then I've mostly used the bench as a work area for assembling ARF's.
I'm thinking of building a couple of kits, but the worktop is no longer as flat as it used to be. I haven't got the room to accommodate a hollow door or something similar so I've been looking at the portable building boards on offer.
Here are the ones I've seen so far:
Great Planes Pro board
Guillows balsa board
and last, but not least, the Porta-board from Retrop Industries (no web site).
Has anyone used any of these? Any opinions?
06-12-2003 | 04:38 PM
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From: Berkeley, CA,
Portable building board
Tiggerinva,
I haven't used either, but I do have an opinion
You could go to your local ACE hardware or HomeDepot or similar and pick up a 4' melamine shelf (hand pick it for straightness). Same size as the Great Planes pro-board, and about 1/3 the price.
If you really need a pinable surface, add a layer of Cellotex (sp) acoustical board, or laminate some cork board to it and you're ready to go.
If you use weights, clamps and springloaded wood clothes-pins (they're not really pins) and are carefull, you don't even need a "pinnable" surface and you could skip the cellotex/cork/etc. (I build on hollow-core without pins)
-E
I haven't used either, but I do have an opinion
You could go to your local ACE hardware or HomeDepot or similar and pick up a 4' melamine shelf (hand pick it for straightness). Same size as the Great Planes pro-board, and about 1/3 the price.
If you really need a pinable surface, add a layer of Cellotex (sp) acoustical board, or laminate some cork board to it and you're ready to go.
If you use weights, clamps and springloaded wood clothes-pins (they're not really pins) and are carefull, you don't even need a "pinnable" surface and you could skip the cellotex/cork/etc. (I build on hollow-core without pins)
-E
06-12-2003 | 04:41 PM
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From: Mary Esther, Florida, FL
Portable building board
Tigger:
If you can store a 48"x18" $30 board, it seems to me you can store a $10 hollow door after it has been cut to a 48" length. and if you mess it up you can still buy two more out of the $30.
Just a thought.
Bill.
If you can store a 48"x18" $30 board, it seems to me you can store a $10 hollow door after it has been cut to a 48" length. and if you mess it up you can still buy two more out of the $30.
Just a thought.
Bill.
06-12-2003 | 05:22 PM
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From: Milton Keynes, UNITED KINGDOM
Portable building board
Just as an aside, when I first got the workbench I got two further items of interest from Michaels (craft store):
1. Foam board, not sure exactly what it's called but its a plastic like surface with a soft foam center. Needs to be clamped down to a work surface to make sure it's flat. Good surface to stick pins into.
2. A roll of clear plastic wrap from the flower dept. Looks the same as the GP plan protector to me and about half the price
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I like the melamine shelf idea. As the wing is usually (?) the biggest part requiring a flat board I can get the exact size I need and just get a bigger shelf if I need to if the next project requires one.
If I had room for a door, I think I'd leave it intact and plonk it onto two kitchen cabinets or similar as I've seen elsewhere. To cut it down to 48" I'd probably need to fork out $100 for a circular saw making it an expensive option
I'm using a spare bedroom in my 4 bed rented house. This room has the workbench with the 4'x2' top, two other small desks holding all my misc gunf and also serves as the hangar for my planes. Some point soon I'll have to take pictures and post them in the 'workbench' thread.
1. Foam board, not sure exactly what it's called but its a plastic like surface with a soft foam center. Needs to be clamped down to a work surface to make sure it's flat. Good surface to stick pins into.
2. A roll of clear plastic wrap from the flower dept. Looks the same as the GP plan protector to me and about half the price
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I like the melamine shelf idea. As the wing is usually (?) the biggest part requiring a flat board I can get the exact size I need and just get a bigger shelf if I need to if the next project requires one.
If I had room for a door, I think I'd leave it intact and plonk it onto two kitchen cabinets or similar as I've seen elsewhere. To cut it down to 48" I'd probably need to fork out $100 for a circular saw making it an expensive option
I'm using a spare bedroom in my 4 bed rented house. This room has the workbench with the 4'x2' top, two other small desks holding all my misc gunf and also serves as the hangar for my planes. Some point soon I'll have to take pictures and post them in the 'workbench' thread.
