Thought (always a dangerous thing!)....
Could you not make the front baffle by laminating with say 1mm aluminium either side of ply?
Also remember if a budget is in mind you can get some rub collars for your router and make your own template out of plywood to clamp on to the baffle instead of buying a circle jig .... just make your template hole bigger to compensate for the rub 1/2 collar and to the whole measurement of bit diameter....
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We have had a couple tube amp top-plates cut by water jet and have had to do little post-processing.
dave
The plasti dip will peel sure enough but is not that durable , personaly I would sand my towers very smooth and coat them with plastic Resin ( fiber glass resin) could tint this any color you would like and eliminate the fiberglass cost. Here's another Idea after sanding smooth coat the towers with water based veneer glue ( Better Bond ) this a catalyst drying rock hard its thick enough to fill cracks roll this on with a foam veneer roller or touchup roller found at your hardware store. I coat my Line arrays with this just to seal off the MDF and to give me an ultra slick finish to apply my black ash veneer peel & stick. If you don't want to use veneer you could spray paint over this.....
2 coats of Polyester Resin, 1st coat 'un-waxed' so it remains tacky the coat 2 has 'wax' added - wax in styrene being a leveling agent and makes the resin 'cook' it's self).
This 2nd coat is known to surfers as a 'Hot Coat'...... you can sand it real nice then do whatever you want to it, usually a 'Gloss' finish.
You can tint it ANY colour you want as well
Then gloss / polish over that.
This boards finish is very thin (about 2.5mm), with 2x layers of 100g 'S' glass tint laminated / hotcoat / 'Taupo Gloss' resin.
Looks liquid in the flesh.
You can also 'Glass Polish'....... thats Really tricky / hard work.
This 2nd coat is known to surfers as a 'Hot Coat'...... you can sand it real nice then do whatever you want to it, usually a 'Gloss' finish.
You can tint it ANY colour you want as well
Then gloss / polish over that.
This boards finish is very thin (about 2.5mm), with 2x layers of 100g 'S' glass tint laminated / hotcoat / 'Taupo Gloss' resin.
Looks liquid in the flesh.
You can also 'Glass Polish'....... thats Really tricky / hard work.
Attachments
Quite true, but then you get what you pay for, money, time or both.
That board is 8ft long, resin (Silmar lam / Taupo gloss), cat and wax, paper and polish compound = 60 euro's
And about 5 times that to pay me to do it - didnt charge him for the hours I spent staring at it, squinting hard from every angle for hours on end under the lights...... countless test tints on scrap to get the colour 'Just so' OR the resin pin stripes.
The customer said 'Really go for it D...... blow us away.'
That was my first attempt at 'Tint 'n' Gloss' and took me about 3 weeks.
I would say that wesayso has ample skill to do a similar (less the glass fibre) to get some where close to the Fenix board's finish - also has the advantage of the shape being 'strait'.
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(Path of least resistance does come into play though, as does the smell of Poly resin......)
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Surface prep is everything, wood boards surfaces are almost totally 'end fiber' - these lift when wetted and will muck up almost any finish, laminated or not.
Cellulose aircraft dope does the trick - makes the fibers stiff = Stable
Test on test pieces as always.
Silk and dope was the dominant way to use as fabric cover on aircraft, full-size and models where the structure was open and covered with fabric.
An agent was brushed on the structure, fabric applied over which again was "doped" in order to activate the agent creating a bond. The dope also sealed the fabric allowing paint to be applied IIRC
With an elasticizer.
EDIT: Wait, that's not even a word. Let's call them plasticizers.
If not, BC has lots.I'm pretty sure it's easier to get dope here in the netherlands
Silk and dope was the dominant way to use as fabric cover on aircraft, full-size and models where the structure was open and covered with fabric.
An agent was brushed on the structure, fabric applied over which again was "doped" in order to activate the agent creating a bond. The dope also sealed the fabric allowing paint to be applied IIRC
Usually with model aircraft the balsa structure is 'doped' first, sanding lightly between the 2 or 3 coats, this stiffens the grain so the tissue / nylon / silk dont lift.
Full size covering is cotton fabric that is actually held onto the structure with stitching over the leading edge, ribs and trailing edge and then covered with pinked tapes.
(I've done this at 1/5th scale on a Sopwith Pup and a Pou du Ciel @ 1/3rd scale - utter nightmare!)
We Aeromodellers also use a 'Sanding Sealer' - I've never bothered to find out whats in the stuff one buys in a tin. It can be made by adding talcum powder to plain dope, this dries with a slightly milky blush.
FYI: 'Clear' dope was dropped as a finish in the full size world in favour of 'Aluminium' dope or the horrid 'Red' dope - both to combat UV aging.
With an elasticizer.
EDIT: Wait, that's not even a word. Let's call them plasticizers.
If not, BC has lots.
The world is far greener than one imagines - every other car that comes past me while I'm out cycling trails the smell, last year I got knocked off my cycle by a Stoned driver.......
Have only just started working and cycling again.
Pics please (PM)
Ditto on the talcum. Fine ground gypsum and similar (micro balloons) work well too. Would believe any hyposcopic soft filler would work well. Friend used baby powder thickened dope on his 1/4 PT17. Renamed BP17 for that nitro gas baby powder aroma.
FYI: Iron Oxide (doped) and aluminum dope on linen brought the Hindenburg down. Effectively makes a weak thermite composite.
Aircraft Dope is currently 'difficult' to source. Certainly so for hobby uses.
Don't believe? try it
Perhaps an aircraft resto business?
Time was that fingernail paints were 'dope' ...may still be.. But the prices they charge the vain are horrific.
Epoxies are every bit as dangerous., likely even more so.. but the legislative wizards haven't caught up .. yet.
Don't believe? try it
Perhaps an aircraft resto business?
Time was that fingernail paints were 'dope' ...may still be.. But the prices they charge the vain are horrific.
Epoxies are every bit as dangerous., likely even more so.. but the legislative wizards haven't caught up .. yet.