A place for everything else
Assembly of the laser-cut pieces is complete (apart from the transom and rudder, which will be added later). Some observations:
The keel ended up being a little short. I added a little block at the end to fill in the missing material. I think the error is from underestimating the thickness of the rabbet strip. (You might also notice the garboard plank there. I forgot to take a picture before that was added.)
On the false keel, the cutouts for the masts are simple notches. The notches establish the forward and back angle, but do nothing to prevent side to side movement.
Let’s go back to Fusion 360 and imagine a part that fits on either side of the mast to hold it in the correct position. This is done in Fusion 360 by creating a little block and then subtracting the mast shape from it. The block is sized to fill the space between the bulkheads, so it also acts as a filler block to reinforce the bulkheads.
Various pieces were sanded using their engraved fairing lines.
Some notes on laser cutting.
The laser cutter I used is an 80 watt model. The strength of the cut is determined by two parameters: power (as a percent of maximum) and speed (in mm per second). The manual listed a recommended setting for cutting 1/8″ basswood (50% power, 15 mm/s), and a recommended setting for engraving (14% power, 350 mm/s).
I tried the engrave and it worked fine, but I was worried that the cut setting might be too strong. I was right. For 1/8″ basswood I found 50% and 50 mm/s speed to cut just through. For my 3/16″ sheet the setting I found was 50% power and 30 mm/s speed. And for the 1/32″ sheet it was 50% power and 200 mm/s speed. If I had more time I would have experimented with other power settings, but I went ahead with the settings that I knew would work.
Some test cuts shown below.
I’ve been grinning ear to ear because I finally got my pieces laser cut!
Here’s one of the sheets after cutting. (I should have taken more pictures of the laser cutter in action, but I was too focused on getting the work done.)
