That's How I Roll! (Skeeball build)

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thatpurplestuff:
Thank you for the input guys! First, I tried to cut my kerfs a bit deeper by hand. The only thing less fun than kerfing with a table saw is kerfing an extra few millimeters with a handsaw. I read a tip last night about steaming wood with a wet rag and an iron, so I figured I would give it a shot. Apparently I kerfed too much extra, because my first attempt didn't snap but it made an obvious crack along the curve (incidentally it cracked right next to a knot in the plywood so I'm going to blame the wood.. yeah it was definitely the wood).

The one thing I learned through the first mistake was that steaming the wood makes it bend a LOT more if you take the time to really get both sides saturated, so much so that I figured I would try it on my second piece of kerfed wood without deepening the kerfs at all. After a lot of steaming, I clamped the piece on the Skeeball machine and it actually worked! The curve looks great, so I'm going to keep it clamped there for a few days just to be safe. Tomorrow, I will cut off another 5" section of the kerfed wood to use on the other side. Here are a couple of pics!

Epyx:
Looks great! :cheers:

What did you use for steaming?

thatpurplestuff:
Thanks Epyx! I literally used a household iron and a wet washrag... very easy. I just put the wet rag on the wood, moved the iron around on full steam for a minute or so, flipped the wood and repeated, then put the plywood on the machine and clamped like crazy. I was very surprised with how easy it was.

By the way, your Aliens cab is one of the projects that I make a point to check out any time it is updated... looking VERY slick. Nice work!

Epyx:

--- Quote ---Thanks Epyx! I literally used a household iron and a wet washrag... very easy. I just put the wet rag on the wood, moved the iron around on full steam for a minute or so, flipped the wood and repeated, then put the plywood on the machine and clamped like crazy. I was very surprised with how easy it was.

By the way, your Aliens cab is one of the projects that I make a point to check out any time it is updated... looking VERY slick. Nice work!
--- End quote ---

Thanks and appreciate the info...good to know and will likely come in very handy soon! I had tried the kerfing as well with poor results :cheers:

thatpurplestuff:
I found some time today to retry my kerfing for the end caps. The plywood that I used this time didn't have NEARLY as much flex in it even though it was the exact same 1/4" thickness. I only kerfed the areas that needed to bend, as opposed to my first effort where I just kerfed the whole thing. I was hoping to end up with two new caps, but a bit of splitting occurred on the one on the right hand side. I might be able to sand it and fix it, but I won't know until it dries and sets. Either way, I still have the first cap so I can use that one if needed.

Hoping to get these caps permanently attached and the net finished this week, as well as figure out a way to secure the bumpers to the sides. Also, I've got to find an alternative to the L-shaped wood that I used to hold the vinyl down... after catching a few errant skeeballs both the top and bottom pieces have cracked and broken. I'm hoping to find something that can take a beating but still looks good.

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