Planing Forms

[Shaky Wadr]

Well, this week has been occupied with filing and drilling. Now that I have jumped into this bamboo thing I thought I would post a few pictures as I go along and expose all my mistakes or ignorance for comments and hopefully, insight.

So far, I have the mating faces smoothed up and all of the holes drilled and tapped for screws. Here I have the bars blocked up on the bench and filing is about done.




To make sure the holes are square to the bars, I used a dial indicator.



First hole drilled for a dowel pin.



Left to right
Countersunk hole for a socket head cap screw (pull screw).
Dowel pin.
Threaded hole for set screw (push screw).
This set up is a little different than other forms I have seen. Using this scheme, the side surfaces of the forms are free of bolt heads to run into and are adjusted from the same side.



Now it is on to filing the top and bottom surfaces and then the grooves. So far I have about 15 hours into this project which I don't think is too bad for me.

[JohnScott]

Geeessssh - it would take an engineer to do all that !!!

[joerogrz]

That looks interesting. What is it? Pardon my ignorance...

[Jeremy]

Shaky,

Looks great! As a new guy to building and having just purchased a used set of forms, I appreciate/admire your enthusiasm and work doing this yourself.

I'm sure it will turn out nicely in the end. Take your time and do it right. Your time is an investment.

And....it's not like you have to get it done by sunday night anymore is it. *BG* I'm jealous!

Good going.

Jeremy.

[Ray]

They're looking great, I'd love to see how the look after you mill grooves.

[jklett]

I'm at the same stage with my planing forms. I read in the other post that you used 12L14 steel. How is that to file? I'm using 1018 and my thumbs feel like they're about to fall off! The mating surfaces took about 5 hours to file and it seems like the planing surfaces are going to take just as long. What I wouldn't do for a surface grinder right about now! So far the quickest and easiest part was drilling and tapping the holes.

[Shaky Wadr]

Thanks everyone. Comments appreciated.

I will try to answer a couple of questions.

joerogrz: Planing forms are a pair of matched steel bars with a 60 degree V groove down the center. They are used to hold strips of bamboo while they are hand planed to a triangle tapered shape for make the rod.

JohnScott: No, you do not have to be an engineer. Just cause I R 1 shouldn't make a difference.

jklett: The 12L14 works well. I was happy that the raw stock was pretty square and flat on the surfaces. It is a colled rolled bar formulated with a bit of lead in the mix. The lead gives easier machining and a better surface finish. Not as much galling as 1018. It was originally formulated for automatic screw making machinery. Filing the mating surfaces took about 3 hours and you can see the finish on the holes is good.

I filed one surface today so one more to go then its on to the grooves. Hopefully I can post some more pics in about a week.

[dleo6446]

Well, this week has been occupied with filing and drilling. Now that I have jumped into this bamboo thing I thought I would post a few pictures as I go along and expose all my mistakes or ignorance for comments and hopefully, insight.

So far, I have the mating faces smoothed up and all of the holes drilled and tapped for screws. Here I have the bars blocked up on the bench and filing is about done.




To make sure the holes are square to the bars, I used a dial indicator.



First hole drilled for a dowel pin.



Left to right
Countersunk hole for a socket head cap screw (pull screw).
Dowel pin.
Threaded hole for set screw (push screw).
This set up is a little different than other forms I have seen. Using this scheme, the side surfaces of the forms are free of bolt heads to run into and are adjusted from the same side.



Now it is on to filing the top and bottom surfaces and then the grooves. So far I have about 15 hours into this project which I don't think is too bad for me.

good looking work for sure, gotta love making the tools as much as making the rods....
good to see the dykem on there nice layout work, crucial to getting alignment and precision placement...very nice work

[mnklagoon]

what about lapping your finish on float glass?

[Shaky Wadr]

Progress! The Butt section groove is done.

This is taking a little more time than I expected but it is going well. Most of the time is actually spent adjusting the forms and taking measurements and making corrections. The actual filing time isn't too bad. All in all I would guess about 20 - 25 hours since my last post. The shallower tip section groove on the other side shouldn't take so long.

I am mostly following the description given in Wayne Cattanach's excellent book "Handcrafting Bamboo Fly Rods" but if anyone has questions I would be happy to answer.



Photo 1. Getting started. File glued to wooden holder and calipers are in constant use.


Photo 2. The groove is starting to show up, continue filing.


Photo 3. In the later stages, the dial depth indicator is crucial to check dimensions.


Photo 4. All done. Checking the groove shape with a 60 degree threading gage.


Next it is on to the tip side groove.