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Cutting Acrylic Transom Flaps

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rb_stretch View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote rb_stretch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Cutting Acrylic Transom Flaps
    Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 1:35pm
It seems the Wickes acrylic sheet is particularly fragile as I just tried scissors which caused it to fracture all over the place. Oh well £18 down the drain.
 
Need a plan B now.
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JohnW View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote JohnW Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 1:44pm
Is this for your Alb?  If so, most boats use a flexible sheet that can be cut with scissors.

This kind of thing:
or

But if you can get some clear stuff that is better, so that you can check fore and aft trim through the flaps where the water leaves the transom.


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Jack Sparrow View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Jack Sparrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 2:42pm
Originally posted by rb_stretch



It seems the Wickes acrylic sheet is particularly fragile as I just tried scissors which caused it to fracture all over the place. Oh well £18 down the drain.
 
Need a plan B now.


use a very fine tooth fret saw or an abrasive tile saw and then sand the edges down! Or trim with a wide amount of spare and sand in down with a rotary power sander, either bench or drill or grinder.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote rb_stretch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 2:54pm
Originally posted by JohnW

Is this for your Alb?  If so, most boats use a flexible sheet that can be cut with scissors.

This kind of thing:
or

But if you can get some clear stuff that is better, so that you can check fore and aft trim through the flaps where the water leaves the transom.


 
Yes for the Albacore. The Mylar looks like it will be much more robust than Acrylic, so definitely worth considering.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote rb_stretch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 2:56pm
Originally posted by Jack Sparrow

Originally posted by rb_stretch



It seems the Wickes acrylic sheet is particularly fragile as I just tried scissors which caused it to fracture all over the place. Oh well £18 down the drain.
 
Need a plan B now.


use a very fine tooth fret saw or an abrasive tile saw and then sand the edges down! Or trim with a wide amount of spare and sand in down with a rotary power sander, either bench or drill or grinder.
 
The only challenge I have with using saws which are not just a blade is that I can't cut the flaps big enough. I think in my next go I'm going to use the scoring and snapping technique gradually working down to the approximate shape and then belt sander to smooth it out.
 
Will report back.
 


Edited by rb_stretch - 30 Jan 13 at 2:57pm
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Post Options Post Options   Quote rb_stretch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 5:21pm
Problem solved.
 
I needed to drop some fids I had borrowed from Guildford Marine and they basically said that Acrylic was a lost cause in the way I intended to use it ie. it would always be susceptible to shattering (as with the original flaps). They basically sold me an offcut of 1.5mm Lexan, which seems far more robust. Going to try and cut that with a stanley knife. The also sold me an offcut of aluminium keel band to hold the flaps against the hull on the inside edge.
 
Makes you realise you can't do everything through internet chandleries.
 
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Post Options Post Options   Quote sawman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 7:05pm
I need to replace transom flaps at the moment - the current ones are very heavy and hinged. Is 1.5mm lexan flexible enough to be fixed without a hinge? 

I wondered if 1mm might be more flexible
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Post Options Post Options   Quote rb_stretch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 13 at 10:17pm
I have 1.5mm and it is easily flexible enough to use without a hinge.
Having said that this is on an Albacore with some pretty big flaps. If they are small then I think 1mm might be better (in actual fact Guildford Marine do use 1mm for smaller flaps and 1.5mm for bigger ones)
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Post Options Post Options   Quote sawman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jan 13 at 7:02am
cheers, the old flaps on my miracle are about 4 inches across. I am tempted to make a hinge with shockcord passing though, having seem a couple of pics on the net. 

There seems to be a huge supply of lexan in different thicknesses on ebay, at a reasonable cost compared to the pinbax item linked to earlier
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Jack Sparrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jan 13 at 4:00pm
Plastic Direct LINK http://www.directplastics.co.uk/polycarbonate-sheet

with does it stick this in the code! (=%20)!!!!!

Edited by Jack Sparrow - 31 Jan 13 at 4:01pm
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