WA state designer nervous about CNC

[lostgringo]

Hi, I've been experimenting with the fabrication of small jet boats made from thermoplastics (HDPE). They are proving to be light compact and surprising tough little boats, and after making my first two boats with jig saw and paper plans in hand I'm doing my best to move into the digital era before starting my third. My boat building plant is located in the messy half of my two car garage near Wenatchee WA (no-mans land halfway between Spokane and Seattle).

Recently I got a hold of 3D boat design program (an old version of DELFT) and some amazing tutorials that have given me an over abundance of confidence. The boat I'm drawing I'm very excited about, but now realize taking my file to the cutter is going to expose all my inexperience as a designer. I know shops with CNC routers in Seattle, but the prospect of having my first attempt fail plus a huge price tag seems too real to consider. If I don't figure out a way to cut it on CNC, I may end up printing it out on Kinko's plotter and picking up the jig saw again. That would be a major blow to my psychy if it comes to that, but it remains the backup plan. Those of you that have beat the learning curve, any suggestions? What would you do if you were in my shoes? Thanks for any help you can give. I'll throw a few pics up here so you can get an idea of what I'm up to.

[dertsap]

nice design !

your best bet would be to find some sacrificial plywood or something else in a cheap price range and start cutting , , if you scaled down the dimensions and do a few small models , then you can play around and get comfortable , once you get comfortable then you will know what to expect , and then you can go for it

btw : that looks light , what is the expected weight of the finished hull (w/o the motor)

[lostgringo]

unfortunately I have no access to a CNC router.

[tpworks]

So, in essence what you are trying to say is you want to build a cnc router.

[lostgringo]

No.

I'm networking. No way I can walk into a commercial machine shop and expect to do test runs with their machinists and and equipment, or afford it. Is that my only option? Are there no hobbyist around that would be able to help for example?

[CaptainVee]

One thing I have read about regarding boat building and cnc is that every single part needs to be in the plans so there will be no need for hand made components later on. You are not at that stage yet so keep it in mind for later.

From what you write it seems to me that you have not received any quotes for cutting? Get some in so you know what you need to think of.

PE can be cut with a water jet. It gives a very ugly cut (at least it did with me) but it may be worth while exploring as that is not a problem for welding. And the people that run water jets probably don't have a clue about boat building.

And furthermore, why care about what people think? Most will be happy to give free advice anyway...!

Plan to have all plans all ready nested so the cutter people only have to lay down the plates and start cutting.

[bostosh]

Are you still thinking about your boat production?
I can do those cuts and guarantee perfection.
Did it for years on many different materials and machines.
PM me if you want,