Cutting Spar Blanks

[Chris In Milwaukee]

I had an idea for cutting my spar blanks that I wondered would work, and I was certainly not disappointed.



The long edge of my workbench is the factory edge of a sheet of 3/4" MDF. It's never been dinged, cut, mashed, or anything else of the sort. So I figured it would be a good reference edge.

I measured the distance of the cut that I needed, marked on either side of the sheet edge, and aligned the marks with the edge of the bench and clamped it down securely. I chucked up my laminate bit in the router, the same one I routed the ribs out with, and adjusted it so that the bearing would ride along the edge of the bench top.

Cutting one piece of metal versus ten is like butter. Absolutely amazed at the straightness and quality of cut. Of course, there was some waste from the bit, but I accounted for it in my measurements. Tomorrow, we get busy!


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[Chris In Milwaukee]

Cut the spar blanks out tonight using the router as described in my last post. It went quickly, and the cuts are mighty fine. Ready to haul all of the blanks to Oshkosh for bending this weekend.










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[Gary Wallace]

Perfect. Thanks very much

[way_up_north]

This is a great tip, thank you for taking the time to post this with pictures

[Flytaildragger]

Hey Chris great idea what was the thickest piece you cut with the router?

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Well, with stacked metal (like ribs), I've cut as many as 10 .025" pieces at once. For spar blanks, only cutting one .032" piece at a time, so it's like butter.