Hi all, I was able to spend an enjoyable few hours at the South Hants MRC show in Portsmouth yesterday. One of the exhibitors was a guy by the name of Tim Horn, who had various designs of baseboard on display, made from laser cut ply and MDF. They looked very well made and were really lightweight. Might be of interest to someone? www.timhorn.co.uk for the details of costs etc. Apparently he can't export to Australia due to restrictions on importing wood products? Usual disclaimers apply, I am not an employee or agent, etc...
Hi Clive I brought all my Tim Horn baseboards out here to Spain with me … lightweight, versatile, easy to construct, easy to join boards together and they stay square even in the heat of Spain can't fault them. Ian vt
As a group locally, we looked at doing a bulk order with Tim and arranging the wood to go through the irradiation process in Australia, however this was not the thing that prevented us going ahead it was the shipping no matter how you did it it would triple the cost per unit thus making it prohibitively expensive. I think if you were in the UK and could personally arrange the shipping via a agent it would be not so bad but trying from Australia it was ridiculous
Been looking at these for some time as I think they may be a lot lighter than the 5mm ply with PSE frames I'm currently using. Did you buy the 'Lite' version Ian ? Ed
Hi Ed yes mate and they're very light plus I built my 25cm x 180cm boards in less than an hour and most of that time was spent waiting for glue to dry .. but I did have mi tinto Ian vt
Thanks Ian. Might get some in the new year, as I'm finding the current one a bit heavy to keep carrying in and out of the garage. Ed
I've now got a couple of these and I'm just wondering about what to use for the backscene board and how to attach it. Any views? Ed
3mm or 6mm ply. I can think of many ways to attach, mostly sophisticated and complex to achieve (Keyhole Hangers, studs, clinch nuts, etc), but the cheapest and simplest {to be able to be removable} would be M6 roofing bolts and nuts!
mine came with backscene boards I imagine Tim will be happy to send you some (not too expensive even with postage) then you could bolt or screw them to the rear of the base boards
I think that the only realistic option for us in Australia would be to find a local laser-cutter and pay a licensing fee for the use of the intellectual property of the design of the baseboards. Unfortunately, I don't know a fig about laser-cutting plywood, otherwise I would have designed something similar myself and had it made.
I’ve looked at the prices... are you paying for the laser cuts? I’ve built bigger for under £10 from B&Q (other DIY suppliers are also available) and that included being cut in their cutting saw machine... Which reminds me.. need to get some more done.
I would imagine a good part of the cost will be to pay back the laser cutter - looking on Ebay a cutter with the capacity for 5ft boards (1500 mm) second hand was £7K, and new 11K, you also need to factor in the cost of a new CO2 laser tube, as cutting will shorten the life of the tube quicker than just engraving. Guess who's been looking at laser cutters . Also been looking at DIY cnc machines capable of making baseboards - see the mpcnc project V1 Engineering - home of the mpcnc mpcnc = mostly printed cnc, and uses Electrical conduit tube for the rails and 3D printed parts. The 3D printed but yourself, or they will sell you a bundle of preprinted bits. A wee taster of what it looks like The size is limited by your space, although additional supports will be required for the rails as you make them longer. Paul
I did not expect that one of the modelling fraternity buy a laser-cutter for the job, but make use of a plywood laser-cutting service here in Sydney, using the designs from the UK. I imagine that they would require a fee for the use of their intellectual property.