Tricky question about making templates

[THE-Henry]

I’m getting an oscillating spindle sander pretty soon and I know there’s a problem when you’re sanding paper stuck to mdf.

It lifts up and frays and makes it hard to be accurate, I remember seeing a thread here that said you could apply something to the edges of the paper that would make it harden and prevent nasty stuff from happening. I vaguely remember something about ca glue but it’s hard to get right now.

 

[dickjonesify]

@Freddy G has a video about flooding MDF templates with CA glue but that's after they're made and perfect. You wouldn't want to try and shape with template after dumping CA glue on it

So far for templates I've made, I cut super close with a band saw and did the rest on a spindle attachment for my drill press so I haven't had to deal with the up and down of an oscillating one. Maybe someone else has a tip for that.

 

[THE-Henry]

So far for templates I've made, I cut super close with a band saw and did the rest on a spindle attachment for my drill press so I haven't had to deal with the up and down of an oscillating one

I’m currently doing the exact same thing

I saw that video a while back, that’s gotta cost a lot in ca glue to be able to do that but gotta admit it looks awesome.



I’m looking for a fix for this (like hardening the paper so it doesn’t move )rather than hardening the said template later on, thanks though.

 

[cmjohnson]

Use drafting mylar rather than paper. WAY better. Won't fuzz up, and its erasability makes paper look like a bad joke. Plus, it lasts just about forever, it doesn't care if you get it wet, and bugs won't eat it. I make my master designs on it and it'll outlast me.

 

[THE-Henry]

Can a average local paper supplier like say, office depot print on drafting mylar in guitar plan sized sheets?

 

[cmjohnson]

That's kind of the point of drafting mylar. Its primary function is for printing blueprints.

However, you may want to find a blueprinting service shop in your area to do the printing. They'll be able to handle up to E size sheets. That's big enough for a full scale guitar print.

 

[pshupe]

you could tape the paper template then mark it with a knife and then pencil. Then use your sander to get it to the line. Generally the body outlines do not have to be super accurate, so this should be fine.

You could also just purchase mdf templates. I would recommend keeping a set as a master and using that to create your own. A bottle of CA glue is about $5, so I'm not sure how expensive that is?? You could also have acrylic templates made but I would imagine that to be quite expensive.

I'm not sure how many places would actually be able to print on mylar for you. Does anyone even use mylar or vellum anymore? I'm in the Architectural business and haven't used mylar for 20 years. It was mainly for hand drafting. You may be able to find some at art stores but I doubt if printing places would print on it, but TBH I have never had the need to do that.

It'll probably be hard enough for you to find a large size printer to be able to print E sized sheets, especially if you are not in a large metropolitan area. If you are just doing body outlines you do not need that large of a sheet. E sized is pretty big, 34"x44", and will fit a whole guitar but will be more than double the area of paper you need. Printers charge by square foot. Body outlines would fit on C sized paper, 17"x22".

Good luck.

Cheers Peter.

 

[Ripthorn]

I use spray adhesive to get the paper on, then I use an exacto knife to cut the outline, then I sand until I get to the line.

 

[THE-Henry]

I’m in a smallish town, like Peter mentioned... I have a hard time sourcing anything from nitro to tools, but thank you everyone for the advice!

 

[cmjohnson]

I can't speak for your location, but near me there is (or was, last time I checked, anyway) a blueprinting shop that specializes in mylar prints. The reason for it is that it's archival quality. Humidity doesn't touch it and bugs don't eat it. A blueprint done on mylar could outlast the building that's made according to that blueprint. There's still SOME demand for that. Especially in a state where the weather can change pretty much any moment.

I like the idea of making master drawings that I can roll up, stick in a cardboard tube, and know that when the cardboard tube has rotted away the drawings will still be in the same condition they were when they were put in the tube.

Yeah, I just checked, and my local shop is still in business.

 

[pshupe]

I can't speak for your location, but near me there is (or was, last time I checked, anyway) a blueprinting shop that specializes in mylar prints. The reason for it is that it's archival quality. Humidity doesn't touch it and bugs don't eat it. A blueprint done on mylar could outlast the building that's made according to that blueprint. There's still SOME demand for that. Especially in a state where the weather can change pretty much any moment.

I like the idea of making master drawings that I can roll up, stick in a cardboard tube, and know that when the cardboard tube has rotted away the drawings will still be in the same condition they were when they were put in the tube.

Yeah, I just checked, and my local shop is still in business.

This amazes me. I've worked in Architecture firms going on 28 years now and I wouldn't have thought in a million years that anyone would be using vellum or mylar anymore. Good to know. One of my first jobs in a college co-op program was to draw sewer inverts on mylar with ink pens and an electric eraser. Even in 1988 they were starting drafting on computers and every job I had after that was working with digital formats. I did work a blueprint machine up until about 1995, where it used ammonia and yellow paper. You would put the line drawing on vellum over top of the yellow paper and a UV light, I believe, would burn off the yellow everywhere but where the lines were. Then you would feed it through the ammonia fumes and the yellow would turn blue and voila blue prints. As I said we got rid of that machine when inkjet printers got big enough to print multiple copies almost 23 years ago.

Cheers Peter.

 

[failsafe306]

I just use 3M spray adhesive to stick the paper to the mdf, use the oscillating sander to get it within a mm of the line, and finish the curves off by hand. For the straight lines, I stick some sandpaper on a flat piece of granite and true it up that way. Never had a problem with paper coming up on me while sanding. If it starts to get a little fuzzy, I just take some 320 or 400 and lightly scrape the edge of the paper downward at roughly a 45 degree angle and it takes the fuzz right off.

After it’s perfect I use some ca on the edges and sand them smooth with 400 after it’s dried.

 

[dickjonesify]

Ya, with Super 77 sprayed on both surfaces, you get minimal fuzz. Here’s a close up after spindle sanding but before hand/block sanding.

And after hand sanding the last bit.

Plenty close for me.