New vent covers

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:12 pm

From inside Farmer's link. http://www.go-rv.com/coast/do/catalog/p ... ctId=61247

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:35 am

Hi Chuck,

Makes me wish I had a house like yours so I could make some vents like yours! Well maybe just a couple anyway, I guess it turns out to be more like work after that.

Ed

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:31 am

There's always a better way to 'skin a cat' so to speak. Just swapped a couple of PMs with Ed (reible). With his years of experience in routing, he has learned a different and time saving way to make patterns. Wish I had thought of it!

Anyway,- - - Here's encouraging Ed to explain how to make a portion of a pattern and then enlarge it to what is needed.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:36 am

beeg wrote:Now those look great, but bet they were a pain to cut and sand. Was that the design of the old ones?

Yes, sort of! I took the old plastic vent cover and rotated it 90 degrees. Found I could repeat it 3 times. Used all of the shapes except for the ones at the corner of the original ones.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:52 am

My appreciation to Farmer Francis for the tip on the RV flashing. There's something I never would have thought of. Thanks, also to JPG for finding the 14" sizes of those covers. At $3 and change per piece, I'll have to think about it. Sun is the major source of weathering here. We only get less than 8" of ppt. per year.

John - 'Next' project is one that is already finished. I made some small laminated, curved, oak shelf edges for the motorhome that replace the plastic ones that were falling apart because of sun and heat. I still have to snap a photo or two. Also I designed and made a wood bracket to hold a replacement windshield washer bottle in the motorhome. The old bottle had also fallen apart from heat. Developed a hole in the side, and when touched, it really fell apart.

Now the project for the next couple weeks is polishing the motorhome. Then the normal stuff of Spring checks and cleaning water storage.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 2:57 am

There's always a better way to 'skin a cat' so to speak. Just swapped a couple of PMs with Ed (reible). With his years of experience in routing, he has learned a different and time saving way to make patterns. Wish I had thought of it!

Anyway,- - - Here's encouraging Ed to explain how to make a portion of a pattern and then enlarge it to what is needed.

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:38 pm

Hi,

As Chuck mentioned I noticed a different way of doing the pattern for a project like his. There is nothing wrong with what he has done, this is just a different way. Keep in mind this discussion is on pin routing and would not work the same way with guide bushings or other methods.

It starts with looking at the end product and then making plan to make a simple pattern that can then be used to make a larger pattern. For this I made some drawings that help illustrate what I'm talking about. I hope they will convey the general form of this technique.

The following sketch is a "vent" similar to what Chuck made, I then picked a smaller portion of the end product to make pattern for. That pattern in turn can be used to make a larger pattern. Shown below is the minimal part that would be used for the starting pattern.
[ATTACH]4874[/ATTACH]

This "pattern" would be modified from what is shown so that you have over lapping that lets you fully route and a place to put in some datums for use in referencing the repeating of the pattern. The selection of this small area lets you have access to make a small pattern and only having to cut out and sand a much smaller portion should save some time and effort. The resulting piece would look something like this:
[ATTACH]4879[/ATTACH]

A few things to point out would be that the yellow board is going to be a pattern and some care must be taken to make sure it is large enough to support the larger pattern and that you take the care to position the small brown cutout in the correct positions.

I find it easier to add a few tack on strips that serve as stops and can help position the brown cutout. The arrow show the reference holes that allow the correct positioning.
[ATTACH]4876[/ATTACH]

In the next sketch the first position has been routed and shows up in green and the pattern is then flip horizontally and the top reference hole is again used as is the bottom tack strip. Now the second part can be routed.
[ATTACH]4877[/ATTACH]

I think you have the idea but to be sure the next sketch shows the bottom half of the pattern getting ready to be cut out.
[ATTACH]4878[/ATTACH]

I've got a few more things so check my next post where I cover the a few more ideas and have a few more sketches.

Ed

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:13 pm

In case anyone is confused as I was at first, the yellow 'workpiece' is 1/3 of the 'original' pattern. It is repeated 3x horizontally to get a copy of the original.

reible wrote:Hi,

As Chuck mentioned I noticed a different way of doing the pattern for a project like his. There is nothing wrong with what he has done, this is just a different way. Keep in mind this discussion is on pin routing and would not work the same way with guide bushings or other methods.

It starts with looking at the end product and then making plan to make a simple pattern that can then be used to make a larger pattern. For this I made some drawings that help illustrate what I'm talking about. I hope they will convey the general form of this technique.

The following sketch is a "vent" similar to what Chuck made, I then picked a smaller portion of the end product to make pattern for. That pattern in turn can be used to make a larger pattern. Shown below is the minimal part that would be used for the starting pattern.
[ATTACH]4874[/ATTACH]

This "pattern" would be modified from what is shown so that you have over lapping that lets you fully route and a place to put in some datums for use in referencing the repeating of the pattern. The selection of this small area lets you have access to make a small pattern and only having to cut out and sand a much smaller portion should save some time and effort. The resulting piece would look something like this:
[ATTACH]4879[/ATTACH]

A few things to point out would be that the yellow board is going to be a pattern and some care must be taken to make sure it is large enough to support the larger pattern and that you take the care to position the small brown cutout in the correct positions.

I find it easier to add a few tack on strips that serve as stops and can help position the brown cutout. The arrow show the reference holes that allow the correct positioning.
[ATTACH]4876[/ATTACH]

In the next sketch the first position has been routed and shows up in green and the pattern is then flip horizontally and the top reference hole is again used as is the bottom tack strip. Now the second part can be routed.
[ATTACH]4877[/ATTACH]

I think you have the idea but to be sure the next sketch shows the bottom half of the pattern getting ready to be cut out.
[ATTACH]4878[/ATTACH]

I've got a few more things so check my next post where I cover the a few more ideas and have a few more sketches.

Ed

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:33 pm

Hi,

As a recap, we cut a very small portion of the over all pattern to become a pattern that was then used to by flipping both horizontally and vertically to create a new pattern. This new pattern is now 1/3 of the full portion needed.

At this point several options come to mind and depending on how many of these "vents" you are making and lots of other factors including personal opinion and how you feel this day.

The first option is to use this pattern as is and repeat it 3 times to make each panel with a simple step and repeat. Something like this:
[ATTACH]4880[/ATTACH]

Another option is to create two more patterns, and at this point this is quite easy to do, it is just a matter of how deep you route. For getting the cut-outs you route through, for patterns you route just deep enough for the pin to have some headroom. ( I'm showing a pattern where the pin is run in a slot... you can have a more open version where it looks like the orginal small pattern we created and you run the pin against the edge of this open area...)
[ATTACH]4881[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]4882[/ATTACH]

Another option would be to create a larger template by step and repeat. In this case you create a larger one piece template by stepping and repeating the 1/3 pattern much like was shown above when we talked about step and repeat.

So this about does it. Keep in mind that this is presented as a concept for any sort of project where a pattern can be created and then expanded to make a new larger pattern.

Ed

reible · Post by **reible** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:39 pm

Hi,

You were reading faster then I could get my second post out... anyway as you can see what JPG mention is one of the options shown in the second of my posts.

Didn't mean to confuse anyone just ran out of image space in the first post...

Ed

JPG40504 wrote:In case anyone is confused as I was at first, the yellow 'workpiece' is 1/3 of the 'original' pattern. It is repeated 3x horizontally to get a copy of the original.