Splines and ducks

[B. Parkes]

Does anyone know where to purchase splines and ducks?

[Bruce Taylor]

http://www.edsonmarine.com/newproduc...ne_weight.html

Greg Rossel reviews them favorably in the latest WB.

[ 11-08-2005, 02:42 PM: Message edited by: Bruce Taylor ]

[Steven R]

or make your own weights for a fraction of the cost

http://www.get-outside.com/ducks.htm

[chrisk]

Found some here as well, painted rather nicely:

Boats of Wood

This one has multiple listings:

http://boatdesign.net/Directory/Tech...ting_Supplies/

Chris Kottaridis (chriskot@quietwind.net)

[ 11-08-2005, 03:51 PM: Message edited by: chrisk ]

[outofthenorm]

Keep in mind that the ducks you need for drafting don't have to be as heavy as what you need for lofting. A 2 lb duck with a cork bottom for non-slip is plenty for the drawing board.

You can find good drawing splines here:

MCNAUGHTON GROUP

- Norm

[Rick Tyler]

Originally posted by B. Parkes:
Does anyone know where to purchase splines and ducks?

I waited until some folks who knew something answered this question before posting:

You know, "The Spline and Duck" would make a fine name for a waterfront English pub.

[B. Parkes]

Thanks all: Making them seems appealing. And I agree about the waterfront pub name!

[Chan]

The problem with buying ducks is 1 they're pretty expensive for what they are. 2 they become twice as expensive when they need to be shipped.
I've made quite a few of my own if you would like some tips on making them.

[Lewisboats]

Originally posted by Rick Tyler:

You know, "The Spline and Duck" would make a fine name for a waterfront English pub.

A pint and a toast to ya!

[wgstephens]

My home made ones are not pretty but they do the job, and were easy to make.wheel weights are free or cheep from my local garage and tire store. use an old cast frying pan on a wood fire, but do not repeat not breath the highly toxic fumes. Do out doors with plenty of ventilation! Also mold must be dry! Molten lead reacts violently read explodes on contact with water, Wear welders gloves and saftey glasses ect. There are several detailed forum topics on casting lead. I used brass 3/16 " brazing rod to make L shaped hold downs and also some heavy scrap copper wire, which are bendable and handy like that. A hole where the ducks nose is drilled for the wire or rod. a tight fit but no glue makes the rod replaceable. a 2x4 cut with a jig saw in a whale profile then sides nailed on, then lined with plaster of paris and thouroughly dried was my mold for a dozen ducks. Not fancy sand casting but it worked. I would like to make some fancy ones some day, I admire the workmanship of some that I have seen Good luck and I'll hoint a pint to you at the Splines and Duck's [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Paul Kessinger]

I made some inexpensive ducks using 4 lb lead dive weights. They are curved to fit around the diver's body, so the sides actually form "legs" that enable them to move around the board, but not too much.

I used 3/16 inch steel rod for the piece that holds the spline. I drilled a hole in the weight such that a two-inch piece of rod just touches the table top and glued it in with epoxy. So I can either hold the spline in place by resting the rod on top of it or when warranted I can bend it around the edge of the rod.

The ducks are pretty heavy for drafting, but can also be used for lofting, so I think the 4 lbs was a good compromise. Recently I added felt pads to the bottom to keep from scraping off the paint on a panel I had painted white for lofting.

[ 01-03-2006, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: Paul Kessinger ]

[chrisk]

I have found the 3/16 inch brass rod rather difficult to bend accurately. Is there some trick in the type of rod or some nice tool to make the bend easier ?

I also assume the rod should go down to just touching the table. Is that right ?

Any magic distance the rod should extend out before curving down toward the table ?

Also, the 3/16 hole isn't tight enough to keep them from pulling out a little too easily. I'd rather not epoxy them in and make them permanent, but if there is a good way to snug things up, but still be removable with a good strong tug I'd like to give it a try.

Thanks

Chris Kottaridis (chriskot@quietwind.net)

[outofthenorm]

Chris, can't help with your other questions, but this is a neat device for accurate bending. I use mine all the time.
Bending jig for vise

- Norm

[Don Z.]

Originally posted by chrisk:


Also, the 3/16 hole isn't tight enough to keep them from pulling out a little too easily. I'd rather not epoxy them in and make them permanent, but if there is a good way to snug things up, but still be removable with a good strong tug I'd like to give it a try.

I was thinking tap and die, but I haven't gotten that far yet...

[Bruce Hooke]

My commercially produced drafting ducks (from a place that is no longer in business -- I got them when they were on sale because the place was going out of business) use 1/8" brass rod for the hook, and the tip is about 5/32" off the table when the duck is flat on the table. The tip is also flattened to a chisel point perpendicular to the axis of the duck. This all seems to work pretty well. If I try to place the hook on something that elevates the front of the duck too much off the table then the duck wants to tip from side to side, so it would be a problem if the hook came right down to the table surface. However, this might not be as much of an issue with larger, blocker, lofting floor ducks.

3/16" brass rod sounds a bit thick if the ducks are just going to be used for drafting, but it probably makes sense if they will also be used on a lofting floor.

You could tap the rods into the ducks, but two things occur to me:

1. If it is just a matter of getting a slightly smaller hole, you should be able to use a numbered drill to make a slightly smaller hole.

2. Keep in mind that epoxy can be softened with heat, so if you just used a drop of epoxy to hold the hook in place it should be possible to get the hook back out by heating the brass rod.

[chrisk]

I was thinking tap and die, but I haven't gotten that far yet...

Unfortunatley the holes are already there at 3/16", so I'd have to go with yet a larger rod which would be even more dificult to bend.

I do like the bending tool mentioned, it looks simple and effective and useful for more then this task. I may just go with 1/8" rod and epoxy them into the existing hole. It'll work for now and if that doesn't work for some reason in the future, I'll deal with it then.

Thanks for the info Bruce particularly the 5/32" off the table top.

Thanks

Chris Kottaridis (chriskot@quietwind.net)

[ 01-29-2006, 08:04 PM: Message edited by: chrisk ]

[Bruce Hooke]

Another useful tool for bending rod is a pair of round nosed pliers. However, the ones I've seen have mostly been a bit small for what you are doing. Another technique I use is to bend the wire around a rod. This forms a nice, smooth curve. The Lee Valley tool looks cool, but it looks like it is mostly designed to create sharp bends rather than nice, smooth curves.

As long as you get pretty close on the first bend you can then tweak it a bit to get it to fit your pattern -- I'd probably draw the desired shape on a piece of paper or card stock so that I could lay my bent rod on top of it to check the shape.