Molds - From plans directly to wood with a router

[Bear_Ludo]

I am probably not the first one to do so but I have not seen it described in this forum. So here is the method I use to cut the molds.
Initially I was trying to find an accurate process to transfer the mold lines to mold material and avoid doing it by hand. Then it came to: "How can I accurately cut them ??".
I was scratching my head and it poped up like this: "Instead of using the batten to guide the pencil why couldn't I use it to guide the copy bit of my router ??"
The starting point of the method is a copy of the lofted molds or the original plans and a home made batten like router Jig.

Pictures explain more than thousands of words, here is the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/bear.ludo/CuttingTheMolds

I see three main advantages in this method:
1) Remove the risk of errors and inaccuracies due to hand tracing
2) Reduce the risk of errors and inaccuracies in cutting and fairing the mold
3) Drastically reduce the time to make the molds

Ludovic

[RonMc1954]

Hi Ludovic, I personnally used spray adhesive and glued my drawing to the wood and cut with a jig saw. I just left enough margin outside the mold lines so not to tear the paper, an 1" or 2". I suppose you could use a router as you described, for me if I made a mistake with a router it would be a big one! Routers are powerful but I don't have experiance with a copier like your describing.
I hope it works
Ron

[Alan]

Hi:
Thanks for the suggestion - I used your idea and it worked beautifully. I used a long strip of lexan that I had lying around. Curved exactly.
Saved a lot of time and sanding.
Alan