what is the best way to cut balsa wood..?

[dr.wolf]

hello

what is the bet way to cut BALSA wood without cutting or scratching the whole sheet?

BALSA is so fragile and it can be broken easily


this is the image of my balsa sheets:

[rtfm]

Hi,
Not sure what the problem is. Usually, cutting Balsa is done with a Stanley knife. A single clean cut. No mess, no fuss.

What do you mean by "cutting or scratching" the rest of the sheet?

Duncan

[dr.wolf]

sorry for the mistakes because i am not an native English speaker...

any way
i mean when i tried to cut a balsa sheet
the details were not shown as i wanted them to be
and also when i cut a piece the other part of the sheet will be cracked or in other words breaked

[dr.wolf]

any way
the Stanley knife i used is great
i can cut balsa with great sharper details

[djschwartz]

The standard tool for model builders is the X-Acto knife. At least here in the U.S. these are inexpensive and readily available at office supply and hobby stores. It is important to have a very sharp blade. With the X-Acto the blades are also inexpensive and can be changed often

X-ACTO

[dr.wolf]

thanks djschwartz
i think it is the best cutting tool is the x-acto

[bmcj]

Also, if cutting diagonally across the grain, the knife tends to pull away from the cut to follow the grain. When making these cuts, cut in the direction that tends to pull the kinfe AWAY from the piece you are making. That way, you only ruin the scrap if the knife pulls away from the cut.

If you are cutting directly across the grain, then you should have something flat holding down the piece of balsa to help keep if from splitting and cut slowly. If you are cutting parallel to the grain, you can cut either direction.

Bruce

[dr.wolf]

thanks bmcj
i had this problem once, and i can fix what i have done thanks to you.....

[joebiplane]

Dr. Wolf,
If you have a store that sells Hobby supplies look for a "Razor Saw"
it is a "very thin saw blade with very fine teeth" and is the BEST way to cut balsa when you cut "Across the grain"
joebiplane

[dr.wolf]

thanks joebiplane

i found a lazer tool that can cut any type of wood
it costs 150$
but it is ok
it can cut details
and it works with autocad

[steveair2]

Dr. Wolf

Joebiplane is right with the "razor saw".

Also, take a good look at Lyn Williams FLitzer Biplane.
It's all wood and would fit a fighter pilot like you a lot better than the ultralight. You should look at the Flitzer F2 Tiger, it is the aircraft shown in my avitar.

I also would like more details of your $150.00 lazer cutter.

Steve

[dr.wolf]

hi steve
my laser wood cutter is the speedy 100 it is actually 320 $ with every thing
but its problem is that it can't cut thick wood
it can cut aprox. 5 cm maximum ....

the 150$ laser cutting machine is a used one i have bought it from an architecture that has never used it

its name is speedy 100

but you can find much faster and better that speedy 100 ,
there are many types of speed: 100 200 300 as i think

[dr.wolf]

any way the Lyn Williams FLitzer Biplane.
is good but it seems to be...some how antique
i prefer the Europa tri gear it looks to be more modern

[conestogaman]

Thanks for the info to the laser cutter. I'll have to look that up.

Good luck on your build!

[lr27]

Balsa comes in many different densities, so it matters a lot how dense the stuff is. When I'm cutting the really light stuff (say 4-6 lbs per cubic foot), I often use a double edged razor blade snapped in half, and glued to a stick. The blades wear out very quickly, though. Xacto is good for medium weight. Not sure what the upper end of that would be, maybe 15 to 18lbs per cubic foot? It's important to sharpen or replace Xacto blades often as well. A good technique is to make sure your straightedge won't move, then cut only partway through with each pass of the blade. A straightedge with cork on the bottom might be a good idea. Or perhaps rubber. As someone mentioned, razor saws can work well.

I suspect for the really heavy stuff, 18-24 lbs per cubic foot, perhaps conventional woodworking techniques will work.

I also recall hearing that a hollow planer blade in a table saw works well if it's really sharp, but I'm not sure about that. Other than the table saw, conventional woodworking, and a rubber bottomed straightedge, I've used the above techniques.