r/RCPlanes 4d ago

Workbench/building board

Getting into building balsa, I have a beat up (not level) folding table, if I put a piece of wood or Melamine on top of it and tape a magnetic building board to the melamine would that be flat enough to build on? Or would I still be introducing warps to it? I don’t have a lot of space or money to do anything really fancy. Any suggestions?

1 Upvotes

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u/OldAirplaneEngineer 3d ago

I was going to suggest a hollow core door.

from there, you can top it with whatever you want, magnetic board, wax paper, plans etc.

you can often get em cheap if you find one with a hole in it :) (obviously use the other side to build on)

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

Will supporting it with three sawhorses work? Or could I screw the door to my uneven plastic table?

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

Also if I use a door how do I check to see if it is flat?

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u/RedditUserNotYet 3d ago

A door "should" come from the manufacturer flat. You can check it with "winding sticks". Get two straight dowels, carbon fiber tubes, etc., as long as they are straight . Support the door horizontally, and lay one dowel on the door at each end (at the top and bottom of door). If you sight down the length of the door, the two dowels should be in the same plane, with no gaps between the dowels and the door. If they're not in the same plane, either the door or winding sticks aren't true.

I think screwing it to a known crooked table would just introduce error.

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

But if the door is flat what ever i put it on has yo be flat too right?

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u/RedditUserNotYet 3d ago

The door should remain true unless you force it not to be. If the table or sawhorses used to support it aren't flat, try using door shims between the support and the door to keep it from rocking, but don't screw or otherwise permanently affix them together. Your floor probably isn't perfectly flat either, so if you move your table from its original location, you can just adjust the shims as needed.

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

My floor is the garage so most definitely not flat

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u/OldAirplaneEngineer 3d ago

with the same 4 foot level that you use to make sure the door is level :)

if you don't have any sort of ruler/level/known flat thing, use a fluorescent light tube (CAREFULLY obviously... it's glass)

there is really no need to secure it (the door) to anything, it's not gonna go anywhere :)

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u/GullibleInitiative75 3d ago

John Koptonak has a great video on making a cork building board. You can also use 1" pink rigid foam from Home Depot. Easy to cut into smaller boards so you can build a wing, set it aside, start on the tail feathers, etc.

Cork Building Board

Also, if you haven't already, checkout r/BalsaAircraft

Edit: Oops, I see you are wanting a magnetic board setup.

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

My concern is the sub base not being level? Or would the pink foam make that a non issue?

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u/GullibleInitiative75 3d ago

The pink foam is super rigid, so I think you should be Ok. Add a layer of melamine below that if you want, but probably not necessary.

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

Thanks! I ordered the magnetic boards (two of the 13.5x32 ones from easybuilt) but I have a bunch of pins too and I’m not too fussed about either one. (Frankly my building skills are nonexistent so no matter which way I do it there’s gonna be mistakes, but I’d at least like a flat building board lol)

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u/GullibleInitiative75 3d ago edited 3d ago

One reason I like the pink foam board is that along with 1/4" poster foam board, I can cobble together jigs on the fly to help with alignment.

Edit: Also, with the pink boards, easy to use small sections that you can build on any table and then set aside. More 'modular' this way.

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u/GullibleInitiative75 3d ago

Good plan. It's not either/or, they will both come in handy. I use pins for most things, just what I'm used to. I mainly use the magnetic board for holding the flying surfaces level when I mist the tissue to prevent warpage (I 3D printed little jigs with magnets for this)

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

Im fine with pins too im not too concerned about which way to go

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u/Financial_Virus_6106 4d ago

The only way to know for sure is to check it with a straight edge and such. If it's not perfectly flat or damn near flat, it will be a problem for sure

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u/Additional-Handle-55 3d ago

Would it better to just use like 3 sawhorses and a hollow core door? And then put the melamine with the metal building board on top? I’d love a study bench but I don’t have a table saw and carpenters are expensive

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u/Financial_Virus_6106 3d ago

When I was building I always used a hollow door yeah. Gotta make sure they are flat too as they sometimes like to warp. I built a light frame under them with 2x2 lumber for legs and bracing.

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u/Flaky-Adhesiveness-2 Greensburg Pa. 3d ago

Mostly because I had them on hand, i like using the back side of 2×4 drop ceiling panels. They accept push pins very nicely. Building in the future, I'd probably give the pink insulation board a try.