Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

Sorry to cross-pollinate to another forum, but I thought maybe someone would be interested in a guy who took the drawings from a Bolger Bobcat and drew them up in a CAD program and sent them to his budget CNC machine that's designed specifically to handle 4'x8' sheets of plywood (perfect for boat building).

I'm planning on doing the same thing with my Passagemaker plans so I can carve some fancy faux teak decking in the thwarts.

https://forums.maslowcnc.com/t/building-a-bolger-bobcat-payson-tiny-cat-catboat-from-cad-on-up/1851/36


8 replies:

« Previous Post       List of Posts       Next Post »

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

I'm glad he's having fun but I can't help thinking that in the time it took him to convert the paper drawings to g-code and cut the thing out, I could have laid it out with my pencil, rule and batten, cut it out with my Japanese razor saw and started stitching and gluing.

I really don't see the point of a CNC machine unless one is making more than 2 of an item.

Laszlo

 

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

 Laszlo,  +1

Except we are doing this for fun and who knows what anyone else considers fun!

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

   Personnally, I find it extremely interesting. Particularly the fact that it is cut on a Maslow cnc, which is a very low cost machine, specialized for cutting large panels.

This person should make an arrangement with the owners of rights for the Bolger plans, and sell the .dxf cnc files for others. That would be a great complement to the paper plans, and pdf plans.  

By the way, CLC should do the same for its boats: Sell their plans with .dxf files. or do they do it already ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

I asked John about digital files a while back and his response was understandably that until there's better legal protection for intellectual property, he's not inclined to sell digital content.  He puts untold hours into a design, so I respect that.  With that being said, he was still very generous with what he did share with me under a gentleman's agreement, so I walked away from the conversation with even more respect for John, if possible, and have been very careful to respect his wishes. 

I was actually thinking about asking for the CAD files for just the thwarts on the Passagemaker in order to make my teak deck planks on a CNC, but until I was geared up for that part of the project, I haven't bothered him.  Being reminded that I can always do my own take-off may make the point moot.

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

P.S.  The guy building the catboat is experiencing small deviations at either end of the plywood sheet where the two chains are at their extremis.  I believe he said between 1-2mm off, which is not good enough to sell to people en masse.  But for me, being a plans builder anyway, that's not completely unacceptable.  As a builder for hire, I'd have to put one together first to ensure the accuracy is acceptable before even thinking about selling one.

I'm on the wait list for a Maslow but I've also been looking at the X-Carve, which has a 31" square carving area.  I even helped develop a tiling method to register the long parts and may design my own puzzle joint (although I'll probably go with scarf joints).

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

   Yes, that's the problem with selling dxf files... It is so easy to replicate them...

François Vivier in France sells plans with files ready for cnc.

The Maslow cnc is a very simple and low cost machine, which is not designed for great accuracy, particularly on the edge and corners of the pannel (the triangulation does not work very well in those areas). 

The X carve has other problems (stiffness... very low...).

I am currently building a large cnc (1 m x 1m), with a wooden structure, with very large beam sections. That should be stiff enough. 

 

 

 

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

I meant, the X carve is very "slow"...   

RE: Bolger Bobcat CNC Build

@Kentaro  Cool!  I'm probably going to get a smaller CNC from CNCRouterparts.com some time in the future.  But like having a table saw and a radial arm saw, even though they both technically do the same thing, they have pretty different real world applications.

I'm also looking at building Dudley Dix' Oppikat, which is a small Hobie-style catamaran.  He told me that files are available for all of the bulkheads.

« Previous Post     List of Posts     Next Post »


Please login or register to post a reply.