Holy Crap! 50 inch long $390 Chinese extruded aluminum slipway

It looks like 20 slots wide and if, as it appears to be standard 20mm extrusion, that would make it 400mm wide, so if they're quoting 320mm that appears to be 320mm usable width. 1.2m lengths + a 20 cross strip at each end makes the 1.28m.

They appear to have used 4 lengths of 2080 profile extrusion plus 2 lengths of 2020 profile on each side. 5 lengths of 2080 would have done the same thing.

The first supplier I found has 2080 @ $A34.65 for 1.2m lengths, add a couple of metres of 2020 @ $A22.00 for ancillaries => $A195 (About $US130 at time of writing). They naturally also have all the joiners, T-nuts, angle brackets etc.

Linear bearings and rails can be picked up from maker sites or one of the chinese sites. I picked up a cross-hair laser from one of the chinese sites a while back for a few of dollars.

You should be able to roll your own for less than half the price of the chinese kit, customised to yourself.

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1679273074752.png

Mark
 
mgdawson said:
It looks like 20 slots wide and if, as it appears to be standard 20mm extrusion, that would make it 400mm wide, so if they're quoting 320mm that appears to be 320mm usable width. 1.2m lengths + a 20 cross strip at each end makes the 1.28m.

They appear to have used 4 lengths of 2080 profile extrusion plus 2 lengths of 2020 profile on each side. 5 lengths of 2080 would have done the same thing.

The first supplier I found has 2080 @ $A34.65 for 1.2m lengths, add a couple of metres of 2020 @ $A22.00 for ancillaries => $A195 (About $US130 at time of writing). They naturally also have all the joiners, T-nuts, angle brackets etc.

Linear bearings and rails can be picked up from maker sites or one of the chinese sites. I picked up a cross-hair laser from one of the chinese sites a while back for a few of dollars.

You should be able to roll your own for less than half the price of the chinese kit, customised to yourself.

View attachment 363889

View attachment 363890

Mark
Click to expand...
Those Thomson Rods and linear bearings will cost you...
 
Is it possible, with the initial info posted, that we could dedicate an "exploratory" group build of a similar featured slipway? Lots of great talent here, enough to design one on paper using available parts. Any thoughts on this? Seems like mgdawson already has found the source to construct the foundation!
 
Have a look at this alternative item from Poland.
I got one as a gift at Christmas and find it’s very useful - may be hard to find though!

www.hobbyzone.pl

Professional Building Slip

Professional building slip.
www.hobbyzone.pl www.hobbyzone.pl

hope the link works…..
good luck
Mike
 
They are hard to find Mike. I got one a couple years ago from some business in NewYork. Problem with it is it's so darn big and heavy. I find the best use for this device is to clamp the bow/stern and rotate the ship while planking (after it's rigid with battens).
IMG_2928.JPG

I made this little platform from CLAMP-ABLE STRIPS (link) and particle board. I make any little part I need when building the ship then clamp to the table or just use 90° brackets to hold things square.
IMG_2929.JPG
IMG_2932.JPG
 
Mike Y said:
Have a look at this alternative item from Poland.
I got one as a gift at Christmas and find it’s very useful - may be hard to find though!

www.hobbyzone.pl

Professional Building Slip

Professional building slip.
www.hobbyzone.pl www.hobbyzone.pl

hope the link works…..
good luck
Mike
Click to expand...
I have one of those around here somewhere, not a huge fan. It's nice and would probably be better for smaller kits with a 28" hull or less, but for something that size it's kinda big and heavy. And for something like a 36" hull it's just hard to work with. It needs to be wider to work on larger stuff.

The aluminum Chinese one might suffer from the same thing, being way too big and heavy for anything small, though it might be nicer for really big plank on frame kits. I think the way it clamps the keel might also suffer from the same problem as the hobbyzone one, so either way I think you should figure out a better clamp. And one that can be rotated to work on the planking. If you are spending that much to make one it should at least have that much finctionality.
 
I bought the smaller brother to that one. £25 here in UK. It comes with a whole host of little and not so little clamp sections for different size ships. This does up to 60cm max length hull, however, as you can see, it is ideal for my Revell Cutty Sark.
For my small Halcon ship, I made this two block clamp. Nice and simple it works a treat. I've just started on the lower foremast shroud today. One pair of ropes in place. The white string is holding the mast rigid whilst I do the shrouds.

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg
 
lobo said:
Is it possible, with the initial info posted, that we could dedicate an "exploratory" group build of a similar featured slipway? Lots of great talent here, enough to design one on paper using available parts. Any thoughts on this? Seems like mgdawson already has found the source to construct the foundation!
Click to expand...
fantastic idea!
 
1. I built this same setup 3 years ago out of wood to build a L'Hermione'; still haven;t finished the model.
The project was well worth the effort. the advantage of wood is you can
modify it at any point in any way you want.
2. However, a group build out of metal would be a much better idea. This setup
is a FANTASTIC TOOL. i would join the group. Mount this tool on a
Harbor Freight woodworking bench (about $125US) and you are set for life.
 
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