Thread: go-bars

9 - 10mm hoop pine dowel is what I use on my deck. I cut them to about 900m length. Im off to a BBQ right now but when I get back Ill measure up the deck and give you height dimensions of the deck.

Cheers Martin

hey grant, I reckon cutting them long like Martin does might be a good idea. Mines only about 600 high and I break them fairly often. I'm too cheap to buy dowel and I just bandsaw up stcks about 8mm square out of whatever I have. Ash is one of the best, and blackwood is pretty good. Mahogany and oregon are hopeless, just break all the time. The blackwood doesnt break so much but after a few goes it tends to get a permanent bend in it, I find the ash is better at staying straight.
I cut them to different lengths for diferent jobs, and some i cut thinner of thicker to make them more or less flexy.
For glueing a bridge plate for example, needs longer ones coz its lower than the struts, and thin flexy ones to get an even pressure. But for the struts behind the bridge, where I like to glue a straight bit of spruce and force it into the curve of the top, that needs something a bit more chunky to mash it down!
jack

I did make my go-bar deck with an adjustable ceiling 0" - around 31" with the radius dish in the bottom....

so the way I was thinking was to lower the ceiling when gluing on bracing and raise the ceiling when you need to glue the face and back on using the same length go-bars......

maybe I'll keep some of the dowel i got and try a dry run first but theres not much flex in 9.5mm@24" length which is about 600mm...

I could probably cut to around 650- 675mm length and still have enough height for the body in the deck using the same bars......may be a bit more flexy? I have to have a think about it and play around a bit minus the glue....
thanks for the prompt replys guys.

Jack.....I found the dowel down at the kilsyth bargain centre....2.4m lengths about $3.50....bunnings we're around $2.70/m for the same stuff.
Martin...I would be interested in hearing what dimensions yours is ..
cheers grant

I don't know much about the decks, etc... would fibreglass rods be a good alternative? Strong and flexible and should last a lifetime

malibu.... yeah fibreglass is the go....and is available
I did look at getting some through kite making shops at about $3-4 per bar ...which was starting to look like $60-80 in fibreglass alone.....
and probably cost effective in the long run but the cheapy that i am $20 in dowel won out on the day

Fibreglass rods sound like just the thing! An adjustable height box sounds pretty cool too!
If only I got up earlier and drank less beer....

bamboo is pretty cheap

I use fibreglass rods. I have 2 different thicknesses. One lot are 10mm and another lot are 6mm. I would like to get some thinner 4.5mm ones to use for top and back clamping.
The 10mm bars aply very powerful pressure so make sure you deck is strong. I ues them for things you would use g clamps for.
the 6mm bars I used for things like clamping braces to the top and back.
And yes, I expect them to last forever.

Hope this helps.
Dom

If any body is interested,I found these people and they are great to deal with.
http://www.permex.com.au/

Regards

Greg

Re adjustable decks....its alot easier to have an adjustable floor to the deck rather than adjusting at the top. I have a second false floor which sits on small blocks of MDF. By piling up the blocks I can adjust the height.

Fibreglass rods are better than wood but theres a cost factor. Long term though by the time youve broken a few wooden dowels fibreglass may turn out cost neutral.

Grant,

Some dimensions for my gobar deck:

Bottom and top decks - 15mm chipboard, 600 x 600mm
Four corner posts - pinus batten, 935mm x 35 x 35mm. 5/16" threaded rod is epoxied into ends of each batten and these feed through holes at corner of top and bottom decks and are secured with wing nuts.
Reinforcing batten on top and bottom deck - a cross wise arrangement of 40 x 19mm pinus. Screwed and glued to decks.

The adjustable false floor and the blocks on which it sits - 18mm MDF. Any bits of scrap about this thickness will do for the blocks. I take the false floor out when the radiused dish is in the deck (eg when gluing in braces) and put it in when not using the dish.

The gobars - 900mm lengths of 9mm hoop pine dowel from Mitre 10.

Even though the gobars are shorter than the distance between the upper and lower decks, by the time the false floor or dished form is in place along with the pieces being clamped the effective space between the lower and upper deck is less than the 900mm length of the gobars....usually by about 20-30mm.

Cheers Martin

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Re adjustable decks....its alot easier to have an adjustable floor to the deck rather than adjusting at the top. I have a second false floor which sits on small blocks of MDF. By piling up the blocks I can adjust the height.

Fibreglass rods are better than wood but theres a cost factor. Long term though by the time youve broken a few wooden dowels fibreglass may turn out cost neutral.

Nice looking deck martin, and thanks for all your dimensions and description...
the one i made can be adjusted both ways ...ceiling and floor...I basically did a variation of the stew mac plan except the bottom of mine is the same as the top of the one in the plan ( bottom and top the same)

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-4733.html


...I didn't worry about the support tube on the outside of the thread ...just the 1/2" thread and glued 2 x 16mm mdf together for both floor and ceiling. put rubber feet on the end of the thread at the bottom and with a washer and nut each side of both sheets essentially the floor or ceiling can be adjustable....very simple and took about an hour to do.