Laser Cut versus Hand Cut
In the beginning there was balsa and man. Somewhere in history man decided to take balsa wood, some tissue paper and a power source and make a toy that flew and would entertain them for hours upon end. And they saw this was good and a new hobby was born.
Now back in the day, before man had computers and CAD programs and Laser Cutters, the craftsman who loved to build these models, had to draw some blueprints of what they wanted to create and have a basic knowledge of the physics of flying. Once they had a working drawing of what they wanted to build on paper, they began their task of cutting a fitting parts together to create something that would fly on the end of a couple of wires and make you dizzy. Thus the stone age of control line flying was born.
Fast forward to today. Tools, technology and materials have advanced to a point where creating models has become an art form and a science. We have literally thousands of designs to choose from and not enough time to build even a fraction of what is available. Like someone once said, “so many women, so little time”. Well we could say, “So many planes to build….so little time.” Only those of us in the hobby could probably relate to that.
Today you have basically three choices if you want a model. You can either get a set of plans and gather all the tools and materials you need and scratch build it yourself, have a cottage kit maker hand cut it for you and furnish you the plans to assemble it or buy a kit that has been laser cut. Now some of you are probably saying, what about the ARF choice? Obviously there is a market for that too but that is not what this writing is about. What I want to do here is discuss technique and what is involved in hand cutting vs. laser cutting kits.
Hand cutting has been around a lot longer than laser cutting and I have seen some absolutely beautiful hand cut kits that have come from kit makers such as Larry Richards, Tony Drago, Walter Umland and Tom Morris. I am sure there were and are more than these and I do not mean to leave anyone out. I just happen to know these folks and the quality of work they produce. Hand cutting is definitely a labor of love. It is a solitary experience between man and his skill. When you hand cut a kit there is only one person responsible for the finished product and that is you.
Let’s assume that I announce on the forum that I plan to hand cut a certain design and will cut only 12 of these kits. What I do personally is try to find a design that has never been kitted or hasn’t been kitted in a long time or is not available by another kit maker. I see no reason to duplicate something that is already available. Once I have the required amount of firm commitments, I will then start the process of kitting the model.
I cut templates for each part from the plan and then cut the parts from the templates. Each part has to be cut carefully and then sanded to the correct shape to match the plan. This is a long and painstaking process to do it right. There are hours of labor involved in hand cutting a kit in addition to material cost and shipping cost which by the way are becoming a major part of pricing out kits.
The great thing about hand cutting kits is that you are not depending on anyone but yourself to produce a great product and the time it takes is up to you. Cottage kit makers take a lot of pride in their work and especially if they hand cut. If you cut a part and it is not quite right, you can stop right there and redo it and make sure it fits. I personally like to hand cut kits because you are in control from start to finish. Hand cutting is not a complicated process; it just takes time, patience and practice.
Laser cutting is a horse of a different color.
Since the laser has been introduced to our hobby, it is possible to have parts precisely cut with clean cut edges and they will fall together perfectly. Or do they? What really goes in to producing a laser cut kit that will go together without any hitches.
Let’s examine the process of producing a laser cut kit from a cottage kit maker’s point of view.
The first step is the same as hand cutting; choosing a design and plan of the model you want to produce but from there own we are on different planets.
You will have at least three people involved that will be working together to produce the laser cut kit that will be accurate. Let’s trace the steps
The kit maker sends the plans to a CAD designer. He then will study the plan and usually call you and the two of you will discuss what can and cannot be done and what may be done to modernize the construction (if it is an older design). CAD guys are great about making suggestions and you and him or her have to agree upon what will be done. That is not always an easy task because you are looking at the project from a kit maker and builder point of view and they are looking at it from another point of view. In any case when an agreement is arrived at, he creates the file in Auto Cad which is very time consuming and the file is then sent back to me and whoever is going to laser cut the parts. I have to examine the file for any mistakes that might be there and the laser cutter dissects the plan to see if it can be laser cut the way the CAD man drew it. More times than not there will have to be changes made for the laser to cut it properly so the laser cutter contacts me with the changes that need to be made and then I have to get back with the CAD designer and inform him. This process can literally go back and forth for weeks believe me. This can become very stressful. Once the CAD file and the laser are in harmony with each other, I request a prototype be cut so I can build it and make sure everything fits together properly. Sometimes it doesn’t and you have to start the whole process around the loop all over again. I have built as many as four prototypes before the kit was ready for release. This whole process just leading up to getting the kit to the point of actually kitting it, can take months. My good friend Walter Umland went through this process for a year and a half just to get on particular model out for release. The Kenhi Mustang I am about to release took 7 months so far. Just think about the amount of hours involved just to this point to get the kit to the point where it is ready to be produced.
Once the final file is sent to the laser cutter, the kit maker has to make two balsa orders: one to be sent to the laser cutter for the parts that are going to be laser cut and the other to himself that will go into the kit such as sheeting, spars leading edges, blocks etc. By the way, that is two shipping charges.
Laser cutters charge by the minute so whatever amount of time it takes to cut a kit x the number of kits is what you pay them. You also have to pay the CAD designer for his time also.
Once the kits are cut, whoever was doing the laser cutting for you ships all the parts to you (another shipping charge), and then the kit maker sorts everything out, pays for having the plans plotted for each kit, boxes everything up and ships it out to the customer (another shipping charge)
I want to make it crystal clear that nothing in this is a criticism to anyone. It is simply the way things are done. It takes an extreme amount of teamwork and coordination between everyone involved to make this venture a success..
Gosh I think a laser cut kit should sell for around $800.00! Seriously consider all of this for a kit that will sell from $100.00 to $250.00. You have to love doing this or be crazy.
In conclusion whether you buy a hand cut or laser cut kit, the main reason they do it is for the love of the hobby and their desire to give something back. That is the reason I do it and I am thankful that I am able to do it.
Mike
Topic: Hand Cutting vs Laser Cutting: A Cottage Kit Maker's Point of View (Read 2751 times)