building straight

Ok,I have a work bench,its 11foot long and 32 inches wide doesany body know what i can top it with like glass,pressboard ext,ext,ext and if glass is the best thing,what demesions do u recomend?
My bench started out streight but after three years its not as streight but still good enough to build on.I build mostly foam components.and i would like to compete at the nats so i know that building a streight plane is the key.(aside from a good engine run )

Stephen,
5/16 inch thick glass (shimmed if necessary) covered with sheet rock, will stay straight, flat, and allows sticking pins to hold things down.

For foam cradles etc the sheet rock really isn't necessary as you can simply use two sided tape to hold them in place.

For built up construction (balsa etc) none of that is necessary if you use a wing jig and fuselage jig that is adjustable. In that case the building surface really doesn't need to be perfectly flat.

I use 5/16 glass, 60 inches X 24 inches, covered with sheet rock.
I also typically use a wing and fuselage jig. Go Figure!
The flat surface works well for I-beam or lincoln log, Tom morris, type construction.

Good Luck.

Glass will bend like you will not believe . needs to be on something flat

Greg,
I mentioned in the post above that it should be shimmed as necessary.
This is best accomplished with rectangles of thin plywood.
A long strait edge used on edge makes a pretty good tool for checking this process.

Incidentally 5/16 inch thick tempered glass doesn't bend very much!!

LAST EDITED ON Oct-12-06 AT 11:01 PM (CST)
 
The best topping I have found for the glass is the material that makes "hard cover" books hard. Caliper varies from .065 to .100, and density varies. The lowest density is called "pasted chip board" and is normally in the lower end of the caliper range. Most of the books on your bookshelf are likely .080 "pasted oak" which is the board of choice for modelers. It is recepive to pins. It is stiff, and lays flat. Use wide two sided tape to attach it to the glass.

Sheet rock is a little too unreceptive to pins for my old hands.

Finding pasted oak (binder's board works fine also)is not difficult. Any local book binder or medium size printer will have large sheets in stock. I have used pre-cut 6 X 9 (book size pieces) with no problem.

Good Luck!

Your might try locating a outlet that sells granite counter tops. I stopped in at such a place and found a granite top that was a remenant for a reduced price. Flat flat flat. I love it.

>Your might try locating a outlet that sells granite counter
>tops. I stopped in at such a place and found a granite top
>that was a remenant for a reduced price. Flat flat flat. I
>love it.

how does c.a. stick to grnite,is it easy to get off??

CA sticks quite well to granite, as the surface is pourus when viewed with a magnifying glass. I remove anything that has stuck to the surface with a single edge razor or such.

thank every one 4 the help