Anyone still using a balsa stripper?

[David perry 1]

I used to have one but maybe it was me...it didnt seem.to well very well.

Is there a good balsa stripper on the market folks use these days?

I think my old one was a SLEC unit. Maybe I didnt try hard enough...

David

[Martin Gay]

David,

I have two SLEC balsa strippers, one set at 1/4" and one at 3/16" as these are the common strip sizes that I use.

They have been heavily utilised recently as I have built a number of planked fuselages.

Martin.

[Jimbo565]

Same as Martin,I have two Slec strippers and could not do without them,

Jim

[Peter Miller]

I use the Master Airscrew one,it is also made under another name but without going upstairs to check I can't remember that (I have both.)

[Maurice Dyer]

SLEC for me : twenty odd years old and still in use most days. Nothing much to go wrong with em.

[Broken Prop]

I used to use a Kavan balsa stripper but was converted to the Avicraft version a few years back. A different concept but easy to set up and use with no jamming as the blade is set with a 2 degree run-out. Takes standard scalpel blades.

Available on Ebay under 'acrylic balsa stripper' or through J Perkins.

Pete

[Cuban8]

I used my Master Airscrew stripper yesterday to cut some very firm 1/4 square strips. I prefer it to the SLEC one that I found rather awkward to use given its size when I tried one out that a friend has. The MA being more compact gives better control and having a universal adjustment also works better for me. No right or wrong, whichever one prefers.

[bert baker]

I got two as well,,,

But being heavy handed I didn’t get the results I was after,

wood often curled up and width was a bit variable

I purchased a mini craft table saw and never looked back

[Alan Hilton]

Same as Bert I use a proxxon table saw as I couldn’t get on with a Slec stripper

Alan

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Very happy with my Master Airscrew one although I did have to make a new blade fixing strap a few years ago. Simple, effective and flexible range.

[Bob Cotsford]

I still use my MA style stripper occasionally though I find the only way to get usable strip from 3/16" or thicker wood is to take one half depth cut from each side. I like the idea of the Slec one, but it's finding space to permanently fix a 1M rail.

[David Hall 9]

I have a need for some balsa strips, and I have a balsa plank that has been in my loft for around 20yrs. It is an offcut from wood used to build theatrical sets. The plank is about a metre long, 100mm wide, is bowed in both length and width and varies in thickness from around 6mm at the ends to around 12mm in the middle.

I have 3D printed a balsa stripper and will soon set forth on a stripping andventure, trying to produce a variation of balsa strips... just as soon as I work out how to start on a 6-12mm sheet with a stripper that can manage 6-7mm thickness.

Some of the strips will be used as longerons and tips for a vintage model, the wood will be steamed to get it to bend (another adventure for me).

[Karl-Georg Krafft]

das IMy balsa stripper: a piece of 30x20mm wood, two m 3 bolts ,nuts and washers, different spacers (1mm, 1.5mm and 2mm ply) and a cutting blade. Simple, cheap, but effective.

[Engine Doctor]

I still have one but have not used it in ages as its only any good on very thin stuff ,anything thicker and it didn't cut square. The last small models I built , a Frog 45 and a Auster both for Frog 1.5 power and 2 ch radio I used a straight edge and a scalpel .Any strips I need I now use my trusty band-saw .

[Stephen Jones]

Hi, i still use a balsa stripper from Slec.

But i find the guide that it comes with no good and i have to use a block to keep it at 90 degrees it works perfect this way.

I guess a large block of wood will work just as well as Karl-Georg Kraft has shown.

Steve.

[David perry 1]

Thanks guys. Glad Im not the only heavy handed thug who struggled with a stripper. I'll have a look at the mentioned ones and the saw too. I do have a small disc saw, modellers sort, but pretty sure the blad wobbles too much to cut thin strip.

Thanks again

[gangster]

I have used a slec one since the 1980s. Wonderful tool. Finally a few years ago it warped in the hot sun by a window. I replaced it but still use the original track

[Peter Miller]

KAVAN! That was the name of my other Master Airscrew version

One dodge when cutting thin sheet for capstrips with the Kavan stripper is to push a scrap of 3/16" sheetup the blade to hold the thinner sheet down.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Chris Walby]

Another SLEC user.

If you don't have one it makes life way more difficult.

[Keith Sharples]

I have a Slec stripper which was good but I had issues with variance of thickness of the strips I cut. I now have a Proxxon KS 230 bench saw, to my mind it's a no brainer not to have one. It cuts perfect strips every time. would'nt be with out it now.

[Steven Webb (Steve Webb Models)]

Slec and Master Airscrew and a home made one that a pal made me - The home made one mounts to a Black and Decker Work Mate Bench. Its metal channel and blade. Very good. The Slec would have been my favourite until the home made one was given me. The wood pushes through it. I just realised I don't know where it is or I'd have photo'd it. Locked down at the house and it might be at the store.

I did get a couple of Perspex CNC cut ones off eBay, I have not found them very good. Not compared to the Slec one any how.

Steve

[kc]

What's needed is a stripper to produce angled cuts for trailing edge. The SLEC one can be used for angled cuts by having a another baseboard on the opposite side of the channel strip which can be adjusted to the angle with wedges.

[Brian Cooper]

Yup, I have a SLEC stripper. It's not perfect, but it does a fairly good job.

[Steven S]

I use my Proxxon for stripping spruce and fir, but I use my V-Mar stripper for balsa.