Instructions for making Noah s Ark Puzzles · Thank you for purchasing these patterns for making Noah !s Ark Jigsaw Boats. I designed these arks in 1983 and surprisingly they are

Instructions for making Noah!s Ark Puzzles

Design by Philip Lowndes !! ! ! ! ! ! ! © Philip Lowndes 2008

[email protected]

http://web.mac.com/plowndes

Thank you for purchasing these patterns for making Noah!s Ark Jigsaw Boats. I designed these arks in 1983 and surprisingly they are an idea that has not been thought of before. They have been admired by all who see them and in the 1980s I sold hundreds as heirlooms.

First a word on safety. These puzzles are designed to be robust but if made of natural wood it is possible that pieces will break off if dropped or chewed. For this reason these patterns are offered for the construction of heir-loom artifacts, beautiful objects to be looked at and admired. They are not designed or recommended as chil-dren!s toys. The small arks have small pieces which make them inherently unsuitable for small children.

The purchase of these plans gives you the right to make as many arks as you desire for personal use and gifts. These arks also have a good commercial value and create a lot of interest at craft shows etc. If these arks are resold please pay me a royalty as described on my web site. Currently £1 ($2) per small ark, £1.50 ($3) per me-dium ark and £2 ($4) per large ark.

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Materials

WoodI made my arks from quality pine. In the UK this can be bought ready finished in various sizes. When purchasing wood ensure there are not too many knots and that there are no longitudinal cracks which would weaken the deck sections.As the finished wood is planed it has differing widths at purchase and some small adjustment to the patterns is necessary to accommodate this. Close grained hardwoods could also be used and if a particularly robust ark is required high quality birch ply could be used.

GlueNot much glue is required as these boats stack together but it is essential to strongly bond the bows to the bot-tom deck pieces.I use good quality PVA wood glue which forms a bond which is stronger than the wood. Epoxy glues could also be used.

PaintsI used acrylic airbrush paints when I made batches to these arks. I have also successfully used water colours and artists acrylics. The water colours which come as a gouache in pots give an excellent effect if applied thinly and later varnished with polyurethane varnish with the grain of the wood showing through the paint.

FinishThe animals are best finished with several coats of polyurethane varnish, sanded between coats.The wooden decks are best finished with a wax polish.

Construction

The easiest ark to start on is the medium ark. I will describe how to make this one. The others use the same principle.

For the bows 20mm planed dimension pine is required and the decks require 14-15mm pine.It is important to measure the wood you have and adjust the plans accordingly.

First cut the deck pieces.Cut out the paper deck templates and paste onto the wood using a glue stick. It is important to adjust the width of the slots according to the width of the bow timber.

The bottom 2 slots (6 &7) should be a tight fit on the bows as these will be bonded. The other decks should be a loose fit to enable the decks to be easily stacked but not so loose as to make the ark lose its shape.

Next adjust the bows to fit the thickness of the deck planks. This is more difficult than the deck slots and once done should be checked by making a cardboard template and checking that it fits against the stacked deck pieces. An easy way of adjusting the size of the bows to fit the wood is to make a screen shot on your computer and stretch the image to fit.

The boat can now be loosely assembled and once you are happy that it fits together well the animals can be cut out. Be sure to keep the saw blade upright so that the animal does not bind in its placement hole.

Tight fit

Loose fit

The cabin

If you have access to a bandsaw it is easier to use this to cut the roof pieces in one stack. Otherwise they can be cut on a scroll saw with an angled work plate. Note the profiles required on the pat-tern.Cut end pieces to a width that allows the cabin insert with the tou-can to slide in easily.The giraffe piece is fitted by cutting the giraffe and then using this as a template to cut a piece out of the cabin section. The 2 remain-ing parts can be glued in place once the ark is constructed.

Finishing.All pieces can now be sanded smooth and to give good profiles.Painting examples for the animals can be found at the end of the instructions.

Assembly.The most critical part of the assembly is gluing the bow pieces so that they are robust and also square to allow a good fit for the deck pieces. Once these are glued and firm the ark comes together very quickly and the cabin is simply glued in place leaving only the toucan section and the giraffe loose.Paint and varnish the roof and animals and the ark is complete.Well done.

1) Cut a block of roof sections.Mark roof angle along block.Cut block with bandsaw, or tablesaw. Other-wise cut each section on scollsaw and plane block to finish.2)Use one of the off cuts to make the eaves.3) Cut each section to size as per the pattern

Large Arks

The assembly of the large ark is much the same as for the medium ark.The roof sections are more difficult to cut as there is an overhang at each end of the cabin.

The plans show only half of each deck piece to fit them onto the pa-per. Print twice and assemble on the wood.

Note that in the large ark the bottom section 9 is made of 8mm wood.

Small arks

Use 8mm thick wood.As the tolerances are smaller it is important to be accurate in cutting the slots in the decks and positioning the bows. Note that the ends of the cabin stand beyond the side pieces and are chamfered to fit.

Large Ark Animals painting suggestion

Medium Ark Animals painting suggestion

Small Ark Animals painting suggestion

© Philip Lowndes 2008

Large Ark Patterns

Large Ark


Large Ark

Layer 1


Large Ark

Layer 2


Large Ark

Layer 3


Large Ark

Layer 4


Large Ark

Layer 5


Large Ark

Layer 6


Large Ark

Layer 7


Large Ark

Level 8 Base


Note 8mm pine

Large Ark Bows



Large Ark cabin 1

Large Ark cabin 2

Giraffe cut-out


2X


Large Ark cabin 3, giraffe, zebra and elephant

Elephant for rear cabin wall

2X


Large Ark cabin profile and end piece


Medium Ark Patterns

Medium Ark

Overview


Medium Ark

Layer 1


Medium Ark

Layer 2


Medium Ark

Layer 3


Medium Ark

Layer 4


Medium Ark

Layer 5


Medium Ark

Layer 6, 7 and bows

Grain direction

Medium Ark

Cabin 1


Grain direction

Grain

2X

2X

Medium Ark

Cabin 1 and 2 and end piece



Small Ark Patterns

Small Ark


Grain

2X2X

Small Ark 2


Documents

Instructions for making Noah s Ark Puzzles · Thank you for purchasing these patterns for making Noah !s Ark Jigsaw Boats. I designed these arks in 1983 and surprisingly they are