how does one cut out panels for a sail without having a machine plot them?
Anyone know of any business that would trace a pattern onto some paper that then could be used as a template for sailcloth?

The way we cut our sails was on a table with a ruler at the bottom and a large carpenters square. That way we could relatively quickly plot the XY coordinates and draw a relatively fair line through the dots.
Getting some templates will be faster I think, but you still need to mark the seamlines for the overlaps/broadseaming, hemming etc. Any shop with access to a plotter can do this for you. Or talk with a local sailmaker and have him sell you the cloth already marked and cut?

Thanks...
I looked at the data printout that one gets from sailcut and seems a little complicated to me (but I haven't really sat down with it for long). I have my jib now from the blade and can take some measurements, etc as a start to make a new jib.

Export your design as a manual plot file, txt file, and it is quite simple. The panels are grouped, and there are two set of coordinates for each panel. One is for the egdes which you cut and the other set is the seamlines (these should fit within the cutlines, if not, something is very, very, wrong )
Manual cutting is best done in dacron, Maxx or Flex in my opinion. What material have you choosen for your design?

preliminary stages at this point. Looking to my next project. I will probably go relatively cheap dacron until I feel like I like the shape. Materials for a dacron jib for an F16 would be half as expensive as a laminate. Any suggestions on weight of dacron?

I would go for 5.4oz dacron if I was experimenting with shapes in relatively light wind. I have not done any such testing though!

As Rolf mentioned 5.4 would be OK but you could probably go as low as 4.2 in a yarn tempered rip stop dacron.
The full length battens do a lot to protect the cloth in the jib as they tend to stop the jib from flogging.
As far as cutting dacron just like cutting glass fabric I have found a rotary cutter very quick and handy. It is also really good at cutting uni directional carbon without disturbing the fibres.
Uni Carbon really doesn't have anything to do with making sails but it is handy to know as when working with Uni carbon it does not like to be handled any more that neccessary.
Good luck with the jib.

Regards,
Phill

If you go down the getting someone to plot templates path make sure they plot on film not paper and draw up a test plot (A large rectangle works well) to check the accuracy of the plotter. Many people believe their plotters are perfect but learn otherwise the hard way.

Very true. However usually errors are small 1-2mm over 5000mm of roll lenght. The nasty part is that the errors are not consistent or repeatable to take them into account and compensate. Of course it depends on machine also, but most of the errors are some times there because over a 5m lenght of roll printed the mechanics inside heat up and the roll will travel more on a dilated feeding roll. Usually errors are in the long dimension, the left-right travel of the print head is usually very accurate.

I can live with those margins.

Good tip on the film instead of paper though. Good paper is often covered with more than 50% CaCO3, so the quality of the paper have a large impact on stability.

Phill,
What's a rotary cutter look like? I'd like a better way to cut carbon cloth and uni!

Dave

Dave,
My good wife uses a rotary cutter to cut material when she is making a quilt. Basically it is an extremely sharp wheel with a plastic handle on it. Anything you push the wheel over it cuts.
I bought one ($45 AUD) and keep it in my workshop for cutting glass and uni carbon. If you need to cut kevlar you can't use it. You can only use kevlar shears or special scissors.
Regards,
Phill

E.g: http://www.olfa.com/splash.aspx

Rolf,
Only diff is mine has a royal blue and black handle.
Basically the exact same thing.
Very handy when cutting lots of cloth.