Arc for curved path

Jim77 · 29 Oct 2008

I'm redesigning the garden to "low maintenance" and want to incorporate a curved path.
I have taken a string line to my boundary fence to draw the arc but the result is too curved. How can I scribe a larger radius arc without having the space for the centre point?

Diyisfun · 29 Oct 2008

I dont think you can unless you make lots of arcs & link them. Why not use a hose pipe, lay it out & just keep moving it till it looks good.

ellal · 29 Oct 2008

Had a similar problem with a curved path down one side of our garden. Drew the relevant piece of arc on a large piece of paper (pieces of lining paper stuck together) where I could get the radius I wanted, and then cut it out to form a template.

^neo^ · 29 Oct 2008

Cant think of a way to get it spot on, but how about laying a hosepipe on the ground and doing it by eye?

Jim77 · 29 Oct 2008

Thank you
Great suggestions. I've triied the hose method and it works, however I want to try the paper template method also for interest and fun.

Thanks again. This is a great place for information

Jim

Symptoms · 29 Oct 2008

Jim - once you've got the curve right (hose method is good) use sand to mark out (easy to correct) unlike marking spray.

Thermo · 29 Oct 2008

you can do it with two fixed pegs at either end of the arc and enough slack in the string to reach the point you want........difficult to describe but fairly easy to do. have a look on the paving expert site, i think he has some diagrams on there.

roberta1000 · 31 Oct 2008

As thermo says use 2 pegs and a loop of string round both pegs and a scribe. This makes an ellipse as opposed to a circle but in many cases this is a better alternative as it can be fitted into any size of rectangle as opposed to a circle which fits best into a square.

Jim77 · 2 Nov 2008

More good advice - thanks.
emmmm - Thermo, Robert, any chance of an "idiot sheet" for this process? I can't quite get my head around it

Symptoms · 2 Nov 2008

Jim - like this:

Untitled

Symptoms
2 Nov 2008
1

the length of string is FCG. This length can be as big as you like depending on the size of your path arc.

Peg the string to the ground at F & G (focal points on the major axis

)and your pencil (or lump of chalk or your scraping stick) is at C. As you move the pencil AGAINST the string it will scribe the path of the ellipse.

IJWS15 · 4 Nov 2008

Draw the garden to scale on a piece of paper, draw the path where you want it.

Take dimensions on the drawing to a series of points on the path as you would map co-ordinates, scale them up and mark these on the garden - this gives you points on the path.

Join the points with a smooth curve.

diynot

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Arc for curved path

roberta1000

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