Ever go to use a sheet of plywood that warped to much to use?

[nickao]

Ever go to use a sheet of plywood that warped to much to use? I occasionally had this problem, now I never do.

My solution was to purchase 1/2 thickness ply sheets of what the project called for. When I need the sheets I glued the two together bad faces in and put them in my vacuum bag. The result, a perfectly flat plywood panel every time and they tend to stay flat for a long time even when stored on edge.

Nickao

Pics to come - I will post results when I take the Inlay out of the press later tonight.

The pictures also show me gluing the inlay on top of the two pieces of ply to be flattened.  You can flatten the ply separately, in this case I did everything in one step.

 

[nickao]

Sorry, I just noticed some of the pictures are blurry, to late to fix them as  they are real time pictures and the project is in the press right now.

The screen or netting you can see over the unit is a way to get equal pressure over the entire surface, that's what the wrinkled look is from.

You can see where the glues is pooling up in two spots. These are the places the seems were not tight enough. Though it looked tight if the glue comes up through I know it was not completely tight. All in all every seem was super tight. If not the glue would be pouring through every seem with 1800 lbs of pressure on it.

Once the glue comes up through the little openings(seems, holes, etc) and hardens, the seams are even tighter!

I love the vacuum press and can not believe I used to mechanically clamp these, that was a pain!

 

[peter halle]

Nick:

Are your visable designs solid wood or veneer?

Peter

 

[nickao]

No it is not veneer in the traditional sense using 1/16 to 1/64" sheets of veneer. It is a veneer in a sense that the hardwood is the veneer on the ply sheet.

It is made like engineered flooring, but my hardwood layer is a lot thicker than  any engineered lumber on the market.The top layer of solid wood a little less than 1/2" thick. I try never to have the "wear layer" less than the "wear layer" on a hardwood floor which is from 1/4 to about 3/8 max".

Upon final sanding it will end up about a 5/16" hardwood layer adhered to the plywood. Then I sand the back of the ply or the face if it is not flat, until I get the thickness required for each individual job.

The wear layer in the picture from the previous post can stand on its owns easily and all the pieces of this compass design are edge glued to one another.

For a really thin floor I use a Fiberglass mesh with epoxy instead of plywood to get down as thin as 3/8" finished for some of the thinner floors on the market.

Below is a side view of a standard inlay, still unsanded on the edge and right out of the press.

Nickao

 

[peter halle]

Nick:

Thank you.  I have not had the time or space to play with my vacuum press but your inspirational posts may lead me to at least take the time.

Peter

 

[nickao]

Thank you and you are welcome!

I just love the press. I actually used 20 boxes of Travertine tile to attach the layers together in the past. It worked and I did it that way for two years.

I have to laugh now, I do not even know how I pulled that off. No one has ever called to complain that an inlay has failed though.

Take a look at the ply the competition uses I think it is clear which is better(both inlays are the same thickness, mine has about 5 more ply layers). I think the layers are a lot tighter on my ply and it is made for exterior application using waterproof, NOT water resistant glue. Its worth taking the time to flatten the sheets to make my own ply.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I don't have a vacuum press, and don't do much veneering.  When I need to do so, I use bags of lead shot to apply the pressure.  The shot comes in 25 lb cloth bags at shooting supplies stores, for people who shoot trap and skeet and do their own reloading.  Because the shot are small round pellets and in a cloth bag, the load is fairly well spread out across the area.  My last use of this technique was to repair some delamination of a ~50 year old oak parquet floor (Bruce flooring), which is in the form of ~9" x 9" T&G plywood tiles.  The top decorative oak layer had come unbonded in a few tiles.

Dave R.

 

[Notorious T.O.D.]

Works great right up until the bag tears or rips.....  last time I bought shot it was about 50 cents a pound....wonder what it costs now...at least it doesn't go bad with age....

Best,
Todd

 

[nickao]

The bag should not rip. I use 30 mil Duramax poly and use a breather mesh, not a rip in 4 years with the same bag.

I started a frame press, no more sliding the stuff in! I just lift the top(lid), place the stuff in and drop the top down. I'll post pics when I finish.

 

[nickao]

I don't have a vacuum press, and don't do much veneering.  When I need to do so, I use bags of lead shot to apply the pressure.  The shot comes in 25 lb cloth bags at shooting supplies stores, for people who shoot trap and skeet and do their own reloading.  Because the shot are small round pellets and in a cloth bag, the load is fairly well spread out across the area.  My last use of this technique was to repair some delamination of a ~50 year old oak parquet floor (Bruce flooring), which is in the form of ~9" x 9" T&G plywood tiles.  The top decorative oak layer had come unbonded in a few tiles.

Dave R.

Now that is a new one for me!

 

[Eli]

Thanks Nick. I love your inlay technique posts. I really appreciate you sharing what must be hard won knowledge.

 

[nickao]

No never. I am using thick 1/4" to 3/4" thick wood, not traditional veneer. The woods I use do not dent very easily and yes I also do a final sanding that would sand it out anyhow. Plus I use a mesh over the project which in itself helps prevent a dent.

If I were using a traditional thin veneer at the point of the valve yes I would use a little 1/8" thick piece of ply maybe 4" x 4" and put the mesh over that.

Nick

 

[bruegf]

Vacuum bagging is a great way to do so many things.  My father has a 4x8 bag that I've used a number of times for everything from gluing veneer to repairing the rudder on a 30' sailboat.  He's had the same bag for about 15 years now and has only had to apply one small (1" dia or so) patch in all that time.

Fred

 

[nickao]

I have both 30 mil Poly and 30 Mil vinyl, I own about 7 different bags and am almost done making a large frame press, using poly.

The poly is so strong my kids walk right over it with their shoes on as do I and it still never ripped. It only has one small pin hole I caused from a very sharp edge before I started using the breather mesh.

The poly is the strongest and it is more pliable, the vinyl is much stiffer. My smaller bags are vinyl 48" x 48" and smaller, the larger bags are poly up to 84" x 122".