Veneer glue for lamination

[Michael Merrill]

I'm making a project that uses about 7-9 strips of 1/32 resawn maple approx 3/4 wide, where I form it into a mold that makes a pretty good radius. I would guess the radius is about 5-6in radius and it bends about 60 degrees.

I've built this item before and used Titebond but bought Pro-Glue Veneer Bond Dry Resin thinking it would have better open time to get the strips all covered and positioned.

Is this the right use of this product? Is it strong? The Titebond worked but it was a race to get things together.

[Bill Arnold]

It sounds like that product is similar to DAP Plastic Resin Glue, which I've used for many bentwood laminations. I use my vacuum press for that type of work. The longer open time and harder cure reduces springback to zero on what I've built.

[Doug Shepard]

I'm not familiar with the resin glue you have but do you know what color it dries? Most of the ones I've seen or used are a darker color and likely to show a line against maple. I'd be inclined to use epoxy (West, sys3, etc) for this one.

[Frank Drew]

Michael,

I'm not familiar with that glue, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be perfectly fine for the application. You might contact the manufacturer to see what they say.

FWIW, I have had good luck using Weldwood's Plastic Resin Glue on laminations.

[Bill Arnold]

A bit of advice from experience: The DAP (Weldwood) PRG gives directions for measuring the water and powder by volume but recommends measuring by weight. I used it initially by volume and it was OK but I bought a small scale and found it much easier to get the right consistency. The issue is the powder is so fine that it packs easily so the volume measurement can be inaccurate.

[Jamie Buxton]

For bent lamination, urea-formaldehyde works well. It provides a much longer working time than PVA (for instance, Titebond), and it doesn't have the creep issue of PVA. Some brands are that DAP Weldwood Plastic Resin, Unibond 800, and the Pro-Glue stuff. All urea-formaldehydes have cautions about the minimum temperature for use, which you should pay attention to. The stuff really doesn't cure if the shop is too cold. Take the work inside the house.

[Bill Arnold]

... The stuff really doesn't cure if the shop is too cold. Take the work inside the house.
Or put an electric blanket over the assembly. ;)

[Frank Drew]

Jamie is right about the temperature sensitivity of this glue, and I've used the electric blanket method Bill mentions.

[kenneth kayser]

Nothing that I have found comes close to epoxy for long open time and gap filling.

[Jamie Buxton]

Epoxy works as well as urea-formaldehyde for bent laminations. Like UF, it has a long open time, and doesn't have the creep issue. UF has two advantages over epoxy. First, it costs about one third of epoxy. Second, warm soapy water will clean it off mixing and spreading equipment before it has cured. There are solvents that clean epoxy from tools, but then you have a toxic waste disposal issue. I generally just throw away any tools that epoxy has touched. If your project is small, these two are small issues. But if you're doing bigger projects, they matter.

[Walter Plummer]

At our shop we found out plain white vinegar will clean up West System epoxy very nicely. No acetone required. I think it should work on any epoxy. Still have waste to deal with but not as nasty.

[John Lucas]

Unibond 80 is sold by Venner Press and is the only g lue I use for vacuum bag projects. It is pricey but the end product makes it worth it.

http://vacupress.com/veneerglue.htm is the glue page and there is other info on it.