Dave Easley
04-05-2016, 5:30 AM
Greetings Everybody,
As part of my next project I need to make what amounts to a cylinder, or ring, using bentwood lamination. I want to use my vacuum pump & bag to clamp it up, and would like to do it all at once, as opposed to making two half-cylinders (ie semi-circular arcs) and gluing them together. I don’t know if this is possible though, so I thought I’d run my idea by you all to see what you think, and maybe get some advice. I am new to vacuum clamping.
I plan to resaw some walnut into thin strips, each about 6 inches high and 6 feet long, and scarf the ends of each strip. I’ll take the first strip, bend it around my cylindrical form, glue the scarfed ends together, and put tape at the joint to hold them temporarily until the second strip is installed. Then I’ll apply glue to the inside of the second strip, bend it around the first, remove the tape from the first, and temporarily tape the second strip in place.This will give me a cylinder two layers thick. I’ll repeat until I get the required number of layers. Then I’ll have my cylindrical form wrapped in my desired walnut bentwood cylinder. All this will have to be done pretty quickly so the glue doesn’t set up before it’s clamped. Of course, if I can’t do this fast enough I could always glue up a few layers at a time.
Next, I’ll wrap the cylinder assembly in breather mesh, put it in my vacuum bag, and use the vacuum pump to clamp it all together.
One immediate concern is whether the vacuum clamping technique will allow the scarfed ends to slide over each other to make a nice, tight cylinder. I thought I’d try the whole process without glue first, to see what happens, ie will it just buckle or will it work.
I know the cylinder can be made by making two half cylinders and then gluing them together, but I’d prefer doing it all at once if that’s possible.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to everyone,
Dave
As part of my next project I need to make what amounts to a cylinder, or ring, using bentwood lamination. I want to use my vacuum pump & bag to clamp it up, and would like to do it all at once, as opposed to making two half-cylinders (ie semi-circular arcs) and gluing them together. I don’t know if this is possible though, so I thought I’d run my idea by you all to see what you think, and maybe get some advice. I am new to vacuum clamping.
I plan to resaw some walnut into thin strips, each about 6 inches high and 6 feet long, and scarf the ends of each strip. I’ll take the first strip, bend it around my cylindrical form, glue the scarfed ends together, and put tape at the joint to hold them temporarily until the second strip is installed. Then I’ll apply glue to the inside of the second strip, bend it around the first, remove the tape from the first, and temporarily tape the second strip in place.This will give me a cylinder two layers thick. I’ll repeat until I get the required number of layers. Then I’ll have my cylindrical form wrapped in my desired walnut bentwood cylinder. All this will have to be done pretty quickly so the glue doesn’t set up before it’s clamped. Of course, if I can’t do this fast enough I could always glue up a few layers at a time.
Next, I’ll wrap the cylinder assembly in breather mesh, put it in my vacuum bag, and use the vacuum pump to clamp it all together.
One immediate concern is whether the vacuum clamping technique will allow the scarfed ends to slide over each other to make a nice, tight cylinder. I thought I’d try the whole process without glue first, to see what happens, ie will it just buckle or will it work.
I know the cylinder can be made by making two half cylinders and then gluing them together, but I’d prefer doing it all at once if that’s possible.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to everyone,
Dave