help, I feel stumped!

[Jerry Nettrour]

I am building a very nice wall unit entertainment center for a customer. It is large at 14' long. Near the ends there are pillars. I basically built two boxes that stand 65" tall and 12" wide and 24" deep. The front of these boxes the customer wanted 1/2 rounds out of maple to give the look of a 'pillar'. I built a form at the front of the box, then I laminated maple vaneer over it. The vaneer did not come out great. This is my first attempt at anything like this. My first attempt at applying vaneer also. I cannot let the job go like this and discussed it with the customer. He wants me to purchase an actual pillar 12" in diameter and cut it in 1/2 giving me two 1/2 rounds, then put those 1/2 rounds on the front of the box. This would then give 6" thick at the thickest point. I am unable to find any place to provide one pillar made of maple to fit these dimensions. I had one quote of around $1000.00 which would kill the budget on this job.

I have considered cutting several 3/4" by 1" styles and cutting some angle such as maybe 22.5 degree and glueing them up thus forming the radious of a circle. Then I would just need to use a belt sander to sand down the points to form a constant curve. Since I have never done this it would be mostly trial and error and probably a lot of headache.

I am posting a pic of the wall unit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jerry

[Per Swenson]

Hey Man,

There are a number of ways to skin this cat.

Yes you could do a glue up as you suggested but unless you jig

it so it spins, (sort of a long lathe), you are not going to come out

round with a belt sander. We make colums on a lathe with a ROS

The easy way is bendable ply, do a search on that or look into this.

bendable substrate which you can veneer too. (http://www.outwatercatalogs.com/2008_Master/lg_display.cfm?page_number=492&target=top)

Per

[Alan Schaffter]

Two other options in addition to bendable ply-

1. Since your radius is not too tight bend 1/8" thin Maple ply over a half dozen or so MDF half-circle formers. (radius= 6" minus thickness of your ply)

2. Use 1/2" - 3/4" maple veneer ply (or solid maple edge glued)- 65" long by approx 19" wide (half circumference= 1/2 X pi X diameter= .5 X 3.14159 X 12"= 18.8495"). Cut multiple lengthwise kerfs, spaced 1/8" - 1/4" or so apart, and deep enough so there is only about 1/8" of stock left. Bend the wood over half-circle MDF formers.

Of course, there is the coopering method that you allude to, but that would require a BIG lathe to turn it to a smooth semicircular shape.

[Matt Robinette]

What if you used maple plywood and cut kerf cuts in the back to get it to curve. Then cut culls out of plywood to get the desired shape. Attach maple plywood to culls with brads and glue. It should be quite strong.

[Matt Robinette]

Yea what allen said. I need to type faster ..lol

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's a source for curved components: http://www.aitwood.com/StoreFront.Asp?WoodType=PAINTGRADE&CATID=10&Section=COLUMN&wDesc=Columns%2096%20inches%20Tall%20Paint%20Grade

They can supply large-diameter tubes, and even supply them already veneered.

[Warren E. Johnson]

Your approach using segments with 22.5 degree bevels and belt sanding can work. I built a dresser with 6 in. radius quarter rounds using this approach and it looks good.

Warren

[Dick Strauss]

Jerry,
Where are you located? I might know someone that could do this for you in the NW OH/SE MI are.

You may want to post this in the turners forum if you want a staved piece made on the lathe. I know Brian Weick could do this for you in upstate central NY IIRC.

[John Keeton]

Two Since your radius is not too tight bend 1/8" thin Maple ply over a half dozen or so MDF half-circle formers. (radius= 6" minus thickness of your ply)

Alan, wouldn't it be minus twice the thickness of the ply since the ply wraps both ends of the radius?

[Jerry Nettrour]

I am located in San Antonio, Texas. I actually should have posted in wood turners forum, maybe someone could have done this for me, I could have paid them and the shipping. In any case, if not then I will go with the method of using econokore which is an affordable flexiboard, rebuild the form with this material and then redo the maple laminate. This time I will laminate from the back of the box around using a full 4' by 8' sheet of laminate. I found a supplier who sells the maple 4' by 8' flat cut maple for 44.00 per sheet, and then for the peel and stick option just add another 8.00. I think that is a great way to go and I hope for no bubbles or lumps when I am done this time around. There should not be any seem issue because I am using one continuous piece. The lumps on my first try is because I forced a peice of luan to bend at a tighter radius than it wanted to and thus some buckling occured. I then held it in place while fastening staples every 1/16" apart. Anyway, between the luan buckling and my first laminate attempt and having a few bubbles, my experience was unsuccessful. I am hoping armed with more adequate and appropriate bending material I should be successful. I also just used my hands the first time, no 'j' roller or anytihng. Any suggestions with rolling it?



Thanks everyone,

Jerry

[Jim Becker]

I suspect that you'd get a better veneer job if you vacuum bag and use appropriate adhesives...I'd be scared to use "peel and stick" over such a large area without a million perfectly coordinated hands to lay it down even. Perhaps you might want to consider sub contracting the veneer work. Maybe Steve Jenkins up in McKinney could help you with that or suggest a company that can do the work. I know he gets custom veneer sheet goods from a very good supplier.

[David DeCristoforo]

Ditto on the vac press. That or "coopering" the half-rounds. But in either case, this is anything but "simple". Veneering a piece like this without several hands on board using peel and stick veneer is almost sure to end in disaster. And if the substrate is not tight and "perfectly" round and even, any attempt at veneering regardless of the method is going to be "iffy". My advice would be to "sub out" this part of the project or to at least buy pre-formed pieces as suggested above. You need a little more experience to "get the hang" of doing curved work before attempting something like this on a customer's project. BTW, it's good that you are "hanging in there" and doing right by the customer.