Need veneering advice...

Re: Need veneering advice...

Phil Winn

>ScottS.

Check out this Veneering forum:

www.vacupress.com/forum.htm

and website

www.vacupress.com

Phil

My experience with cold presses

Felix B

>Hi Scott,

I am in the same boat, exploring the sea of veneering :) I am currently working on a project, a pedestal desk. To make a long story short, most of the visible parts are veneered.

Prior to this project I had no veneering experience and as you can imagine, I had to learn things as I went along. When I began looking into various methods of applying veneer, I had the same questions and concerns.

At that time I decided to go with a simple clamp setup (cold press) which worked ok for flat surfaces - I had no troubles veneering 2' X 2' panels (sides of the pedestals). I used hardwood stretchers in order to distribute pressure all the way across the panel. The drawback here was a setup - it was difficult to clamp the damn thing by myself :) But in the end - there was no voids or hollows under the veneer, so that's good.

Dealing with the curves (drawers have concave faces) was different. The drawer fronts made of thin plies, pressed in mold in order to achieve the shape. Even with a bunch of clamps, I found it difficult to distribute the pressure across the surface when mold was clamped. This caused some variation in thickness, resulting in few remakes...

Since I have more veneering to do for the desk and I got some extra $$$ as results of few recent projects, last night I said "the hell with the cold press" and ordered the vacuum system...

However, cold press is not a bad setup - it just takes time to figure out details... like with anything else.

That's my story :)

Good luck!

Felix

Re: Need veneering advice...

Keith Newton

>Vacuum bagging is by far the easiest way, and it does not need to cost a lot of money to get into it. Two of the pumps that I use were salvaged free, from old grocery store refrigeration.

You may even be able to use your air-compressor. All it takes is, remove the air-filter, and change the plumbing to accept a hose barb, then open the tank.If you want to try this get back to me for more info.

For a project this size, you can buy a box of 80 drum size plastic liners for around $10. They measure about 3' x 4.5', which would be good for parts up to about 32" x about 42", if you work with the form outside of the bag.

Re: Need veneering advice...

Ted Wong

>You may want to try this stuff out:

http://www.joewoodworker.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=738

Re: Ditto

Grant Smith

>I am about to take the plunge on one of his kits to build a venturi style vacuum pump. I am doing this with an eye towards veneering, curved panels, and making water skis.

I am figuring on about a $350 investment up front, but the system should serve me well for a long time. I am tentatively planning on building the "V2" pump system.

Another option is offerings from WoodHaven, which are more ready to go out of the box.

Good Luck!

Grant in Iowa

Re: Need veneering advice...

ScottS

>Finding a pump seems to be the key... and I haven't had much luck with it. I've looked at the projects and DIY kits on the Joe Woodworker site. Seems like they all need an expensive pump or a new compressor (my little pancake just doesn't have the juice). I've been browsing eBay for vacuum pumps, but most of the ones I've seen have been $100+, which probably puts the final cost of the system in the $250-300 range. Which is why the $40 veneer hammer, hide glue, and using my old Crockpot to heat the glue looked like an attractive alternative!

Re: Need veneering advice...

ScottS

>I actually bought a pint of Heat Lock glue for a previous project, but never got around to using it. Sounds almost too good to be true! I wonder what the long-term durability is like? Unfortunately, the bottle I have has been sitting on the shelf for over a year so it might not be good anymore. I'm planning to build a small-scale prototype using whatever method I come up with, so maybe I'll buy another bottle and give it a try at that point...

Another thing about eBay vacuum pumps

Felix B

>especially those that came from medical facilities - if the have not been cleaned properly, they may be contaminated... just a thought

Re: Need veneering advice...

Ted Wong

>I don't know how well it works either. But from others I know who have tried the glue and heat method with regular wood glue or hide glue it is a viable alternative.