Glue Press

[Mark Jerde]

Instead of pipe clamps. Tom's done it again.

-- Mark

[Bob S.]

Wow ! With 90,000lbs of pressure he could squeeze out the juice from any fruit tree woods.....

Bob S.

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

Why kiln dry it when you can squeeze it?

That is one beefy looking tool. Keep them fingers clear!

Barry

[Bay Area Dave]

wonder if he ever feeds it grapes?

dave

Mark Jerde wrote:

[Charles Erskine]

5 tons over 48 by 96 inches is equal to 10,000 pounds over 4608 square inches is equal to about 2.2 pounds per square inch. That's about 4.5 inches of mercury if you used a vacuum bag instead of a mechanical press...and the pressure would be MUCH more even.

more on the concept of vacuum bagging here:

[Mark & Juanita]

Only thing missing is some kind of cross-clamping mechanism to maintain alignment.

[Jim Wilson]

Where did your numbers come from? It's not a laminating press...

Jim

[Mike in Mystic]

That thing looks pretty cool, but exactly what applications would you use it for? It looks to be good only for face gluing a lot of narrow boards. Do you know if he mass produces butcher block tops or something? Still, his mechanical skills and creativity are pretty inspiring.

Mike

[Alan McClure]

from the OPs link?

What I see is a stack of long thin boards being edge glued to make a bench or counter top.

2" x 96" at 10,000 lb. is 33.78 psi which is over twice what a vacuum system can produce.

Assuming that Tom's press is 6" x 96", at 90,000 lbs, and maximum piece thickness he can apply over 156 psi to the piece. (over 10 BAR)

Stick that in your vacuum press and smoke it!

Vacuum presses are nice for gluing veneer but don't work well for edge gluing.

ARM