I am curious as to how long I need to leave a glued-up panel in clamps before I can remove the clamps and safely run it through a portable thickness planer. Glue used is Titebond original glue. It's been a little over 4 hours now and I think it is ready, but wonder if I need wait 24 hours before safely proceeding with the cleanup.
Brian
Depends a little on weather conditions in your area to some degree.
4 hours may be ok, but if its a crucial project, I'd be more inclined to wait overnight for the glue to finish curing.I also recently had a panel glue up situation with Titebond, and there was a noticable visual and tactile difference in the glue lines between a 4 hour and 24 hour waiting period.
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grab time is about 20 minutes, but it's still a bit fragile at that point. at 4 hours you can safely take it out of the clamps, though I'd still handle it carefully until tomorrow. Bridger
Keep it in the clamps until tomorrow ... not necessarily for the "glue to dry", but to keep problems showing up in the next day or so along the glue line.
As the glue dries, it absorbs moisture from the surrounding wood, said wood will have a tendency to shrink as the moisture is removed. If you plane/mill it too soon, you may find yourself with a depression along the glue line because of the material you removed too soon.
Doesn't always happen, just often enough to make you wish you'd had more patience.
Rule of thumb is to let the glue cure at least 24 hours before milling, planing. If I leave it in the clamps overnight, it removes all temptation.
Just my experience ...
An hour is plenty to unclamp (much less actually), but working it is another thing. I like 24 hours before running through a planer. You risk shrink lines at your joints if you plane or sand too soon.
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I like your answer about shrinkage and now I remember seeing this comment in the past. I just thought I was being paranoid about not "getting on with it". I will wait for tomorrow, but with a limited number of clamps, this panel making could take a long time.
Thanks to ALL for ALL the responses.
Brian
I've done the same after 4 hours or so. Squeeze out is a factor. If you've got a lot of soft glue it may make a mess of the planer and surface. The glue joints themselves should be pretty set at 4 hours, at normal 70 degree F temps and average humidity.
If you've got a lot of squeeze out, I'd remove it with a sharp chisel, let things dry a bit more and then go for it.
I usually clean up any squeeze out with a sharp chisel at about the one hour mark, when the glue is at approximately booger consistency.
Barry
Let it cure for the 24hrs would be my advice
John
Barry;
Thanks for the advise. Actually, I used a cabinet scraper at about the 3 hour mark to remove the squeeze out glue.
Brian
| >Brian | | I've done the same after 4 hours or so. Squeeze out is a factor. | If you've got a lot of soft glue it may make a mess of the planer and | surface. The glue joints themselves should be pretty set at 4 hours, | at normal 70 degree F temps and average humidity. | | If you've got a lot of squeeze out, I'd remove it with a sharp chisel, | let things dry a bit more and then go for it. | | I usually clean up any squeeze out with a sharp chisel at about the | one hour mark, when the glue is at approximately booger consistency. | | Barry |
Barry wrote:>I usually clean up any squeeze out with a sharp chisel at about the
Yes, don't let the squeeze-out cure too much, or you'll risk tear-out of the material when scraping the dried glue off.DAMHIKT. Tom Someday, it'll all be over....
I wait overnight before machining a glue up.
I usually let it set overnight also. Another suggestion is to buy more clamps! :-)
Jerry Gilreath responds:
I'd unclamp at 4 hours, but I wouldn't machine or handle heavily (scrape glue lines) for another 8-10 hours. According to Franklin, Titebond needs 45-60 minutes of clamp time. Allowing for variables, 4 times the max figure seems a good safety margin, but I don't think I'd want to stress the result before the
12 hours (IIRC) they recommend. Charlie Self "Character is much easier kept than recovered." Thomas PaineHomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.