Gluing sheets of plywood qestion

[Mark Pope]

I am making a solid core bed frame. The headboard is 84" x 60" x 4". To get the 4" thickness I intend to glue up several 3/4" and 1/2" sheets of plywood. I intend to use A-1 mahogany venered sheets for the outsides.

I plan to to glue and screw the sheets together except for the last one. How can I attach the last sheet? If I use wood glue I must clamp it. Can someone provide a link/instructions on how to clamp this to apply even pressure. Obviously hand clamps will only secure the outside 3".

Should I consider using different bonding material, such as a poly glue or contact cement that don't require claming?

I really don't want to glue and screw the last sheet on and glue veneer to it.

I live in Sacramento, CA. Does anyone know of a commerical woodshop that can bag and vacuum the sheets?

Thanks.

[JackD]

That headboard is going to weigh a ton. (actually only about 500 lbs.) Why do you want to do such a thing? I'd make it hollow core unless you are a gorilla and have a gorilla friend to help you move it. It is flat so lay it on a flat surface and use some weights on the top (buckets of sand or even dirt or water will work)

-Jack

[George M. Kazaka]

Okay I have to ask, Why 4" thick , or should I ask ???

But to answer your question make the last one your first one, screw from the back and layer from front to back If you do not want screw holes in the back contact a clean sheet of 1/4" something to cover it all

[Bob S.]

Do a search for Torsion Box construction and then use your good sheet as the side that shows. Also lookup Cauls - these will be clamped at the ends but due to their shape (slight convex) will press down in the middle - or wherever the caul contacts the surface depending on how you make the caul.

Bob S.

[Charles Spitzer]

talk to boat repair places.

[John McCoy]

[e-mail] (Mark Pope) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I would use Epoxy. Instead of clamping, just pile weights on top (cinder blocks, or whatever's handy). Unlike yellow glue, Epoxy is gap filling, and does not require a firm contact between the two parts being glued.

Caveat here is that if you use too much concentrated weight, you might end up with some wavy-ness in the result.

An alternative might be to screw the last sheet, remove the screws, drill out the holes, and plug them (which is commonly done in boat building). With some planning this could have a decorative effect.

Vacuum bagging is the best solution for this. Look for a local boatshop in the phone book.

John

(who, like everyone else, is wondering what you need a 4" thick solid headboard for)

[Phisherman]

Your headboard will weigh a lot! I'd make 3.5" thick grid of thin ply or even cardboard and secure the shell with traditional joinery. You'll get 95% of the strength of the solid piece.

But, if you still want to sandwich all these together... You could use yellow carpenter' s glue and weigh the assembly using sand bags, cans of paint, rocks, 5-gallon buckets of water, etc, gluing one layer at a time on a flat surface. I've done this--the glue will dries much slower than expected so have patience with the cure time.

[Luigi Zanasi]

On 7 Nov 2003 12:40:39 -0800, [e-mail] (Mark Pope) scribbled

Like others have said, consider a torsion box design. It would be much lighter and almost as strong.

To glue the top sheet, you could use go-sticks. These are pieces of wood that go from your panel to the ceiling at a slight angle. Pressure is created by the sticks being a little too long and jamming them against the ceiling. I made a 40'X92' torsion box table. To glue the plywood, I jammed vertical 2X4's against the joists, they sat on

2X10's lying flat on top of several sheets of plywood which were on top of the plywood I was gluing to the torsion box grid pattern.

I'll just post a series of pictures to ABPF & ABPW to show the process I used. Been wanting to do that for a while, anyway.

Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address

[Bay Area Dave]

That was nice of you to post on ABPW but I only see 3 pictures out of the lot. Could you let me know if you were intended to send more pictures to go with the text? thanks!

dave

Luigi Zanasi wrote:

[Mark Pope]

Thanks for the advice, and for it I owe you an answer for the thickness. I built a sleighbed using the torsion box design. The curls at each end have a diameter of 12 inches. I used wigglewood and then veneer. It was time intensive. I don't have the luxury of time for this project and need to finish it quickly, call me lazy. I am removing a rectangle area from the head board and footboard and replacing it with a framed lattice. The area is 30" x 76". The head board won't weigh more that 370 lbs based on a posting I read that

3/4" plywood weighs about 65lb.

Sorry for the boring answer. I have no intentions of securing restraints to it. :-) I have three children under 8 that show up at all times during the night.

[JackD]

Some restraints on THEIR bed may be in order, but then you might end up with more children under 8.

-Jack

[Charles Spitzer]

building jets in your spare time on that table?

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 13:13:17 -0700, "Charles Spitzer" queried:

^^^^^^^

Oops! Can I blame it on a stuck shift key? 'Snot my fault, honest. :-)

Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" twice in reply address for real email address