Thread: What to do with a plank

Originally Posted by czk

lot's of ideas on here, take one plank, slice it up and stick it back together...

http://www.walktheplank.dk/

I did a short course with Erling Christoffersen last year and this was one of the pictures that he showed.

http://www.walktheplank.dk/udstillin...offersenE.html

Big thumbs up for that addy Some real insperation their

And what was the course you done:confused: do tell

here's the flyer
http://www.issinstitute.org.au/train...g_workshop.pdf

basically about molded timber furniture (ie, make your own plywood )
it was three days and went through design, materials, building rolled steel formwork, vacuum pressing etc. All very hands on.

Not really long enough to complete anything complex but at least you get a really good grounding in the techniques and a ton of ideas from Erling.

Excellent site. I'm envious of you doing the course - must have been great.

Originally Posted by czk

here's the flyer
http://www.issinstitute.org.au/train...g_workshop.pdf

basically about molded timber furniture (ie, make your own plywood )
it was three days and went through design, materials, building rolled steel formwork, vacuum pressing etc. All very hands on.

Not really long enough to complete anything complex but at least you get a really good grounding in the techniques and a ton of ideas from Erling.

CZ If your fingers are up to some typing, can you give us a good run down on rolled steel formwork, im very curious

Originally Posted by czk

lot's of ideas on here, take one plank, slice it up and stick it back together...

http://www.walktheplank.dk/

I did a short course with Erling Christoffersen last year and this was one of the pictures that he showed.

http://www.walktheplank.dk/udstillin...offersenE.html

Hi CZK,
Just looked at this - wow!, I just love that curved sun lounger, and that very simple, but rather elegant chair. Great stuff. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

Hi CZK,
Just looked at this - wow!, I just love that curved sun lounger, and that very simple, but rather elegant chair. Great stuff. Thanks!

Steve check out the Z-Style stool/chair on Pg; 29.

I would love to have ago at that, its so sooo cool

WOW!!
I like the Looooong Chair;
Number 4 or there abouts.

Originally Posted by Ivan in Oz

WOW!!
I like the Looooong Chair;
Number 4 or there abouts.

Relaxing is the word. just looked at it and it took 168 joints to make... no wonder

Originally Posted by Lignum

CZ If your fingers are up to some typing, can you give us a good run down on rolled steel formwork, im very curious

might need to move this?

The principles are very simple but getting it right is tricky (all a bit agricultural really)

note that using this method you can't really do compound curves (like making a bowl) and you probably won't get good results on curves smaller than about 50mm radius unless you use really thin veneers or adifferent type of press

start with a full size drawing of the shape you want. A scale drawing is ok but full size just makes it easier.

figure out the length and width of the material needed. So if you have a "U" shape how long (and wide) would it be if you flattened it out. add say 50-100mm all round to allow for trimming up. Then add about another 150-200mm all round to give you the rough size of the sheet steel that you need.
You can go bigger but you will need at least this amount so you can stick the vaccuum bag down, especially if you're doing more than about 5 laminations.

cut a sheet of steel to the size you've figured out. The thickness of the steel is a bit arbitrary, for small items it can be thinner but larger ones need thicker steel or it will deform when you attach the vacuum bag.

figure out which way you want the curve(s) to go (up or down) easy if you have a "U" because the steel needs to fit inside the shape. Then go back to your drawing and measure the start and end points of the curves where
they will contact the steel mould. This bit is suprisingly easy to get wrong (for me at least) mainly because it depends on the thickness of the finished piece (number of laminations).

Start from the centre of the sheet and mark out the centre point of you curves, then mark the start and end points. If you have curves going up and down ("S" shaped) then it's a good idea to mark out both sides of the steel.

Now make a template for each of the curves. Nothing special just cut the curve from a piece of cardboard. Again you want the curve that will fit against the mould and this might be convex or concave.

Then comes the black art of rolling the steel to the right shape. Essentially there is an upper and lower drive roller (to move the sheet back and forth) and then a third pressure roller that bends the sheet as it moves through.
by gradually adjusting the height of the pressure roller (and rolling the sheet back and forth) you change the curve on the sheet. you keep doing this until you almost match your template.

You want to get the radius correct but you want the angles to be 3-5 degrees off from your drawing. what happens when you laminate the sheets of veneer together is the curve will increase, for example if you are making a "U" then the legs (arms?) will pull together on the finished piece (I expected they would move apart but they don't). So if you want a 90 degree curve then your mould needs to be around 95 degrees.

Once you've got all the bends in the right places you need to strengthen the mould. Simply trace the curves out onto some chipboard or whatever you have lying around. you could even weld a support frame in if so inclined. Make sure it's properly supported but of course don't put any holes further than about 50mm in from the edges, you want to get a vacuum seal after all...

If you have access to a sheet metal shop then this is very quick, and once you get the hang of it, easy to do. The downside is that it's not as accurate as say using a full press with both male and female moulds, you can't do compound curves and you will not get identical pieces even if you use the same mould.