Problem with Laminating Veneer in Flat Press

**andyvan** · 2nd August 2009, 05:43 PM

Ok, so i have searched a bit, but cant really find much info on the net about laminating veneer to veneer not to a substrate like MDF,

what im basically doing is creating a 2ply peice of ply wood which i will then put into a mould and create some drums (the latter part isnt much of an issues yet)

Im having issues with the veneer rippling once i take it out of the press, its always in the press for atleast 4 hours sometimes overniht depending if i can get to it or not.

Some stats, trying to cross laminate as in grain will be H V two leaves of American Walnut together. Its about 1200 by 150. The glue i use is either PARFiX PVA wood glue, or TITEBOND III. I use a board that is about 9"wide and probably 1200 length. I Put wax paper inbetween the two boards and the veneers

so it looks like this [MDF WP Ven Ven WP MDF] i then clamp it with about 14 clamps.

any hints on what to do? I have a blog that has a few pictures etc here
http://drumbuilding.wordpress.com/
someone recomended vise polyurethane glue havnt tried it yet. I should also mention that i now spread the glue thinly accross the veneer.

thanks in advance.

**woodie2** · 2nd August 2009, 06:47 PM

Hi Andyvan,
First I would get rid of the MDF boards. Mdf is not strong enough in a board to get the clamping pressure you need. Some "wooden" (wood not particles of wood) boards with 50 x50 timbers down the length of the boards. Clamp on top of the 50 x 50 timber and you will get better clamping.

If you plan on making a few more drums, then consider a Vacuum veneer press. Search the forum for vacuum presses, then you don't need any clamps!

Vacuum presses get an enormous amount of pressure on the subject timber that you can't hope to create with clamps.

Best of luck with your veneers.

**tea lady** · 2nd August 2009, 07:46 PM

Some thoughts:

*PVA is prolly making the veneer expand with moisture (making the ripples ) so epoxy might be better. Also when I used PVA there was alot of delamination and flexibility in the form. Sometimes if there was absolutely NO GREASE it would work (Wiped down the wood with acetone first. ), but now with epoxy I don't have any probs. (Although my things are slightly smaller than yours.

) Epoxy seem expensive I guess, but at least it works.

* you need to clamp from the middle outward tpo make sure there are no bubbles being traapped. I was looking in a book yesterday (standing round in the bookshop

) where they had a slightly curved (convex ) board on each side of the veneer so the pressure starts from the middle, and as you tighten the clamps they flatten out to straight.

*.is the resulting ply going to be bent again in the next part of the process?

One old book I have has them making a laminated lamp base form wihch is a similar shape and they had it around the outside of the form and big rubber band type things around it holding it tight. You can make these by cutting up old inner tubes.

**andyvan** · 2nd August 2009, 08:17 PM

yeah i have been making it so that it will be bent again into a circle. This is because its a little easier to work with 1.2 ply as apposed to a 0.6 leaf. Plus it removes the pain of trying to make the grain go verticle. as i need to cut it into small sheets to beable to do this.

yeah epoxy is something that i considered, i was going to look into new types of glue soon. its just a matter of costs really. Alot of drum builders have reccomended titebondIII for drum building.

thanks woodie, thats what im going to try next if this wont work. (the one that iim currently doing)

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