Flexible Plywood in small quantities? Bending single layer of flexible Plywood?

Hi,

I am about to build some 3 pivot/swivel out drawers of approximately 450mm (front face) x 300mm (depth) and of varying heights (none higher than 150mm), which will require a curved side. They won't be holding very heavy items, and the 3 straight sides are probably going to be 12mm ply.

I am looking into using flexible plywood for the curved side, and it is available in 7mm or 5mm, so I have 2 choices:

Option 1) Use a single layer of 7mm
Option 2) Laminate 2 layers of 5mm together around a form

I have not found any information about using flexible plywood in a single layer without gluing it to something else behind it (effectively acting as a veneer), so I am worried if I go for option, then it will not hold form in the long run. I would pin the ends to the other 2 sides, and also to the drawer base, but am aware the whole thing is under tension. Does anyone have any advice or experience with this?

If I go with Option 2, then this is tried and tested. Once the glue sets, then the fact that one layer is shorter than the other, will mean it is frozen in its form. But if I can avoid the hassle of making a form, gluing, waiting etc, then it would be good.

Also, does anyone know where I can find a source of flexible plywood that is less than the size of a full sheet? I think I am only going to use ((450mm + 300mm) x 450mm) x 2 = 0.675 sq m, so it would be a waste of materials and money to buy a full sheet? I am located in Sydney's north side.

Thanks in advance for your help.

There is no supplier on the Northside that I have come across however you could try some marine suppliers.
Plymaster has been mentioned in the forum before re bendy ply

Flexible Plywood | Flexible Bending Plywood | Wall Panelling Plywood

Elanjcobs mentions a Melbourne supplier in this post https://www.woodworkforums.com/f11/th...ns-help-206868 maybe his supplier may have a branch in Sydney.

Ours is a 3mm, unequal 2-ply (2.5mm back, 0.5mm face) and is specially made for us by Plyco in Melbourne.
I guarantee you will not find it off the shelf anywhere in the country - we only just started making it after 5 years of searching for someone to do it.

If you have a frame with a curved top and bottom rail, you can glue a single layer of 7mm on to that with no problems

Thanks for the help. I have now made a quick sketch of what I want to do - it is the part in red that is the question - it has no back or upper frame, and would only be attached to the base, the front (with the hole) and the back.


Attachment 389541

Definitely can't do a single layer with that. You could probably go for 3 layers of 3mm MDF instead of bendy ply, much cheaper that way

I think you will need to glue at least 2 layers for it hold its shape well.


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Have you considered using steam bending of solid wood. You would need to make a form to clamp the wood and the steaming is not dificult.

I do a lot of ply bending and lamination. But some standard 4mm 3 ply and take one of the plies off, a thickness sander is pretty useful for the job.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by burraboy

I do a lot of ply bending and lamination. But some standard 4mm 3 ply and take one of the plies off, a thickness sander is pretty useful for the job.

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Hi,

Thanks for that suggestion - I will be going down this route as $17 sized piece will be more than enough. I will see if I can bend it without removing any layers, otherwise I will use a router table to remove one ply.

Hopefully I should have a picture to show for my efforts in a couple of weeks.

What I suggest is that you buy a piece of 4mm 3 ply.
glue laminate each drawer side around a form using 3 strip of ply (= total of 12mm) -- when I last did this I used ordinary PVA
cut the strips wider and longer than the finished size of your drawer sides.
make up some jigs to hold the drawer side at the right orientation when you trim it to size on your table saw

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ian

What I suggest is that you buy a piece of 4mm 3 ply.
glue laminate each drawer side around a form using 3 strip of ply (= total of 12mm) -- when I last did this I used ordinary PVA
cut the strips wider and longer than the finished size of your drawer sides.
make up some jigs to hold the drawer side at the right orientation when you trim it to size on your table saw

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There's probably a fair amount of tension and resulting spring-back using the full 4mm 3 ply. Reducing the 3 ply to a 3mm 2 ply and using 4 strips will reduce that tension considerably. (in my experience anyway)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by burraboy

There's probably a fair amount of tension and resulting spring-back using the full 4mm 3 ply. Reducing the 3 ply to a 3mm 2 ply and using 4 strips will reduce that tension considerably. (in my experience anyway)

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looks like our experience varies

I've found that the orientation of the center ply (is the bend along or across the grain of the center ply) and the tightness of the curve has the most influence on spring back.

Thanks for the additional posts and your experience and advice. Last night I found I had a large scrap of 3mm (don't know how many plys) which will probably suffice, so I will give that a go. Maybe 3 or 4 layers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ian

...when you trim it to size on your table saw

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I don't have a table saw (only a track saw), so it'll be the faithful handsaw, which is probably more appropriate for a novice like me to get the angle correct to meet the other pieces.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by burraboy

There's probably a fair amount of tension and resulting spring-back using the full 4mm 3 ply. Reducing the 3 ply to a 3mm 2 ply and using 4 strips will reduce that tension considerably. (in my experience anyway)

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Hi Burra

I find it easier to just reverse the grain orientation of the middle plywood - a little spring back, but manageable.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/image/...BJRU5ErkJggg==Attachment 389732

Sort of like in the drawing.



Cheers

Graeme