the quarter scale model of a chair and table i’m making for school requires very tight radii. the veneers which i’ve already cut to size won’t bend that much – first i tried a 7-ply and then a 3-ply but its no use. so i’ve decided to use cardstock. i have a bunch of 11x17 white cardstock that i was hoping could be used in a similar manner. can anyone speak for or against this technique, how to bend it (perhaps around a small plastic pipe of required radius), and what type of glue to use so it doesn’t wrinkle but also hardens and doesn’t bend/warp after curing.
you might try to soften the material with steam.
you won’t want to use any water based adhesives for card stock, 5-minute epoxy, Gorilla glue - that sort of thing.
As mentioned by no_spec, epoxy 5 is your best choice. You might want to buy a can with brushes rather than fighting with a small tube.
As for the bending, I really don’t see bending by hand the glued veneer around a small plastic pipe.
You should definitively make a quick wood mold; the parts of the mold that comes in contact with your glued veneer should be covered by a thin plastic sheet for mold removal.
um technically, veneer is a single ply. (should bend easily, particularly if it’s the paper backed kind)
3 or 7 ply - is bending “plywood”.
super77 spray glue i think would give you the hold and non-wrinkling performance you are looking for if using cardstock.
R
THanks a bunch for the help people.
um technically, veneer is a single ply. (should bend easily, particularly if it’s the paper backed kind)
3 or 7 ply - is bending “plywood”.
lol what I said wasn’t worded properly. The form I attempted to make was in fact seven sheets of veneers that I layered on top of one another with glue. I then tried the same with three sheets after complete failure with the previous. The tightest radius was 3/4". It cracked big time right away. So I’ve decided against veneer for now (this project has a fast approaching deadline) and instead I’ll be attempting the same with cardstock.
I’ll get a can of the super77 stuff to layer the card stock. i want to know HOW to bend/form the card stock without creasing it. Any takers?
**I want to create tight curves with the card stock much the same way as I would have with the veneers.
Post up a pic of your design, and it might be helpful.
I’d do the bending the same way plywood bending is done, but in miniature. make a form from MDF, put one layer at a time into the form, spray glue, add the next, etc. then put the male part of the form and put in clamps.
Are you trying to do a 3d complex curve or only 2d? that would make a big difference i think. Not sure if the paper will take a 3d shape without wrinkling. Another alternative could be to use a totally different material that you can control for the small scale model. vac form PS, or PS sheet with cement could work. again though, hard to say without knowing the design.
R
okay thanks give me a minute and I’ll get something up here.
this is NOT to scale, just a quick visual. the width is 7", length is 11.5".
bent sheetmetal, or PS i think would be best. No real reason to do it as a laminate or veneer of any sort. It’s just a visual model, right?
In any case (not sure about the full scale size), i would think that real bent plywood wouldn’t be able to do those tight rads anyhow, so maybe the design/materials should be re-thought.
R
sheet metal sounds like a good idea… Lowes has aluminum sheets at 6x18" .25 guage for around $9. sorry don’t know what PS is…?
yes it is just a visual model. since this is a 1/4 scale model, the actual radii of the curves in the front piece (a pencil/pen/utility bin) are 2", 2", 1.75". Do you think that would be those would be too tight for actual size using ply?
im not that familiar with bent ply so can really comment on the rads in full scale. iit might be OK if pretty thin as you’ve shown it. I was thinking the thing was more some kind of furniture part and would be in 3/4" ply in which case it might be too tight.
PS is polystyrene. it’s a pretty soft white plastic that you can normally get at your shop or hobby store and is great for desktop modeling. you can bend it with scoring or heat, and use an exacto to cut it, and cement to glue parts together.
R
thanks rkuchinsky I’ll look into PS a little more.
2" radii would really push veneer (even if you could ammonia vapor it, the form would explode in time) do it in solid instead.
any reason not to use solid other than grain direction?
Yeah that rad would be so tight that you would need to already be a real expert at bending, and I cannot claim to be at that level myself. If you needed at looks like model at some point you could always make it out of whatever and then cover it with some contact/shelf paper that has a wood looking grain. But as such there would be questions as to if it would be even make able because you couldn’t. Good luck
You know on second though, I think a wood bending furniture company would be able to do a 2in radius, look as some of the eames stuff as well as the chair from bludot. Those may have some near 2 in radius bends. I mean just because you can’t blow mold a paint can prototype for class doesn’t mean its not possible right?
You know on second though, I think a wood bending furniture company would be able to do a 2in radius, look as some of the eames stuff as well as the chair from bludot. Those may have some near 2 in radius bends. I mean just because you can’t blow mold a paint can prototype for class doesn’t mean its not possible right?
yeah the buttercup molded chair from blu dot is one of my favorites… i also really like this from Grete Jalk: