Home made plywood

[/pine]

IMO the best uses for something like what has been called 1/8" plywood...would be for applications that require forming curved frames etc...
Some curved staircases are made this way...skateboard pipe sections etc...things like water skies or snowboards could be encapsulated...
For marine applications or use in wet locations I would not use anything but resorcinol glue and that costs the average consumer about $45/pint...!

 

[davedj1]

build a vacuum table

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I make small pieces of plywood (aprox 12inch sq.) out of veneer using Tite bond 3 for glue. I use it for small projects that I build, and for scroll saw projects.

SR

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

build a vacuum table

Get ahold of some inner tubes And build an air pressure clamp system.

Maximum vacuum is less than 15-psi. You could build an air pressure clamping system and get close to 100-psi pretty easily, and could go higher with a bit of design effort.

 

[strantor]

I think you would be better off laminating them together as needed. Rather than gluing 4x8 sheets together to make a 3/4" sheet and then later cutting the 3/4" sheet into 1ft × 4ft sections to make a shelving unit, just wait until the shelving unit project comes up and cut the 1/8" sheets into 1ft × 4ft sections and glue them together. There are a few benefits to this as I see it:

• You don't waste glue on parts that will end up being scrap
• It is way easier to glue & clamp small pieces than entire sheets. In the hypothetical example of 1ft × 4ft shelves you could cut up dozens and dozens of them, put glue between the pieces you want laminated (and no glue between the pieces you don’t) and laminate a whole unit worth of shelves at once, with one set of clamps.
• You can skip the step of routing slots by simply leaving gaps in your laminations
• The 4x8 sheet gluing process is going to take up an unreasonable amount of real estate in your shop. Doing it on smaller scale on an as-needed basis won't take up any more room than a given project would have taken if you bought 1/2" or 3/4" ply
• Never know, maybe one day you actually need 1/8" ply. Would be a shame to have just had a load of it but you glued it all together.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

I think you would be better off laminating them together as needed. Rather than gluing 4x8 sheets together to make a 3/4" sheet and then later cutting the 3/4" sheet into 1ft × 4ft sections to make a shelving unit, just wait until the shelving unit project comes up and cut the 1/8" sheets into 1ft × 4ft sections and glue them together. There are a few benefits to this as I see it:

• You don't waste glue on parts that will end up being scrap
• It is way easier to glue & clamp small pieces than entire sheets. In the hypothetical example of 1ft × 4ft shelves you could cut up dozens and dozens of them, put glue between the pieces you want laminated (and no glue between the pieces you don’t) and laminate a whole unit worth of shelves at once, with one set of clamps.
• You can skip the step of routing slots by simply leaving gaps in your laminations
• The 4x8 sheet gluing process is going to take up an unreasonable amount of real estate in your shop. Doing it on smaller scale on an as-needed basis won't take up any more room than a given project would have taken if you bought 1/2" or 3/4" ply
• Never know, maybe one day you actually need 1/8" ply. Would be a shame to have just had a load of it but you glued it all together.

And by laminating as needed, you could press in structural components as needed. Want a book shelf to hold five feet of books without sagging: Roll a lip int the front and back of the shelf to stiffen it up.

 

[stuckmotor]

Back in the early '70s I knew an old backyard boat builder who used to tell about stopping by a boat factory in Florida to see how the pros did it. He said they bent and glued them up one ply at a time to get the shape they wanted. I took these boats to be cabin crusers.

 

[4570Man]

Get ahold of some inner tubes And build an air pressure clamp system.

Maximum vacuum is less than 15-psi. You could build an air pressure clamping system and get close to 100-psi pretty easily, and could go higher with a bit of design effort.

You’re going to need a pretty significant frame to hold 100 psi over a 4x8 sheet. That’s 460,000 pounds.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

My uncle made his own dog leash once, out of a piece of rope.

 

[Oaktree]

• Never know, maybe one day you actually need 1/8" ply. Would be a shame to have just had a load of it but you glued it all together.

+1 on that. Finding 1/8" can be hit or miss. Generally 3/16 is the thinnest I can find, which makes it much harder if you need to bend it (especially small projects like the doll cradles I built a few years ago for my wife's granddaughters).