I am progressing on with my second case, and have met a problem which could be resolved by bending plywood. Has anyone here done it before, and if so, do you have any advice? Thank you. H.B.
How thick is the plywood? I've seen wood bending done with very thin strips of wood soaked in water, then laid down of a heated pipe to purge the moisture and lock in the contour.
Normally they do it with thing strips( 1-3mm ), but I think it can be done with thicker pieces. You just have to apply hell of a lot of 'pressure' really slowly and patiently to make sure you won't break the piece. If you have one of those steamer thing that you use in cleaning I'd suggest you to try benging it with that one, If not, just use boiling water. But buy lot's of plywood just to test different mehtodes. Also go check out howstuffworks.com, they might have an article about the subject.
I'd be using 6mm ply and for testing I'm using piece about 1'sq. trying to put a 90* bend in it. H.B.
90°? That's going to be tough(sp?). Are you sure you don't want to cut it, screw it, sand it, epoxy- it and lack it (as in laquer?) ?
You won't get a 90 degree bend in it, unless it's a large-radius bend - the ply won't take it, if only because the ply is made up of layers of wood with the grain at right angles to each other.
^^^I just found out the hard way. I'll investigate thinner plywood, and maybe acrylic, but then it wouldn't be wood. Undecided as yet. H.B.
Is it an option to relieve it with a few saw cuts on the inside of the curve? You can get quite a good bend that way, and you wouldn't need to steam it.
Plywood gets its strength and rigidity from the different layers running their grains in different directions and that resists bending. You can get some rather interesting and complex shapes from plywood, if you make it yourself. In other words, make a form, apply a thin piece of wood to it, cover it with glue, apply another layer of wood, repeat until you have enough layers and clamp well. Remember the school desk chairs from the sixties (am I dating myself?) and the "modern" furniture that followed... made from formed plywood?
You mean kerfing? I hadn't considered it yet, thanks for suggesting, I'll test it. Not having any wood thinner than 6mm ply right now, I'd have to mail order veneer, as unfortunately the best woodworking/DIY store nearby is B&Q. By the way, it was looking at and old bent ply school chair that gave me the idea of trying it. H.B.
I've realised I'll need better equipment than I have or can improvise, so I'll probably go with kerfing. Thanks all. H.B.
How about some pics? What exactly are you trying to do? You can bend plastic to 90 degrees with a slightly rounded edge, or use a brake to bend some sheet metal.
^^^there'll be pictures in the project log, be patient. Or if I get really stuck, I'll post here again. H.B.
