11-28-2016, 09:15 AM
So I finally got my table top veneered. The first pic is the top show side. The second is the bottom side which I used to practice for the show side. The short diameter is 48" so getting the triangle size was very critical. I originally tested the triangle template with some poster board. The first time I was a little big. I re-cut the template slightly smaller. Of course I was then just a little too small. Made another very small adjustment and cut the backer veneer. Of course now I was ever so slightly big. So I put one piece of poster board 26" from the point on my table saw sled and cut the template one more time. I then crossed my fingers and cut the show veneer. It actually came out just right. Previously I had used the traditional veneer tape that you wet. No matter what I did you could always see the hole pattern of the tape in the veneer so this time I used the water-less veneer tape that Joewoodworker sells. On the bottom side the tape was stuck so hard it would peel up the grain of the wood. I tired using a hairdryer like he suggests and it only marginally helped. On the show side the tape stuck just fine to hold the veneer together when gluing but when I pulled it out of the vacuum bag the tape was falling off. It might have had something to do with the softener I used on the show side. The tape did do its job and held the joints tight during gluing.
The other fun was setting up the vacuum system to glue this. I made a 6.5' square bag from 20mil PVC. I used 2 full sheets of 3/4" baltic birch ply for the top and bottom platens. I used some spacers along the edges just slightly thinner than the table top to keep the vacuum from bending the platens. My piece of burlap that I use as breather mesh was too small so I stole some towels from the kitchen. To seal the bag I used 2 2x4s and a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe. This worked fine except were the seam was in my bag. Because the bag is so big I had to glue several sheets together. I had just overlapped the two pieces of PVC to make a flat seam. That 20mil bump was enough to still leak. To help minimize the leak I slathered Vaseline on that area before folding it over. I am not sure how much it helped but it worked. To help pull out all the extra air I used a 10' long 4" PVC pipe as a vacuum reservoir. It mostly worked but I could have used probably 2 or 3 more pipes. Since I had my wife and son helping me get this thing in the bag I had the three of us sit on top trying to get as much pressure on until the vacuum pump caught back up. I didn't time it but I think I was close to the 10 minute cutoff from the time I started spreading glue and the vacuum reached 20in Hg. Gluing was an adventure also. I used better bond since I was familiar with it and I had no way of getting things warm enough for a urea glue. First I poured the gallon jug into a wide mouth jar so I could get a paint stirrer in there. The flour and colorant in this glue settles and cakes. I hooked up the paint stirrer to the drill and mixed well. I then transferred some to a smaller jar for easier manipulation. I poured the glue on the substrate then used a 12" drywall knife to do the initial spreading then finished with a rubber roller. After I had done the initial spreading on one side my wife would work on the other side while I finished up with the rubber roller. Quick slide the veneer on and give it a quick roll to get it relatively flat and stick it in the bag.
Overall I think it came out okay. The substrate was not a perfect octagon so some of the points of the veneer don't exactly line up with the points on the substrate. Most likely I will notice it more than others. Next is making the 3" wide cherry boarder then put it on the base.
![[Image: top_2.jpg]](http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac332/ekskp/top_2.jpg)
![[Image: bottom_2.jpg]](http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac332/ekskp/bottom_2.jpg)
![[Image: press_1.jpg]](http://i913.photobucket.com/albums/ac332/ekskp/press_1.jpg)
The other fun was setting up the vacuum system to glue this. I made a 6.5' square bag from 20mil PVC. I used 2 full sheets of 3/4" baltic birch ply for the top and bottom platens. I used some spacers along the edges just slightly thinner than the table top to keep the vacuum from bending the platens. My piece of burlap that I use as breather mesh was too small so I stole some towels from the kitchen. To seal the bag I used 2 2x4s and a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe. This worked fine except were the seam was in my bag. Because the bag is so big I had to glue several sheets together. I had just overlapped the two pieces of PVC to make a flat seam. That 20mil bump was enough to still leak. To help minimize the leak I slathered Vaseline on that area before folding it over. I am not sure how much it helped but it worked. To help pull out all the extra air I used a 10' long 4" PVC pipe as a vacuum reservoir. It mostly worked but I could have used probably 2 or 3 more pipes. Since I had my wife and son helping me get this thing in the bag I had the three of us sit on top trying to get as much pressure on until the vacuum pump caught back up. I didn't time it but I think I was close to the 10 minute cutoff from the time I started spreading glue and the vacuum reached 20in Hg. Gluing was an adventure also. I used better bond since I was familiar with it and I had no way of getting things warm enough for a urea glue. First I poured the gallon jug into a wide mouth jar so I could get a paint stirrer in there. The flour and colorant in this glue settles and cakes. I hooked up the paint stirrer to the drill and mixed well. I then transferred some to a smaller jar for easier manipulation. I poured the glue on the substrate then used a 12" drywall knife to do the initial spreading then finished with a rubber roller. After I had done the initial spreading on one side my wife would work on the other side while I finished up with the rubber roller. Quick slide the veneer on and give it a quick roll to get it relatively flat and stick it in the bag.
Overall I think it came out okay. The substrate was not a perfect octagon so some of the points of the veneer don't exactly line up with the points on the substrate. Most likely I will notice it more than others. Next is making the 3" wide cherry boarder then put it on the base.