balanced veneering of plywood, thickness and cut?

[mike4244]

Direction of the new veneer does not need to be different from the factory veneer.

My experience has been different. I veneered a birch plywood cabinet side 25" x 6'-8" with paper backed veneer. Looked perfect for several months. Began to show bubbles and cracks. I went to a large cabinet shop in Pleasantville NJ and talked to a few of the cabinet makers about this problem.
They all said the same thing, I should have cross veneered the long  grain with another veneer first. I removed the veneer, veneered with a poplar veneer across the grain. Then re- veneered the cabinet. This did the trick, been up 20+ years with no problems. 
I'm a carpenter, not a cabinet maker by trade. When ever I had a question I used  to go to this now defunct shop. The Obama recession/ depression shut their doors after many years. Now it is a Teamster hall.
mike

[SteveS]

My experience has been different. I veneered a birch plywood cabinet side 25" x 6'-8" with paper backed veneer. Looked perfect for several months. Began to show bubbles and cracks. I went to a large cabinet shop in Pleasantville NJ and talked to a few of the cabinet makers about this problem.
They all said the same thing, I should have cross veneered the long  grain with another veneer first. I removed the veneer, veneered with a poplar veneer across the grain. Then re- veneered the cabinet. This did the trick, been up 20+ years with no problems. 
I'm a carpenter, not a cabinet maker by trade. When ever I had a question I used  to go to this now defunct shop. The Obama recession/ depression shut their doors after many years. Now it is a Teamster hall.
mike

I've never used paper backed but frequently veneer same direction top veneer with no failures from that method. Having common directions does not cause a failure in the bonding. The reason for rotating plies is to obtain quasi-isotropic properties. Though this article is specific to solid wood, the method equally applies to plywood

[Rob Young]

I started with the RR kit before I got my vacuum pump and used it on a number of projects. It only pulls about half what a pump does but still works quite well.

I have not put a gauge on it but that seems reasonable. There is a larger size hand pump available.

My biggest issues is that no matter how well I seal the bag, it does tend to leak down and without a dedicated pump, you have to keep checking it and pump it down again. Not a big deal for the small stuff I do but it can be annoying. I've not tried curved work in it, the small flat panels I do aren't a big deal since I can pump down the bag and then clamp a couple of squares of melamine over things. Then I don't have to worry about it over-night.

Someday I may upgrade but today is not that day.

[SteveS]

With that kit I found you have to be diligent about getting that gummy seal perfect across the opening. If done properly it does hold a vacuum if there are no cracks or pin holes in the bag.