What would be the quickest way to veneer this?

[Jim Tobias]

Looking for any tricks/ideas to speed up the process of veneering this shape on the 8 faces(not bottom)? Ideas/ suggestions??

Jim

Pyramid top.jpg

[Peter Quinn]

I'm thinking using a PVA glue, and iron it on one face at a time might work well. You have to flush trim adjacent facets each time, you can cut them a little large. I'd probably do the four flat edges first, that you could certainly do with a standard glue and clamp method, or you could iron it on if you are set up to do that anyway. Keep in mind if you use type II or II they have a limited window to reactivate with the iron, maybe 78 hours IIR, and the temperature needs to be a bit hotter, which could push some species close to scorching if the iron drags too slow. I guess the advantage is they creep less.

[Jim Tobias]

Thanks Peter. I was thinking of using the technique you descibed with "Heat Lock" veneer glue(same concept...spread it on, let it dry and then iron on). There may not be any short cuts to make this process any faster..... just hoping I guess.
Any other ideas/suggestions welcome??

Thanks,
Jim

[Richard Dragin]

What are the dimensions and how nice of a job do you want it to be? Does it need to last a long time or just be done? Based on your tools and experience there are several options. Making a template if all four triangles are the same would speed up the cutting. Contact cement might be just as fast as iron on. Buying peel and stick veneer would be faster yet.

[Jim Tobias]

Richard,
I am fairly experienced with veneers. I have a vacuum bag and have cit and done sunburst patterns, veneered frames, etc before.
This is a small block that is 5" X 5" square and then cut to the shape shown. I do need/want it to look nice and last a long time. I'm just looking/fishing for any ways to speed it up. I have to do 8 - 10 of these.

Jim

[Matt Day]

Is the form built already or are you still in the planning stages? Is made of 3/4" material glued together, or is it solid? Are you going for any kind of grain alignment or pattern? You might want to consider veneering a flat sheet of your substrate with a vacuum bag, then cutting it up and gluing it into the shape you've shown.

[scott vroom]

What Matt said.

[Jim Tobias]

Matt,
I have tried a couple of prototypes. I tried the cutting 4 pieces from solid wood (no veneers on this one) and then gluing them together. This required a lot of angled cuts and was difficult(not impossible) to glue together due to odd angles.
The 2nd type(the one I;m working on now) is made from 3 pieces of MDF Glued together (2 pieces- 3/4" and 1 piece - 1/2".... for a total of 2 " thick). This gave me enough to cut the angles and still have about a 1'2" flat on the sides. I am trying to run the grain continuous from each triangle down thru the flat side.
Thanks for all the input and if anyone else has an idea, please chime in.

Jim

[Matt Day]

I think that's where you're loosing us - some dimensions on the sketch would help. Sounds like your second prototype is 2" tall at the highest point, and made of one solid piece? How are you making the cuts?

[Jim Tobias]

Matt,
Here is picture with dimensions. I am cutting triangular faces on a jig/holder on the tablesaw.

Jim