Plywood phobia

[Rick Potter]

A friend, to whom I owe a few favors, asked me to do a simple cabinet door for his son's boss. The son works in a Porsche speed shop, and they carry a race car in a trailer with built in cabinets. It is a simple door with a couple cut outs for some special catches/locks. I said OK.

They brought me a sample door to copy, and it is plywood with either a formica or phenolic coated surface. I called my local hardwood and ply suppliers, and neither one wanted to special order one sheet of special plywood. Luckily, a fellow creeker came by and bought a RAS from me, and told me he knew where to get the plywood about 40 miles from here. I called the son, and he said he would go get it for me, so I ordered it. A few days later, I was told he was just going to have it delivered....even better.

Well, it got delivered all right, phenolic coated on both sides, semi gloss black....looked good. I knew the single sheet cost over $130, and found out the delivery charge was $125, plus tax. WOW, never worked with a sheet of gold before, now the hands are sweating, shaking, and I sure hope I get it right, because the idiot who designed the trailer made each door slightly larger than a half sheet. In other words, I have one shot to do it right.

Pray for me.

[Mike Cozad]

Measure twice cut once always seems to fail me so I have little good advice, but if I were in your spot I am sure I would pull a Norm and make a prototype first out of BORG stuff to set my plan and methods... Just a couple of thoughts from a weekend hack. My burn pile is bigger than my finished goods pile. Just sayin.....

[Frederick Skelly]

Measure twice cut once always seems to fail me so I have little good advice, but if I were in your spot I am sure I would pull a Norm and make a prototype first out of BORG stuff to set my plan and methods... Just a couple of thoughts from a weekend hack. My burn pile is bigger than my finished goods pile. Just sayin.....

That's good advice if you're really concerned Rick.

BTW, do you get to keep the cut-offs? That sounds like nice stuff for jigs, a router table top, etc.

Good luck!

Fred

[Joe Kieve]

"WOW, never worked with a sheet of gold before, now the hands are sweating, shaking, and I sure hope I get it right..."

Rick...I know exactly how you feel. I worked in the cabinet shop of a major airline and we routinely cut fiberglass flooring for our aircraft. On the first one I ever had to cut was a note that said "Caution...this sheet cost $800." Talk about nervous!

[Tom Deutsch]

Would be great to see a cross section or side view pic, Rick. I'm curious what is meant by "coating." Is it a sheet of plastic laminate (aka formica) applied to both sides or a melamine layer or? (I have to assume it's not laminate glued to both sides or you could do that yourself for less than $130/sheet.)

[Peter Quinn]

Sounds like fun! I feel your pain, I spent the summer building a very strange kitchen that had double sided all black laminate cabs on one wall and metal laminate on the other, all were euro boxes so I had to edge band and flush without scratches.....all in they panels cost about $500/sheet plus labor to laminate, so a scratch or wrong cut was.....muy no bueno! That phenolic BB is great stuff, I'm told it's actually made as concrete form boards! Did yiu get a 4x8 sheet? If so don't fault the designer, much of that stuff comes in 5x5's, so a door just over 2x4 actually maximizes yield in that format.

[Rick Potter]

According to the dealer, it is phenolic coated plywood. Unfortunately I was not impressed with the edges, and the coating didn't seem perfect near the edge, so I got out the DeWalt track saw last night and burned two inches off the edge, then cutting the first cut on the sheet. Man, that stuff is hard on blades, but it cut cleanly on both sides. I was surprised that one side was obviously the 'good' side, when they sold it as two sided. Doesn't really matter though, since only one side on the original is coated.

Tonight I will make the other cut, and start making a pattern for the holes to insert the catches. It is a 4x8 sheet, and I believe I keep the left overs which might make a nice small outfeed table for my SS. Like I said, whoever engineered this made it 48 5/8 wide, meaning only one try on a sheet of ply, even if it were oversize, which it is not.

[Rick Potter]

Yesterday, I finished cutting it to size and got the black banding on, when I got a call saying that now it is a priority, as they need to use the trailer in two days. Now, the son, who volunteered to handle it (a year ago), wants it back right away. I delivered it right away to the shop, and said son will finish the catch inserts, probably with a jig saw.

Oh well, at least my part looked good .

How does the old saying go? Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part (or something to that effect).

Come to think of it, that just may have been an answered prayer.