Checking my veneer thought process

[sean meltvedt]

Hey guys, thanks for all the ideas and advice. Veneering prior to assembly is not within my current capabilities. The edges of the hood have to be shaped by sanding in the same horizontal plane with the face installed in the curved position(the curves cause the mating angles to vary along the edge.)
Peter, unfortunately the CNC is constrained by the skill of this operator. :-) I did use it to create the inner frame structure so the front and side curves are identical. It is also too late to avoid bondo. As a previous hobby experience included car restorations - I have a lot of experience with it. The corners are floating, but have been epoxied and have a rear fillet with fiberglass in the epoxy resin. I thought about trying titebond after the sticker shock I got with pricing on the epoxy for the veneer glue, but I'm sure that probably wont adhere to e polyester filler (bondo). What's the consensus about using a polyester resin (fiberglass resin) as the veneer glue?

[John C Cox]

Laminating resin works well enough on wood... It just has a fairly short pot time.. And a LOT of resin can soak into the wood... It can also soak into and through wood ESPECIALLY into endgrain - making the wood VERY blotchy (test on scrap ahead of time)... Clear is bad enough - quite a few laminating resins are blue, green, or brown - which look horrible when they soak into the wood.... Most resin also darkens wood kinda like a wood finish... I had some laminating resin soak about 1 foot up into endgrain.. Left a horrible blotchy mess. Ruined the whole piece.

That's actually one of the beautiful things about proper wood glue - they already worked out these problems.... It is designed to size the wood - so it doesn't soak in and leave a blotchy mess or darken glue joints..

As per usual - test on scrap....

[andy bessette]

...What's the consensus about using a polyester resin (fiberglass resin) as the veneer glue?

IMHO polyester is an inferior wood glue. I use WEST epoxy.

[Dave Gagnon]

I think contact cement would work really well. I have veneered many things, some with curves and have always used contact cement without issue. I have never had any of the veneers lift and the bond is instant and permanent so no need to worry about how to clamp it down. Since your veneer is 3/32nd thick, I don't think the contact cement would soak through either..

[Mike Wilkins]

How about contact adhesive? With a thicker veneer there should not be any concerns with bleed-through. But if you do use contact adhesive, it would be a good idea to solicit some additional hands to place it in place on that curved surface.

[Robert Engel]

Sean after seeing the hood, have you considered painting it?

[sean meltvedt]

Robert-that is really not an option. My wife would be out to kill me if I did :-) I would attempt to source some PSA backed Makore as a last resort.
Anyway I appreciate all the thought's and ideas that folks have posted.
Thanks
Sean

[sean meltvedt]

Hey guys-just a progress update. I used Max’s suggestion of sandbags in addition to clamps using West systems epoxy. This is the workable result:
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[Tom Giacomo]

Looks very good.

[johnny means]

Contact cement is standard practice in commercial shops when bending things like this. No, it's not going to last 100 years. Yes, you will get good adhesion and a predictable, manageable lay-up.

[Mel Fulks]

I agree the contact cement is often used. Don't agree it's a good idea on a material with a lot of spring-back. Call the help line for contact cement mfg ,they will tell you the FLAT surface bonds will last about 10 years on average.