Simple Bent Plywood Laminating

[John Maeda]

I'm going to attempt this bent ply shape as an experiment/learning experience. Can anyone give me some tips?

I was planning on using very thin sheets of veneer glued together, to build up the form one sheet at a time. Will it be able to hold this shape without any interior support?



I'm planning on mating this bent ply form with a similar aluminum form, to create a simple box.

[Chris Padilla]

How thick do you want the piece and what is the radius of bend at the rounded corners?

Also, what wood do you plan to use?

[Justin Leiwig]

I'm going to attempt this bent ply shape as an experiment/learning experience. Can anyone give me some tips?

I was planning on using very thin sheets of veneer glued together, to build up the form one sheet at a time. Will it be able to hold this shape without any interior support?

I'm planning on mating this bent ply form with a similar aluminum form, to create a simple box.

It might be easier to use bending ply over a form and then veneer it with your wood of choice.

[Jamie Buxton]

Yes, that piece can be made from bent plywood, and it will hold its form.

Conventional sliced veneer is about .025" thick. The good thing about that thin laminate is that it can bend around tight radii. The bad thing is that you'll need quite a few layers to build up any thickness. It is possible to buy thicker veneer -- more like .08" thick. And, as Justin says, you can buy bending ply (my supplier calls it Italian bending poplar) which is about .1" thick.

A vacuum press is a very good tool for this sort of work.

[John Maeda]

Thanks guys,

The radii are 1" bends, and i'd like the material to be 3/16-1/4" in thickness.

[Les Katz]

Your problem is going to be those almost right angle corners.I use 1/8 bending poplar ply and even it's gonna have a tough time making that abrupt angle without snapping. One thing i have tried when making shapes with radical angle changes is, as you mentioned, thinner material and then softening the material first with veneer softener/flattening "sauce."
You will have to make a form( MDF and plywood) to bend the material over to form it while the glue dries.I try the material to be used for bending bent dry over the form to test it's "willingness to work with you'.If need be, soak a smaller test piece with the softener for a couple of hours to see if it will allow your angle when softened If it allows, then you can soak the veneer sheets with the softening sauce and clamp it over night on the form, with newspaper to soak up the slop.Use clamps, a vacuum bag set up, or my favorite ,elastic webbing or rubber tire strips and "mummy wrap it". Then,next day, if you have a vacuum set up,, you can put wax paper on the form, glue up the preformed plies, tape them to the form so they don't move, put another layer of wax paper on the top of the sandwhich slide it in the bag with a gridded platen,and suck the air from the bag.The plies should gather tight against the form and you wait for it to dry. There are lots of details regarding glues, the platen , trimming,etc but basically that's it. Best glue would be Unibond 800, to give you a rigid glue up. Anymore questions lemee know.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

The radii are 1" bends, and i'd like the material to be 3/16-1/4" in thickness.

I'd guess that you are going to have to steam the material to get a 1" radius.