Visitor comments regarding How to Make Plywood

November 08, 2007

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This page has 3 comments.

Lbonline
Cape Town
Posted:May 12th, 2011
9.30 AM

Engineering for Light Weight.
Fantastic article. Good philosophy for building, good tips.
Well done.
Louky

Frank Hasty
Brunswick, GA
Posted:June 17th, 2006
12.31 AM

I have been experimenting with "do it yourself" plywood off and on for several years now and appreciated your comments on Lite Ply. As a result I now rarely use it. I have had very good results in high strength areas by laminating a layer of 1/64" aircraft plywood on each side of a 1/8" balsa core. I mix 30 min. epoxy, then dilute it to a thin syrup with denatured alcohol and brush it onto both surfaces. The sheets are then aligned, pressed together and held for 8-12 hours. I happen to have a suitable piece of tempered glass for the bottom side of the press and a 3/4" oak board for the top. the "press" surfaces are covered with bakers parchment which is an excellent "see thru" non stick building surface. I also have several 25lb. lead bricks to stack on the press.
Thank you for providing us with this very helpful site!

KJohn
north-central Ohio
Posted:April 2nd, 2005
11.09 AM

I have experimented with 1/16 inch balsa sheets to make laminated stock of 1/8 inch with the grain 'in-line' rather than 'cross-grain'. Once made, I cut the cut the laminate into strips appropriate for making a horizontal stab and vertical stab. I found the laminate to be lightweight and strong. I also noticed that the surfaces I constructed seemed stiffer than non-laminated pieces of the same dimensions and that the surfaces remained warp-free for the lifespan of the structures. This was especially beneficial for the large yet lightweight surfaces of sailplanes. The stiffness of the structures was also appreciated when covering the structures with heat shrink coverings. I have often considered building a majority of my parts using home constructed laminates because of the results I have had with smaller parts.

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