littlera

I have just received the first kit I have ever had that has laser cut parts, in this case only plywood parts. I have built for 40 years, but not with laser processed wood.

The 1/4 ply has of course a burned edge from the laser. These edges have a bit of a glazed look, possibly from the laminating glue in the plywood. In this kit planking must glue directly to the cut edges on the formers.

Can laser cut edges be glued with standard adhesives we use (epoxy, aliphatic, CA, etc.) without any special sanding, grinding, or sealing? I am concerned that the burned charcoal edge will somehow not be usable to glue to. It seems like it may be like trying to glue charcoal briquettes together.

Experienced laser kit builders, I would apprecieate your advice!

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I have built several kits with laser-cut parts and never did anything special.

If it really concerns you, you could scuff up any directly-glued edges with sandpaper.

Greg Wright

My Feedback: (6)

Littlera, the best thing to do is to sand all the burned edges off untill u get down to clean wood or else the glue will not penetrate in to the wood very well. It should'nt take you to long to do it with some 80 grit sand paper or even with your dremel tool and a sanding wheel with a lite touch, as to not distorte the shape of the pieces.

R8893

My Feedback: (20)

I'm pretty much like Mike in that I don't normally do anything to the edges. I have cleaned off heavy char with a light brush of sandpaper. I would suggest that if you have the extraneous wood that the parts came out of, you could glue some balsa to that to see for yourself if the joint holds to your satisfaction.
Chuck

littlera

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I value your experiences!

I have since seen a post suggesting cleaning the edges with hydrogen peroxide. I may give this a try, and I think I will try the light scuffing with 80-100 grit paper before assembly.

Thanks,

Randy L.