Hey everyone. So I needed some 5/16" thick balsa sheet for a current project, andI went to the local hobby shop, and they didnt have any 5/16" thick stuff. So, what Idecided to do is buy some 3/16" thick balsa sheet, and I'm going to laminate the 3/16" balsa sheet together with an 1/8" piece to get the thickness I need. My question is, what glue is best for this? I know wood glue is a water based glue, so I'm worried about warping. I have alot of the old Sig-ment glue, would this work? Theres really not alot of strength needed, but I'm laminating 30" sheets, so its too much epoxy to try and mix up. Any suggestions appreciated!


Jason

I use the wood glue. To eliminate the warping issue I sandwich the pieces between manufactured particle board, for long pieces I use 2 good flat shelf boards. You can make some very strong, very light parts like this.

I always seem to get a lot of warp when gluing sheets together with wood glue. Same with sticks but I use CA to glue sticks together so they don't warp. I just gave contact cement a try on my last build and it worked out pretty good. I used a hard roller to get it on both halves, let it set up then put the two sides together.
Be warned, when you touch those two sides together they stick!! Like right away!! I used my building board to make sure the edges were straight then put them together. Still got a warp though, just not as bad as when I use wood glue.

I use gorilla glue (poly urethane) squeegeed on with an old credit card. As thin an application as possible. Then weight it down while it cures.
Chuck

Thanks everyone!

Looks like I have some experimenting to do!

Jason</p>

Sigment is what people used for doing just what you're doing. I would lay them flat under weight on a true work surface while it dries.
Chris...

Chris, I bought a tube of Sigment this year and tested it for building use. It doesn't seem to hold near as well it used to and I was told that they removed one of the main ingredients? Do you know anything about this? I was going to go back to using the old types of cements and get away from the CA glues but the Sig just didn't hold balsa sticks very well. I didn't test it for sheeting, just sticks.
Gene

I was forced to laminate several pieces of balsa to build up thicker stock, what I did was to evenly spread some tight bond with a old Credit Card, so the glue was consistently applied over the 2 sides of the wood quickly, I then placed the pieces on a flat surface covered in wax paper,and placed a piece of thick glass over that, I used some books I had to weight it down, but any weight or clamp would be fine as long as the pressure is consistently applied over the length of the wood pieces.

after sitting over night the wood was strait and very strong, the wax paper also prevents the wood from sticking.

I like the wood glue mainly for positioning,working time, and its allot easier to sand after cutting out parts.

spreading with the CC is easy and it goes quickly,I also scrape any excess glue off in the trash and throw the card in a small pail of water to keep it clean so there isn't any chunks in the glue, the key is don't apply too much glue just enough to cover the 2 opposing surfaces, I also liked using the glass so I could check alignment as I was weighting it down for thicker pieces a little blue tape on each end helps keep them aligned as well

1.0 Tightbond glue spread thinly on the sheets.
2.0 Place in sealed handy wrap.
3.0 Placed on a flat clean surface like glass.
4.0 Place thin cotton breather sheet purchased from Walmart in the sewing material department over entire sheeted area .
5.0 Place plastic drop cloth material and seal all around with silicone caulking found at Lowe's or Home Depot.
6.0 Place vacuum source/hose in corner of bag, not on top of bonded sheets and allow drying duration per the manufacturer's direction.

This type of bonding will yield you the highest quality, void free sandwich constructed flat sheet that you are going to manufacture at home, unless you have a press that is. There would only be one thing better to use as an adhesive and that would be a very low viscosity epoxy that you have already stated you did not wish to use.

Vacuum pumps are readily available from many sources including hobby sources, you can even build them from information on line and any avid builder would benefit from having one in their shop.

Bob

+ 1 GORILLA GLUE clamping or weighting.