To laminate or not there’s the question

[RonA]

My project car moves on & I need to fabricate this scuttle support (this is a trial piece I don’t have a pattern, just other people’s photos to work from) shown in the first photo. The support will have the final cross section shown in the second photo & third photo shows how the piece will fit in the car.
The issue is, if the piece is made from a single board, part of the arcs have cross grain which makes them weak. This weakness is exaggerated by the sanding them to the final profile.
The final photo is of an idea I had to overcome the problem by laminating strips However I am open to any other suggestions (preferably simple) from any member on here to improve the strength of the piece.
Ideally the piece would be best made by steam bending but I don’t have such a luxury.
RonA

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Does it have to be solid.
Decent beach ply finished lovely?

 

[Agroshield]

Ideally the piece would be best made by steam bending but I don’t have such a luxury.

I wouldn't discount steam bending straight away. Have a look around Youtube; there are lots of home-built steam bending setups. Can be as simple as a piece of steel pipe with the ends capped and a bit of insulation.

 

[Hopefuldave]

Could do a proper laminated piece, make a pair of formers and lay up several veneers (steamed in a pipe with a boiler feeding one end) with a decent wood glue (the yellow aliphatic, or for old-school proper hide glue from a hot pot), clamp and wait...
Contrasting strips (ash, mahoganoid?) would look quite decorative.

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[RonA]

Could do a proper laminated piece, make a pair of formers and lay up several veneers (steamed in a pipe with a boiler feeding one end) with a decent wood glue (the yellow aliphatic, or for old-school proper hide glue from a hot pot), clamp and wait...
Contrasting strips (ash, mahoganoid?) would look quite decorative.

Dave H. (the other one)

The finish is not important it gets covered by an Aluminium skin. Strength is the issue.
But thanks for the suggestion.
RonA

 

[RonA]

Does it have to be solid.
Decent beach ply finished lovely?

The rest of the frame is traditional Ash framing, it would nice to keep it all the same but it does get covered, so a possibility.
RonA

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

The rest of the frame is traditional Ash framing, it would nice to keep it all the same but it does get covered, so a possibility.
RonA

If it's not seen then definitely an option for the sake of strength.

 

[Hopefuldave]

Steamed strips of ash laid up and glued then, it works well and about as strong as you'll get as the grain completely follows the curve.
I did curved corners for a guitar case donkeys ago, I think the individual veneers were 1/16" thick, 2" wide with the grain along the 3 foot lengths. soaked them in the bath for a couple of days then bent around a piece of iron pipe with a blowlamp pointed up the middle to get them close before gluing up and clamping.

Dave H. (the other one)

 

[mtt.tr]

I would laminate out of ash, cut the form from mdf male and female one side screwed down on mdf then clamp them together.


Other option is a vacuum form bag.

In the past we used to make curved furniture like that this.

 

[Lazurus]

Laminate from Flexi Ply?
or
I made a simple steamer for straightening walking stick shanks - Pipe and a wallpaper stripper - use a box instead of pipe or whatever will fit your timber, doesnt need to be posh for a one off use.

 

[500e]

Same as @mtt.tr
Simple & strong

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Thins strips of wood.
Build a steamer.
Bend.
Laminate up.

Enjoy the build.

 

[Gareth0123]

I use a 3 metre length of 100 x 100X 3 box section, 2 plastic end caps and an electric wallpaper steam stripper for my steam box.

I have recently been steam bending some strips of hazel, holly and hornbeam harvested from the woods behind our house two years ago to make another laminated wooden framed fixed gear bicycle...….. I've still got a long way to go!

 

[Dcal]

I made the sides of a guitar out of solid walnut about 3mm thick.
I used a bending iron and a damp cloth.
The bending iron is in the second photo

You could build up pre-bent layers to get the shape you need and then glue together with a former as has already been said.

 

[gordon stephenson]

I would laminate out of ash, cut the form from mdf male and female one side screwed down on mdf then clamp them together.

This the same /similar way that archery bows are made, thin strips of wood glued together and clamped. Should be quite simple and very strong.
Car is looking good Ron, Lovely straight six motor as I recall,

 

[Agroshield]

...with a decent wood glue (the yellow aliphatic, or for old-school proper hide glue from a hot pot

Is the hide glue moisture (and bug) resistant? I have it my head that the formaldehyde glues were developed as the wooden aeroplanes were falling apart and being eaten when used, for example, in tropical climates.

 

[mtt.tr]

Is the hide glue moisture (and bug) resistant? I have it my head that the formaldehyde glues were developed as the wooden aeroplanes were falling apart and being eaten when used, for example, in tropical climates.

Hide glue does eventually fail, our trick was to steam life back into it

Id be looking at using gluelam type glue

 

[RonA]

Hi Gordon,Yes she’s coming on, not as fast as I would like but hey ho plenty of time available at present. It’ll all look a lot better when the Aluminium skin is on & all one colour!
cheers Ron

 

[frank horton]

for steering wheels on old cars I have used veneer sheets quite sucessfully.....and diff colours for added effect in my case.....
cut with scissors and can shape a bit if soaked....butnot nec to wet ........
quite cheap, plenty of off cuts around.......

 

[RonA]

Glad I posted this problem its changed the way I was thinking about the problem. The numerous posts about laminating the curve laterally seem definitely the way to go.
Ive already done some tests, by cutting very thin strips on my circular saw, I can bend to the required curvature dry. Will need to make up a former viz a viz mtt.tr post but thats no problem just need a lot of glue now. Many thanks to all who contributed
RonA