Hey guys, I’m new to the laminating process so hopefully you will bear with me. I’ve been working on a project without much success and was wondering if anyone could give me some help. I’ve browsed through many posts, and noticed that there are several dealing with skimboards so I hope this is appropriate for this surfboard forum. I’m just making a basic wood skimboard. After reading through several posts here, I thought I’d try to get a little more precise rocker by using a rocker table and laminating a piece of formica to the bottom of the board. My first version of my rocker table was simply a ¼ inch piece of plywood propped up on both ends by a small piece of wood. I put the board down on it, put a piece of plywood on top to sandwich it in between, then put a bunch of weight on the top. I tried this twice and both times had “bubbles”, places where the laminate was not stuck down to the board. The first time I decided that I had not used enough glue. I had been a bit stingy and spread it on pretty thin, it was quite warm that day, and I wondered if in some of the really thin places it had started to dry before I got the two pieces stuck together. The second time I was very liberal with the glue, but again, there were places where the laminate was not stuck. I decided that I just didn’t have enough pressure distributed throughout the board to get it to work so I worked up this rocker table.
I coated the board liberally with glue using a small roller. I laid down the formica, put the board on top,
sandwiched it with a ¾ piece of plywood on the top and cranked up the hydrolic jack.
I thought for sure this would work. I had better results, but still had some “bubbles”.
I used PL polyurethane premium construction adhesive
Any ideas? Is there a flaw in my rocker table design? Wrong glue? Glue application problems?
you want even distribution of pressure, not necessarily a lot, but you want it evenly distributed. The best way to do that is vacuum bagging. You still use the rocker table as the board is in the bag.
its the crack in your wall thats givin u the problems man!
lol only messing. try loading it with sandbags, water bottles… anything thats heavy and will evenly distribute the weight. it doesnt necessarilly need to be bagged if you dont have the kit.
It’s odd that you’re using other than contact cement to stick down Formica. The few times I’ve used it, contact cement works well. However, if you roll it out well it ought to work. Not sure about tackyness of this material, or how long you can wait until it isn’t useable.
We don’t know how “liberal” you are in applying the cement.
I watched a pro resurface a countertop once… he went over the entire surface with a rubber mallet, I assume to ensure there was good contact all around. Your jack method is ingenious, but does not ensure that all areas are firmly contacted. I think this is your problem. You think the jack applies enough force (and it does) but only under the 4x4 it is pressing on. You need to distribute the pressure and for this a vacuum bag would be better, or the mallet, to ensure full-area contact.
I’m wondering about contact cement as well. Brush or roll a coat on each surface. Let dry and add another coat. When they are tack free go ahead and stick them together. You only get one shot - no shifting around. Place several sticks between the material and shift the sticks so the center area connects first. Working out from the center that way is key to avoiding bubbles. Slamming with a rubber mallet or stomping on it with your feet might help.
Thanks for the replies. Actually I would prefer to use contact cement. The main reason I choose the glue instead was that I wanted to “glue” the exact rocker into the board. I wasn’t sure if I could get the same results with contact cement. After contact, is the bond still loose enough that when I put it into the rocker table it will allow that rocker to set in, or am I stuck (ha ha pun intended) with whatever shape the board was when it came into “contact” with the formica. I know that once the board touches the formica and they both have the contact cement on them there is no moving, pulling apart or rearranging, so I was wondering if that also meant that there is no putting any more rocker in them. I don’t think I’ve done the best job explaining myself but hopefully that kind of makes sense.
I think your rocker table would be better used upside-down in this application. You can even send screws through the ‘table’ into the deck side of your skim to hold it in the curve you want, with the convex bottom up.
Once its held like that, It should be relatively straightforward to use contact cement & a mallet, working from the center out towards the ends, since the center will be presenting itself to you as the high point anyway.
I think your rocker table would be better used upside-down in this application. You can even send screws through the ‘table’ into the deck side of your skim to hold it in the curve you want, with the convex bottom up.
Good point! I think that’s the only way to go without using a vacuum bag.
