Puzzle Joints

I just ordered a kit with puzzle joints.  The last kit I built (a while ago) had scarf joints.  This may be a naive question, but from looking through CLC and Guillemot Kayaks websites, it looks like there's two ways to do it.  CLC seems to have you put a lot of weight on it so that it comes out flat.  Nick Schade, on the other hand, uses cyanoacrylate glue with accelerator and a deft touch to get them flat...  unless I'm missing something (very possible, says my wife).

I don't think my kit comes with the cyano glue, but should I consider getting some?  It seems like even folks who put a lot of weight on ended up with uneven edges that, when sanded, weren't very cosmetic...?


6 replies:

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RE: Puzzle Joints

When those joints go together with that instant setting glue, if you've made an error you have to live with it.  With epoxy you gave plenty of time to adjust and get it right.

RE: Puzzle Joints

The cyanoacyrlic is definitely the fastest, and arguably the easiest. If I have to work with puzzle joints again that's probably the route I'll take... AFTER practing on some scraps, since, as was mentioned you only get one shot.

The most time consuming, but foolproof way is to assemble the joint, cover the whole area on both sides with packing tape, slice the seam open with an exacto knife, then proceed to epoxy.  The tape prevents the epoxy from sticking to the panels, so if something does go wrong you have less mess to clean up.  Oh, and avoid using weights if at all possible. A couple of c-clamps and some flat boards sandwiching the joint works a lot better, you just have to make up support blocks to hold the panels off the work surface (chunks of 2x4 on edge works wonderfully) I actually think this works better than screwing down clamp boards because it is easier to get even pressure and does less damage to the dining room table.

i stole the packing tape idea from moonchaser, so thank him for that if you go that route

RE: Puzzle Joints

CA glue IS reversible and it's easy to do.  A "de-bonder" is manufactured by almost all the makers of CA glue, CLC just doesn't carry it.  You can get it from Woodcraft Supply, Amazon, McFeely's, almost any website that sells CA glue has it.  It's a clear liquid that you squirt onto the joint, and in a minute or less the CA loosens up and you can pull the joint apart.  I used it on some of the puzzle joints on my WD12, and it's very quick and precise.  I did it on the outside of the joint, however, finding that it was easiest to align the outside surfaces of the joint into a perfect fit, apply dots of the CA every inch or so, hitting them with spray accelerator every 6 dots or so.  You can then apply epoxy and glass on the inside of the joint.  The CA dots sand off the outside surface of the ply completely during the normal sanding of the hull, and leave no visible trace.

RE: Puzzle Joints

Thanks VERY MUCH for the tips!  Will definitely practice on a few pieces before working on the real thing..

RE: Puzzle Joints

when you get to scraping the globs off, look at this, it helped me a great deal. the scrapers do work.It pays to lean how to sharpen them but there are lots of youtube videos on that.

 

http://www.westsystem.com/ss/scrapers-versatile-tools-for-working-with-epoxy/

RE: Puzzle Joints

just make sure they fit together easily and the surface they're laying on is flat

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