Puzzle joint / epoxy

Going to glue my puzzle joints ( Wood Duck 14) either tomorrow or next weekend.  Garage too cold, so, it'll be done in my house ( reduce laughter).  I will make a plywood deck so I can drill scrap wood into it for compression during curing.  Two questions:

1) is the epoxy mix ( mustard consistency) same for gluing the joint AND saturating the tape.  Think so, but instruction isn't precise.  Suspect it's same, and not the fillet mixture?   Just want to be sure.

2) anyone ever use wax paper instead of plastic to protect the incidental gluing of a panel to table , floor , etc.?  Will it impact the sanding clean of the joint after curing any differently than plastic protected joining? 

Thanks -


2 replies:

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RE: Puzzle joint / epoxy

   I've used waxed paper quite a bit as a release sheet.  It can get stuck in the epoxy if it's part of a heavily clamped stack and you leave it until complete cure. But it stays flat better than plastic film so there are few wrinkles in the cured epoxy. On the whole, it works for me.  For the puzzle joints, I put a piece of waxed paper on the working plywood surface under the planks, then the puzzle joint, another piece of waxed paper, a 2x4 for clamping, and screws through the 2x4 into the working plywood to clamp.  BTW, the puzzle joints on the skerry took some stout whacks with a rubber mallet over the waxed paper sandwich to get the fingers all flat together.

RE: Puzzle joint / epoxy

1. Always use unthickened epoxy to wet out the tape, never thickened. The glass will not absorb the thickened stuff as well.

2. Wax paper will work in most cases, but if the epoxy/hardener reaction gets too hot, the wax will melt and be absorbed into the epoxy. An indication that this has happened is the paper sticking to the joint (because the epoxy has displaced the melted wax and is now in the paper's pores). Wax is used as a mold-release agent because epoxy doesn't stick to it. Mixing mold release agent into a joint may eventually cause the joint to fail. Lots of people mostly get away with it, but it's not a chance I'd take. That's why I always use polyethylene sheets.

Good luck,

Laszlo

 

 

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