acryliwood and dymondwood

[dodos]

Excuse me, I know it's kinda runaway from the topic, but anyoe know how to make acrylic and dymond wood complete with the process and machine that is used??
Thank you very much for the attention!

 

[F. Allin Kahrl]

I don't know how they do it in factories, but there's a woodworking technique that I know would work...

First, if you're trying to make something colored like Dymondwood, you'll need to either get a bunch of colored veneer or dye some yourself. Otherwise you can just assemble your material and skip the dyeing. If you know anyone with a Woodmizer mill or a good resaw you might be able to get them to slice you up some thin stuff (my uncle makes bookmarks out of thin strips shaved with a Woodmizer).

Second, you'll need some sort of vacuum pressing kit. Woodworkers use these for cold-molding curvy laminated parts, but they'll work as well for making something flat. Rockler sells the simplest of these kits that I've seen.

The general idea is that you lay up the layers of wood with epoxy, then put the stack in the bag and suck all the air out with a pump, then leave it like that until the epoxy has cured completely. You end up with a very strong stabilized laminate.

Several of us in here make our own Micarta-type fabric laminates for handles, which is a very similar process, so your question isn't really off-topic at all.

-Allin