Macarta

v-6

v-6

Joined
Nov 24, 2007
Messages
952
lets see what your macarta press looks like.
i'm going to make one and need ideas.
vern:D
 
I just use C-clamps (8" and 10" ones). Four to six depending on what I am making. Two steel plates or a mold and that is it. Found that I am better able to slowly apply the pressure and control the epoxy content in a piece better. Not saying anything is wrong with a nice press this just works well for me.
 
Mark Nelson said:
I just use C-clamps (8" and 10" ones). Four to six depending on what I am making. Two steel plates or a mold and that is it. Found that I am better able to slowly apply the pressure and control the epoxy content in a piece better. Not saying anything is wrong with a nice press this just works well for me.
Click to expand...

do you press it real hard?
 
Hand tight sometimes...sometimes break out a wrench to really crank the clamps down. Depends on what the person buying it wants. I have found that for the stuff I make the more epoxy I leave in it the better finish it takes but is heavier. Less epoxy doesn't finish as well but is much lighter. So it depends. Did some for a folder maker that wanted it as light as possible. Being able to control the pressure and how quickly it is applied helps me when I make any of the burl type styles. No voids and very very few air bubbles. I try to use as little epoxy as possible to keep the cost down but sometime it makes it harder to make sure it is 100% solid. Now everyone is a bit different in how they do this and what works for them so I speak only for myself.
 
mark has said it all
i like my press but thats me and im getting better at getting the feel of the pressure on my mold
 
what do those who make mycarta press it in.....is it literally a box and u fill it with strips of fabric and epoxy and just squezze it.....i assume there is a lid that is smaller than the box and u apply pressure....is that right.....ryan
 
all the tutorials I have seen is simply the saturated fabric between two boards, or steel plates, and wax paper. using clamps to squeeze it. No boxes that I have ever seen. just strips of the fabric stacked and saturated.
 
For something like a burl piece you need to use some kind of mold. Small strips or pieces of different colors pressed together. I use 5.5" x 8" cake pans or a 6.25'x 12.5 mold that I made. For pieces that are a solid color or a rain drop Damascus pattern (or similar) I just use two plates.
 
i havent made layer style latly as i keep tring to push the next cool burl look
i have a box thats 1/4 thick steel thats 6x10 and however deep i want to pres the block out also have a 1/4 thick top plate that i use for the lid
 
I have always liked the burl stuff that you do Butch. By far some of the nicest looking stuff made by anyone.
 
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