micarta question

[rogerxd45]

so when making micarta is there a way to determine the thickness it will be after so i know how many layers of fabric to use?

do i just take a stack and put it in my digital calipers and squeeze it tight to get an idea or is the epoxy going to add a significant amount of thickness?

i dont need exact numbers here just an idea of how thick it will be with X number of layers

 

[JAGKNIFE]

I did 20 layers of denim and khaki material and got about 5/8 inch thickness once cured.
I would do 20 to 22 layers. Make sure you saturate the material well some areas which did not get
a good and saturated did not laminate together.

I did a 2x2 denim khaki and it looks pretty good.

I hope this helps

JAG KNIVES

 

[Zog the Troll]

I say pre-squish the stack once you have a bunch of layers cut out, that will give you the most accurate number. There will be a lot of variation among materials which makes a general statement difficult. If the donor material is well worn or thin to begin with, or on the other end of the spectrum, if you are using thicker material or including a lot of seams & the like for more visual interest will all affect the number of layers you need to add. Short answer, what Jagknife said will work & adjust accordingly for material thickness, and no, the epoxy shouldn't add much thickness, even if you aren't squeezing the heck out of the layers.