best sheet wood to bend with

[reaper]

Hi All

Looking for some advice for a project i am in the midst of trying to plan. The project i want is to make a desk that i can house PC components which will then be hooked up to a closed loop water cooling system. I want to try avoid have the standard rectangular bench with straight edges and want to experiment with curving.

the bench current dimensions are sitting at 1400x700x300 the bench will be obviously be a bit higher but i am still playing with the support legs following the curve down into a filing cabinet built into the curve but that idea i am still playing with but figured i need some good knowledge beforehand on what i can and cant get away with when it comes to bending with wood.

Material wise i want to avoid MDF, I would prefer to try keep the weight down but i also want to be able to get a good solid fixing. And i have also been toying with the idea of using 3mm ply to build up an edge but unsure how well i can sand out for when it comes to painting/laminating (still undecided)


anyway, any info most helpful

 

[NazNomad]

You can get bendy plywood up to (I think) 16mm thick. What sort of radius are you expecting to achieve?

 

[reaper]

radius will be about 350mm at this stage. i figured the bigger i keep it the easier it will be to bend. Or to be more correct less chance ill snap the board in half

 

[profchris]

3.4mm hardwood ply should bend to that radius under hand pressure if you orient the grain of the outer layers at 90 degrees to the curve. And if you bend it over a simple former, clamp and heat with a heat gun until it feels uncomfortably hot to your hand, it should largely keep that curve.

I've made simple guitar cases this way.

 

[custard]

http://www.lathamtimber.co.uk/products/ ... le-plywood

Bending is the simple bit, getting it to stay bent on the correct radius is where it gets trickier.

If you're new to this woody stuff you're better of sticking to straight lines and right angles.

Good luck with your project!

 

[Mike-W]

I made this clock case using 5mm bendy ply as a core with two pieces of Cherry veneer (each about 3mm thick) glued with cascamite. I formed the shape in a mould that i clamped up once i had coated the core ply with glue, left it 24 hours to set then released it from the mould.
It has held its shape very well, I used the same mould to make both sides of the case and hid the laminations with a solid lip on the front edge of the clock case.
I had not had much experience of this sort of thing before so i made a mock up of the most difficult bit (clock face area) before going for the whole case. to give you an idea of size the case is 38" high, 9" wide at the clock face and the sides started out 6.5" deep, finished to just under 6" depth plus the glass door.

 

[Robbo3]

Presume you are a gamer with an i7 & GTX180 Ti if you are into water cooling.
Most of the gamers I know reverted to air cooling as the efficiency of the processors increased & the heat decreased.

 

[reaper]

Thats an impressive clock (had to double check to make sure i never missed a letter)

I had considered adding layers and also kerfing as the inside radius will not be visible on most of the bends. Heating up the wood is not something i have come across but will keep that in mind.

I understand that this degree of woodworking is more of a challenge but if i did not at least give it a try i would not be happy with anything else.

I have air cooled before in traditional cases and with the size of the aircoolers there wasnt a cig paper width between the sides of the case. Im not so interested in any gains by water cooling more so its been an interest i have had for a while. Bought a new house, have the space for it, if i dont do it now then chances are i never will