Help with glueing the box together

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Red Dogg
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:46 pm

Help with glueing the box together

Post by Red Dogg »

I've got my top and back glued up with braces/bars trimmed and shaped. Side kerfing is notched to accept the braces and everything is fitting well while in the form.

FYI, I started the project with the cardboard form supplied with the kit, but ended up rebuilding it once because of crappy instructions and then adding an outside, plywood mold, leaving the inside cardboard form in place. So the box is ready to assemble, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to attache top & back to the sides given that I don't have a go-bar deck.

So as far as I can imagine, I'll have to remove the outside mold in order to attach top and back using spool clamps. But if I do that, the sides will deform enough that the top & back will no longer fit. Is there any other way to hold things together other than keeping the mold in place and weighting down the perimeter of top and back with bricks or something else?
jread
Posts: 560
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:52 am
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Re: Help with glueing the box together

Post by jread »

I'm hesitant to reply as I ended up making a go deck on my 1st build. I've had the idea given to me that I could slim down the external mold enough where cheap screw clamps could reach to the rim.

Search the forum for spring clamps as I like that idea too. Taking a box spring mattress apart to get wide springs that could be used. That I really want to do but my plywood and snow marker pole go deck does the job.
Skarsaune
Posts: 239
Joined: Mon Dec 03, 2018 9:12 am

Re: Help with glueing the box together

Post by Skarsaune »

How squirrely are the sides when out of the mold?
If it’s just the waist is getting out of shape,
you can make a waist clamp/jig out of a piece of plywood.
- cut a Flat U shape out of say 1/2” ply. The legs of the U are the depth of the sides, the space between them is the desired width of the waist.
- round the inside edges so as not to scar up your sides
- slide the u over the sides, with the bottom of the U on the opposite side from what you want to glue on

This will hold the waist in place/ to size but leave you room all around to use spool clamps.

You can also make a little inside mold jig to connect head block to tail block and keep them aligned.

If this doesn’t make sense, I can put up a pic tomorrow when I’m back in the shop.
Once you get the top or back on, you should be out of the woods, but if your sides still want to splay out, you can use the waist jig from the other side.
Keeping the sides square to the top/back is important.

Other option is a whole bunch of cam clamps. They usually have enough depth of throat to go over a mold. You’d need a bucketful, though.
carld05
Posts: 170
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:19 pm
Location: Forest Ranch, CA

Re: Help with glueing the box together

Post by carld05 »

I recently sold a mold that had a series of holes drilled through it, 11 per side, about 3/8" from the inside edge so that the long skinny bolts of the spool clamps were close enough to the sides to clamp the top or back to the sides with the mold on. I still have the spool clamps. They're homebuilt. PM me if you want them. We'll deal.
Red Dogg
Posts: 26
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2020 12:46 pm

Re: Help with glueing the box together

Post by Red Dogg »

I did consider a modified go-bar deck but chucked that idea for lack of horizontal real estate in my garage/shop. I just figured I'd use spool clamps as suggested in the kit instructions, but that was before the project evolved from an internal, cardboard form to a plywood exterior form with cardboard still in place.

And yes, when the form(s) is removed, the sides are squirrely as can be. Even with the cardboard form and "waist clamp" in place, I couldn't get the shape of the sides anywhere close to that in the drawing and the body was still 1/2" too long. I initially used a waist clamp as per the manual, but even though the edges were well rounded and applied carefully, I managed to scar the sides badly enough that it required major sanding to remove.

BUT, after staring at the project for a few hours, I came up with a solution. I cut 12 slots in each of the 2 sides of the plywood form, spaced evenly along the sides, and radiating out about 1 1/4" from the sides. This will allow me to put all the spool clamps in place before gluing the top/bottom, while giving me enough room to get the top/back in place without fighting the clamps. I wish I knew how to attach a photo or drawing...much easier than trying to do it verbally.

Carld05...my idea is quite similar to your suggestion, but with slots, instead of single holes. This should make it easier to get the top into position, apply the glue and adjust the clamps. Although I was patting myself on the back for such a brilliant idea, I'm sure there are hundreds of variations on the theme. Necessity is the mother, I guess.
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: Help with glueing the box together

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

You were smart making the outside mold. The mold needs stay on until you get the box closed. It's not hard to make a rudimentary spreader out of wood and a turnbuckle to hold your waist tight to the mold, so you can close the box. The spreader is removable through the soundhole.

You can make an inexpensive gobar deck out of wood and electric wire pullers from harbor freight. The fiberglass wire pullers can be cut to length, and have the springyness to use as gobars. If you make a deck, make it 24" x 18" and high enough to comfortably work. Cut the wire pullers to ~ 2-3" longer than the length between what you're clamping and the inside top of the deck. Use a glob silicone caulking on the cut ends of the fiberglass. It'll keep it from slipping and protect the wood.

You can also use screw clamps found at harbor freight to close your box.

A third way is to use springs. Old bed springs found on ebay and cut into pieces, are used along with a halo to glue the top and back. This is what I use. They're cheap and the halo is made out of inexpensive, thin, flexible, plywood. You can also use cardboard for a halo.
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Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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