Sunday, April 26, 2009

A Lesson in Bending Plywood

A teardrop trailer build is a journey which has many lessons. Especially if you've really not built your fair share of cabinets and have faced the rigours of bending plywood. The cabinet assembly came together like peanut butter and jelly, which was really just a tease, since the headliner for the teardrop looked to be an easy task, but has cost me dear time and money. The headliner is the section of the roof, the inside skin, that runs from the bottom front of the trailer to the rear upper hatch area, as one piece. So it has a fairly decent bend in the upper front of the trailer, and the first forceful attempt at fitting the initial headliner ended with busted out plywood. It was dry, and not pre-bent at all, and I learned that it just wasn't going to work. So here's the rig I've masterminded for the next headliner. It's designed to gradually crank the bend in with ratcheting cargo straps and applications of water.








Over the course of the day, I've been tightening the screws, so to speak, and so far, no cracks or blowouts. Tomorrow, I'll do the same and begin to check the radius of the arc to determine the fit. I'm hoping for some degree of "training" of the wood, and then I'll slip it into the interior. While some of this was occuring, I cooked up a handful of ribs for the hatch door. As usual, I'm working in a non-linear fashion. These are five 3/4" birch plywood ribs that will hold the shape of the aft hatch door. But that's later on. For now, I'm looking at what appears to be a skateboard ramp in progress.

[g]

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