Squeeze
For the top side of the body blank, I was planning to follow the instructions of my youtube research on making a skate guitar. The video shows how a solid sandwich of boards can be created by applying glue between deck layers and squeezing it down using a lot of force.
Logically, it makes sense to use a decent amount of force for this step to a) strengthen the bond of wood and glue between the decks and b) even out as much of the concavity within the layers as possible. This should create a durable skatewood blank and a solid foundation for an electric guitar body.
The Steezy Squeeze Machine
If you’ve come here as a DIY builder with little to no access to advanced tools, you - like me - probably don’t own a hydraulic press. Rest assured, for this purpose you can build a mighty DIY contraption with little effort and even on a tight budget.
Talking about steeze…
What you need
Material
main beams: approx. 6 meters of 10cm*15cm construction timber beams
secondary beams: approx. 2 meters of 10cm*10cm construction timber beams
structural support planks: approx. 1.2m of 15cm*5cm junk wood planks
4x20mm threaded rods (length: 1m)
4x20mm sleeve nuts
4x20mm lock nuts
8x20mm washers
4x240mm wafer head screws
wood glue
grease
several metal angles and a bunch of screws
Tools
drill
cricle saw (or hand saw)
22mm flat spade bit
pipe pliers & 20mm wrench
Not the most polished parts. But they definitely do their job well. Just like your favorite, crusty hometown skate spot.
Press Surface
Cut your main beams into 6 equally long pieces, at roughly 90cm length. Take 3 pieces and clamp them together, with the narrow side of each beam facing up/down. Account for any lack in straightness of these beams and make sure that the bottom side of each log is level with the ground. You don’t have to meticulously plane, but be aware that the composed surface will face inwards, towards the material being pressed. The force will spread more evenly if you achieve an even surface and nothing sticks out.
On the upper right side and lower left side, drive one wafer head screw through the clamped assembly. This should make sure that all remains in place after removing the clamps. Remove the clamps. Repeat this step for the second 3 piece set of logs.
Threaded Rod Guides
Cut your secondary beams into 4 equally long pieces, at roughly 50cm length. Their length should be determined by the width of the press surface plus ~2*8cm overhang. Fix one of those logs to each end of the press surface’s backside, leaving ~10cm margin towards the end. Again, make sure that the level side of each press surface is facing away from the guides. Also, ensure that the vertical centerline of each guide on the upper press surface roughly meets the centerline of a corresponding guide from the lower press surface.
Drill holes to guide the threaded rods. These holes should be fairly close to the outer bounds of your main press surface. Any force that is applied outside of the press surface will be amplified by the lever of overhanging wood. Keeping this lever short will make your press more durable. Don’t the holes to close to the press body though. It’ll be difficult to lift and lower the upper press surface if the threaded rods are touching the press.
The added material towards the outside of the guides acts as a handle to maneuver the upper press surface and prevents pressure cracks. Drill the upper guides first (using the flat spade bit) then stick the threaded rods through and mark where they meet the bottom logs. You may have to increase the size of spade bit, to leave a bit of wiggle room for the rods.
Structural Support
Apply the flat structural support planks, some metal angles and a bunch of screws here and there. This may be somewhat unnecessary, but I felt a little more at peace, knowing I had done my best to strengthen this DIY contraption properly.
After this hellmachine was built, I obviously had to give it a run. Just like my resources explained, I took my deck planks and spread wood glue in between layers. Only one side of the connected surfaces was covered in glue. But I made sure to spread a layer thick enough, such that the surface was entirely covered in shades of white.
Prepping Stacks
Since I was pressing two stacks of 3 decks at once, I decided to put a layer of chipwood in between (see first image in this post). This should avoid both stacks from connecting to each other, because of any excess glue. Additionally, I laid a slice of wood above and below the press contents. This should optimize for a better distribution of force.
Some of the decks I used were different widths. At the time of building, I thought it best to align one side. My idea was that I’d have less waste that needed to be cut off on the aligned side afterwards. Don’t do that! Unlike me you should take into account the concavity of your decks.
Your arrangement will likely slip around more easily, once you apply force to it. The wet glue will encourage it to do so. Imagine the structural integrity of two stacks of dining plates. One pile is stacked center on center. On the second pile, you move every plate to the right by one centimeter before stacking it. Get the picture? Great, next time I will, too. If you follow along my journey, you’ll see the issue cascade down during the next steps.
Applying Force
I knew I should be fairly quick when applying the glue and stacking those boards, because the glue would start setting soon. The faster force would be applied to the stacks, the stronger the bond would be. Operating the press is a two person job. Franky was happy to help me lift the upper press surface. I slid in the stacks and we lowered the press together.
Before tightening the nuts, we put grease on the threaded rods. This eases the process of releasing the press once it sat for a while. We tightened the nuts evenly and bit by bit. The grease allowed us to compress the stacks quite decently and without much manual effort. Once the press started making cracking noises we became more cautious of applying more force. We continued giving each nut another few turns and then left it to rest for one day.
I think the noises being produced, once the “real” pressure is generated, are nothing to be worried about. If you’ve ever lived in a place with wooden interior, you’ll know that wood is constantly cracking even without much pressure applied.
I’ve used this contraption three times since I’ve built it and thus far no apparent damages have occurred. At the same time, you probably don’t want to be anywhere this pressurized hell machine once it breaks. So rebuild this at your own risk.
I can only guess what the maximum force of this thing is. But I’d be confident that you can easily generate a few hundred kilograms of pressure with it.
