toothless press problems

**daveydynamite** · 01-16-2006 08:11 PM

hey

so im looking to build a press along the lines of the toothless press. however im running into some problems in my brain while thinking about it.

1. how much camber/concave?

2. how to get the joints of the spine and the ribs flush on the top?

3. do you need a spine at all? ive seen presses with and without im assuming the ones with spines help the camber alot.

4. finanl question. i live in australia on the west coast. middle of ******* no where. anyway i trhink baltic birch might be a mission and a half to find let alone the press it would be. anyway other woods that might be useable. it ll be hard to find any north america hard wood plys but i can try

ive search on this forum and couldnt find any answer that helped me enough hence the questions.

cheers

boy i sound like a popus twat. geez

**Brodie** · 01-17-2006 08:40 AM

OK i made a press that was slightly different to the Toothless one, but i used the same dry laminating technique.

Here is how I did it....:

I will try to take a pic of it tonight if anyone want to see the real thing

**THOR-ONE** · 01-17-2006 08:49 AM

there's one problem with your drawing ( but appearently it makes great decks), in order to get good contact you must account for the thickness of the material being pressed. cuting 2 lines down the slats, at the aprox thickness of the deck (+ anything you throw in there to help surface contact) will help avoid things like a partial lamination which can over time cause de-lam

**lettucefresh** · 01-17-2006 10:02 AM

I would advise that you make your molds out of foam instead of wood, they are easier to change, cost alot less, and are way easier to shape.

**Lit** · 01-17-2006 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by THOR-ONE

there's one problem with your drawing ( but appearently it makes great decks), in order to get good contact you must account for the thickness of the material being pressed. cuting 2 lines down the slats, at the aprox thickness of the deck (+ anything you throw in there to help surface contact) will help avoid things like a partial lamination which can over time cause de-lam

**THOR-ONE** · 01-17-2006 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by Lit

see, chaput knows where its at

**tomcat360** · 01-17-2006 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by lettucefresh

I would advise that you make your molds out of foam instead of wood, they are easier to change, cost alot less, and are way easier to shape.

this is what I did, but the draw back is that they compress a great deal, so glassing them is a big help. without it, ive gotten a bunch of delamination, though this might not be the fault for that.

hey Brodie, have you had any issues with that press? looks like a good idea...

**daveydynamite** · 01-17-2006 05:32 PM

yo

brodie, cheers dude that looks a hell of a alot simpler. how much camber did you make the mold have?

foam would be good but you know what i dont think you can get it here as easily. ive never seen hard foam of any kind in the hardware shpos down here.

cheers dave

**Brodie** · 01-18-2006 06:05 AM

Hey Dyno Dave.

I think its about 15mm of camber. (i.e the side struts are cut 15mm lower than the middle one.)

Thor and Lit: It is a fair point what you are saying but is not really a problem here because there are no sharp bends in the deck, the sharper the bend the more this effect will be apparent. As this press has only gentle curves then the different radius's have very little effect on the pressure provided by the press.

***This is only my 1st attempt at building decks. I have only finished one and it seems to be fine but I cannot tell if there will be delam issues in the future***

I took some pics of the press here they are:

**THOR-ONE** · 01-18-2006 12:10 PM

i agree that the more suttle the bend the less likely there will be any problems, BUT taking the time to cut that extra line will only help. In fact its a good idea to make that distance a little wider than needed to allow for deck thickness adjustments, you can always use mesonite or some other crap sheet material (some plastics if doing composite work) to shim it to the right thickness.

**Moeser** · 05-24-2006 08:46 AM

very nice deck you got there!
Just about to build my first pressed board, so i got a question.

Does the wood have to bee wett when you press it? Or is it just enough to glue the sheets together and put it in the press?

And how mutch concave does the bord get in the end, because i could think that it goes back to its normal shape a bit.

**Wicked.Pissah** · 05-24-2006 01:55 PM

read the stickies.

**Brodie** · 05-25-2006 06:31 AM

No the wood does not have to be wet. The single layer of glue between two sheets of ply is enough to keep the shape.

How much concave? that depends upon the shape of your press... You will get a little 'bend back' when you remove it from the press but not too much. Always make sure you leave longer than the glue say it takes and this will minimise the bend back.

Good luck dude.

**calicarvin** · 05-26-2006 09:30 AM

This was mine from a while back. Ignore the first board, it was crap shaping and snapped because it was too thin.

http://www.silverfishlongboarding.co...672&highlight=

**Moeser** · 06-02-2006 10:39 AM

Some reasons why I like Brodies press :

1. Really easy to build. Took me about 3 hours to build.
2. You dont have to do anything with the wood before(like wet it)
3. Really cheap.
4. Its easy to mod.

Made two decks in just about 35 hours.
Didn't thought the decks would stay in shape as i began to build the press. But they did.
Good Work!

**Rich Nelson** · 07-04-2008 06:50 PM

hey sry to bump this sto far but i have a few quick questions about the brodie press, im planning on making one with two sheets of 1/4 BB and was wonding about how much camber and concave (in inches) i should make it with. im making a 43 in long board with about a 33in wheel base and am about 175 pounds. im also planning on adding a layer of fiberglass to stregthen it

does 1.75 in camber with .5in concave sound good, or will that not be enough if the wood relaxes or rebounds

**Crazy Jake** · 07-05-2008 10:00 PM

I was looking at this for and i am thinking about making a press with the same type of setup but with 5 camber boards instead of 3? would this help with the concave or do i not need it?

**boardin'mormon** · 07-05-2008 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by Brodie

OK i made a press that was slightly different to the Toothless one, but i used the same dry laminating technique.

Here is how I did it....:

I will try to take a pic of it tonight if anyone want to see the real thing

dude how well does it work. i've been looking to build a press for a while...