carving plywood

[gusl]

Dear LJ Genie,

I'd like to find someone who can carve plywood for me.



I've traced it with a pen on my plank. The hardware store where I got the plank wouldn't do it. In fact, their woodworkers didn't even know what the right tool would be (and neither do I).

Comments

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

CNC milling machine at your local engineering college / vocational high school / hippie machinist co-op?

[infryq]

or even just a regular manual milling machine, if you've got the right round-headed bit.

It would have to be really good plywood though, for the glue between the plies to resist the shearing forces of stopping in the middle like that. And if what you want is a groove that goes all the way down the end, that little shoulder that remains is going to have a really tough time holding on. Why plywood?

[zarex.livejournal.com]

Not at all trivial to do; I expect this is a much bigger cutout than any router bit.

A woodworker would probably use a table saw to cut it in segments, while varying the height of the blade.

[ernunnos.livejournal.com]

Router in two or three passes.

This looks like one of those cases where there's probably a better solution to the real problem though. There are standard methods in woodworking, just as in programming. As a general rule of thumb, if you're not following one of them, you're probably doing something wrong. Or at least missing established state of the art. It's theoretically possible to come up with a novel solution to a novel problem... but not likely, especially for a novice.

[denorae.livejournal.com]

Try to find a shop that does molding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molding_%28decorative%29) Do you know anyone locally who works in theater? Theater shops deal with weird woodworking stuff all the time, they would either know how to do it themselves, or know someone in town who does.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tove/]

A millwork shop is not going to want to deal with plywood.

I agree with several of the above posters:
1) are you actually sure that you need to make this cut? Can you describe to us the overall project in better detail?
2) Cutting plywood like that is going to cause the surface to curve upward (away from the cut) and leave the left-most bit kind of vulnerable.
3) If you still want to make it, a table saw or router is probably your best bet if it's on the order of an entire 4'x8' sheet; if smaller, a mill would probably work (CNC or otherwise).

[riukii.livejournal.com]

Post on the vancouver lj community?