[stevec1234]

Hi everyone,

I am new around here. I am hoping you are all willing to give me your thoughts on what I am trying to achieve. I have drawn up a design for a mold to be used with gluing up veneer into ply wood cylinders.

There are two main components to the design. One being the "rib", this being the two components at the top and the bottom of the sketch. These will be machined from 25mm ply, 5x 12mm holes which will be used to bolt the components together to have a solid half. The horizontal grooves (which bolted together it will equal a 16mm hole) will be used to bolt the two halves of the mold together using m16 threaded bar.

The 2nd component will again be machined with 25mm ply and have the 5x 12mm holes to line up and bolt the halves together. This second component will be stacked in groups of three to create a deeper mold. I have also added a male V profile and female V profile on each half to help line the two halves up perfectly when gluing up the veneer.

It is crucial that the two halves line up perfectly and the ID of the mold is as close to perfectly round as possible and to a tolerance of +0 -0.1 in diameter.

In your opinion which cutting process is going to have the most consistency and accuracy so when assembled all these components line up properly? I was thinking of going with local company using a CNC router though someone mentioned to me they are not always accurate especially with repeat cuts and that laser cutting would be better.

How well do you the think the Router or laser would go cutting a perfect circle or would you suggest having the ID cut a tad smaller originally and when assembled and the halves are bolted together to have the ID cut to its final diameter on a boring machine?

Any suggestions around the design and effective ways to line the two halves up when the glue up happens are welcome. I will also mention when the veneer is inserted into the mold the two halves will be open about 50mm and then when all the veneer is in position the two halves will be closed pulling the veneer into place.

Also there will be packing spacers in the four corners.

Please refer to the attached pictures to hopefully make things a little clearer.

Thanks in advance

Steve