Wooden laptop case cover for 'real'
Um, yeah, that should be '100% wood glued to a plastic case'.
OK, So it's cheating. But I worked out almost as soon as I'd made the
metal pieces that the front edge - which had to bend round in a gradual 90°
curve and then produce two very small but significant 'tangs' that hook
into grooves in the top of the screen - wasn't actually going to work because
making those tangs was beyond my skill. They certainly weren't going to
hold if made out of wood. And while the idea of having a wooden cover
that was more completely wood (it still had to have those metal bits in
it) was attractive, the idea of it actually attaching to my laptop
was even more so.
So I bought a new cover (couldn't find one second hand), sanded it lightly,
and then prepared my implements. I first needed to bend the front edge of
the veneer into roughly the right shape, as it was quite dry and brittle
and would snap if I tried to press it onto the plastic it in that state.
My plan was to get a bit of water, wet down that edge, and then press it
in the mould I'd already made; that would bend it into the right shape with
no breaking whatsoever. So I went to get a bucket of water and a sponge,
foolishly still carrying the veneer in my hand.
It was whilst walking through the door between the main work area in the
woodcraft guild's shed and
the tea room (where the buckets and water are kept) that the gods of
woodworking demanded appeasement. A light gust of wind, channeled in the
doorway, neatly snapped the veneer in three pieces - one still in my hand,
the other two fell to the floor. I stood quite still and very slowly let
my frustration subside silently - there were children present - before
getting the bucket and learning how to mend the veneer.
Step one: apply masking tape to the veneer (this would have gone on the
inside face if it had any recognisably different faces). Step two: apply
veneer
tape to the other side - this is basically like a long strip of stamp
material: wet one side and it becomes a glue, smooth it in place, and when
it dries it holds the piece together. Step three: carefully remove
the masking tape.
Now to bend the edge. Which requires... water. Which will unstick the
veneer tape if used too much. Right. After adding just the right amount
of water, I gradually eased the top form of the mould over it, and pressed
it into the bottom form. Hooray for small miracles, the tape held and the
veneer as a whole bent neatly and without snapping (again).
Next step: apply polyurethane glue. This is like your regular Aquadhere®
but stronger, space-filling (it foams up), resistant to solvents, and
(spotting a theme here) sets faster in the presence of water. In fact, you
have to lightly dampen the wooden surface in order to get it to set well.
(And if you get any on you, you have to wait for two weeks with the affected
appendages blackened from stuck-on dust while it naturally abrades away.)
Fun stuff to work with.
Working quickly, I removed the top form, damped the veneer down, applied
glue and spread it around before the veneer could bend too much (due to
the fibers swelling up on the wet side), and threw on clamps to every
available part of the mould. I could see the glue foaming up in the drops
of water left on the Contact® of the mould. Then, and only then, could
I relax.
Then it was simply leave it for four or five days and then gently try to
prise the glue away from the mould - it hadn't stuck to the Contact®,
but had happily stuck to every non-covered surface it could find, and it
had found plenty. I also had to cut away the excess wood from around the
edges of the cover, as I had left these intact - this was another area
where my lack of expertise led to some rough edges. The glue had also
foamed
through the gaps, in the wood and set itself in a nice, undissolvable
coating on the front of the piece. The wood had also
shrunk
as the glue dried, pulling the cover into a neat arc.
This was beginning to resemble my other cover, and a disappointingly
familiar wave of hopelessness washed over me.
Still, not far to go, and this was only Tuesday before LCA. With a scalpel
I carefully scraped the layer of glue off - in some areas it had simply
foamed between the outer scratch-proof layer and the wood, so I could get a
blade in there and cut it away. Other areas required very precise cutting
to get as much of the impervious layer away while still leaving wood. I
also discovered that the veneer glue, being impregnated with water, had
combined with the polyurethane glue to set into a scalpel-resistant polymer.
There was also excess glue sticking on the other side which had to be cut
and scraped away. Then I flexed my sanding muscles sanding the remaining
surface clean and removing all visible areas of glue.
Finally, the finishing (heh) touch: some Shellawax,
a special blend of waxes, oils, solvents and magic. As I had suspected, as
the Shellawax soaked in, the wood fibers expanded again and I was left with
a near-straight cover again. Two coats of this, some vigorous scrubbing
with 0000 steel wool to heat it up and remove the streaks, and there it was,
finally finished.
Yes, there are still flaws - the cracks in the piece where I glued the
fragments together, the chunks out of the edges, and a number of other
little imperfections which it is my privelege as the maker to not have
to tell you about. But it's beautifully smooth yet textured to the touch,
water resistant, and looks damn good. I'm not sure whether I'll give a
lightning talk on it at LCA because I don't know if I can fit that saga
into three minutes, but I'm going to take it and not the previous cover
to LCA and just use it.
Torvalds' Trousers, but I hope it lasts :-) All posts licensed under the
CC-BY-NC license.
Author Paul Wayper. You can also read this blog as a
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People following my ongoing
saga of building a wooden
laptop case cover can finally give a half-hearted cheer, as today I
have actually made one. It's real, it clips onto my laptop, it looks
just the right colour, it has the right texture and feels great, and I
finally feel like I've actually completed what I set out to achieve.
And it's 100% wood.
posted at: 20:21 | path: /personal/woodworking | permanent link to this entry