(Music Playing)
Now I need to clamp the freshly glued edge between two boards and let it cure for 24 hours. This step is only necessary if you are gluing up a poly bag. With vinyl, I would wait about an hour after using the same tool.
After 24 hours, I released the bag form the clamps. The joints should be nice and flat now.
Now with the bag clamped to the table again, I could begin working on one of the sides. I draw another line 2 inches in from the edge.
Looks like it is acetone time again,
I clean the entire edge up to my line, as well as one of the sides of the 4-inch strip.
I then spread glue over the edge staying behind the line.
I also spread glue on the front half of the 4-inch strip. I did not bother drawing a guideline for this one.
When gluing up a polyurethane bag, it is imperative that the two glue surfaces be wet when they come in contact. This is actually something that I learned after the fact.
Once again, I use the seam roller to create a nice secure bond.
I then flipped the bag over,
Clean the surface with acetone,
Spread the glue,
Fold over the flap,
And use the seam roller.
Once again, the fresh joint gets clamped for 24 hours.
The entire process is then repeated for the other side of the bag.
The final step is to install a valve stem, unfortunately I lost this footage because of a bad tape, but this is what it looks like and it is very easy to install.
Just cut a small hole,
Put the valve through in and tighten the knots.
And now for a quick test run,
I slide in the panel,
Seal up the bag,
And connect the pump.
(Pump Sound)
After the air is completely evacuated, I turned off the pump and listen for leaks.
Wherever I find one, I simply drop a little vinyl adhesive on this spot and the suction will pull the glue in and plug the leak.
Okay, so here is the deal. The bag did not turn out like I expected.
Now if you look closely, you will see that the bond does not really look like it is tight at all. I tried to fill in the leaks but unfortunately, no matter what I do the bag is leaky.
Now it is still works but I got to leave my pump on constantly, it would not hold the proper pressure. Having made my own vinyl bag in the past using Joe instructions, I was pretty comforting going into this project, but the fact of the matter is, this polyurethane material acts quite differently than the vinyl.
Instead of working like contact cement, this adhesive partially absorbs into the poly and cause it to curl, so by the time I was at the end of my run, my pieces were curling like potato chips and the glue was nearly dry.
Now the key with this material is to get your pieces together while the glue is still wet. I found this to be pretty darn and tricky and to completely honest with you, I do not think it is worth the hassle.
Like most of you, I am by no means a vacuum bag expert. But I certainly feel confident enough to glue up my own bag and save a few bucks. So what is my verdict?
Well, if I ever need another bag and I want to glue up my own, I am definitely going to use vinyl instead of poly. And I know poly is more durable but my vinyl bag is done well for over two years without single leak and it was really easy to assemble using this exact process.
But more likely than not, I will probably just buy a pre-made bag from JowWoodWorker.com.
(Background Music Playing)
So things did not exactly turned out as expected but, that is exactly why I do this show. I am not here to sugar coat with truth and ended up a bad stuff.
The real point here is for you to see this process in action, it falls and all, and then you can decide for yourself if you want to give it a shot.
And when do you plan on making yourself or buying a pre-made one, be sure to check out JoeWoodWorker.com.
And if you are interested in making your own vacuum setup, you can find all the information and the materials there too.
In fact, JoeWoodWorker.com is one of those sites that you can loose yourself in for about a day or two, so consider yourself warn.
As always, if you have questions or comments please feel free to contact us at the WoodWhisperer@gmail.com.
And if you plan doing some shopping at Amazon.com, why not go to the WoodWhisperer store first.
All your purchases will help to benefit the show and will cost your penny more. So until next time, suck it through me.
For your viewing pleasure I have included an uncut speedup clip of me gluing up one of the sides.
(Background Music Playing)
First off, I think I need a larger brush. Even with the larger brush and find it very difficult to get these pieces together while the glue was still wet and before the poly starts to curl like crazy.
As I have mentioned before, this is not much of an issue with vinyl.
Now at this point in the video it is a good thing you can not see my face because I am pretty much freaking out.
The fact that it was curling like this was totally unexpected and I had no idea how to deal with it.
So I just did the best I could and rolled it with the seam.
Now I am sure there are many things that I could have done to make this all go smoother. But, I think my experience is a fair presentation of what an average person would confront.
So choose wisely when selecting your bag!
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