Hot Melt Glue faceplate turning.......

[reible]

I've never attempted it but I getting ready to. So far I'm planning on using this glue gun:

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This is the blank:

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I've octagon-ed it:

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On the face plate side I've made a very slight concave block where the glue will meet the blank.

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I've I have the blank and face plate and glue gun inside warming to room temperature so that I can try and attach it tomorrow. I plan to round between centers, the center hole in the blank is where I'll be removing material.

So any comments before tomorrow happens, I know some here have said this works, I'm trying to be a believer but I have to admit I'm worried about getting hit with block of wood............

Ed

[BuckeyeDennis]

This looks interesting. I can attest that hot glue and masking tape works great for a quick & easy planer sled, but have never tried it for turning. Gonna wear a face shield?

[ERLover]

Face Shield and Flack Vest.
I think, from my experience with hot glue, tensile strength is stronger then lateral strength. That was wood on cider block. With the clear glue sticks.

[ChrisNeilan]

I have done it this way several times, MOSTLY with sucess. Early on i was impatient. You have to let the glue gun reach maximum temperature, not just hot enough to start the glue flowing. Position the work quickly, and also seal it with more glue around the outer edge. You should be fine.

[benush26]

You can blame me if something goes awry but I've been using hot melt glue for many years. I believe you bought one brand I recommended, but did not like it, the Stanley GS500. Hopefully you found something just as strong (or stronger!!)
Letting it get HOT and runny (more like syrup and less like honey)is the first step with a good bead as the second (I place a continuous bead around the perimeter, another circular bead about half way and a decent dollop smack dab in the middle - forming concentric circles). The dollop in the middle will be the least runny since it has had the least amount of time in the gun chamber. Lastly a strong press or multiple clamps is also good; giving the glue an hour (or more if you can allow it) to cure (which for me was still significantly faster than overnight using white glue with paper between the wood).
There is another brand but I've not used it for turning because it is too expensive by my standards (Steinel GF 260 at over $2 a stick!! ). I bought a couple sticks from an acquaintance so I could use it to hold up large heavy cornice moldings. It worked and held well under nasty outdoor conditions!!
I always have my full face shield on when turning (actually any wood working with power tools) but have on occasion added a leather welding coat and maybe even a carhartt insulated vest for "just in case" protection but not ever needed it.
Very hot runny glue, good coverage and a strong press and you should be good to go!

Be well,
Ben

[robinson46176]

Many years ago when those hot melt glue guns first hit the market a good friend and I each bought one. We were hot gluing everything in sight from drawers to crafts. It always seemed to be holding well but after a few months everything started falling apart. We were careful about clean surfaces etc. but finally concluded that at that point in time it was only for temporary attachments. Of course it has changed over the years like such things do.
The one single trick we learned back then that did the most good was heating both surfaces being hot glued. When you slapped the hot glued parts together the glue was instantly cooled by the surfaces and didn't move well into tiny holes in the surfaces. By having both surfaces good and hot the glue stayed in a near liquid state longer and pushed into the surfaces a lot better. It also gave more time to clamp stuff and made it easy to make the hot glue film in the bond thinner which seemed to make it stronger.
A heat lamp works well and heat guns are cheap now. Hair blow dryers tend to move a little too much air. You can also use the oven if your wife is not home.


.

[reible]

The glue sticks I did purchase are the Stanley GS500. The glue gun works well with them, they are for "high temperature" guns what ever that means. Some experiments I did with them didn't yield much differences then the old stuff I was using so I'm still not really sure I love them. I've had and used glue sticks for a lot of years and they are great for some projects and not so great for others. The idea of using it for turning was not something I thought would be a good use but I've been wrong before and hope I am on this.

I'm going to go with glue in the middle first then to the outside because I think that will handle the stress better that way. More area and farther out the better.... well that is my theory. A puddle then spiral out..... I'm planning on using the quill to provide the clamping force I think. I'm going to do some dry runs before I get to far along as I want to make sure I can get the blank well centered and tightly clamped before I do the real thing.

The temperature in the shop is about 45 degrees now so I wanted the wood and everything warmer to start with, the cool conditions still worry me a bit but that is about the best I can do. I will turn the heater on and it will be 55 or so in the shop before I start the process. The wood pieces will be more like 68 degrees and I'll take then to the shop just before I'm ready to glue.

So long as the tail stock is in position not much can happen. When I get to the point of removing the tail stock I'm going to give it a good examination before I power back up. If I feel that the bond is not good enough I'll stop there and go back to the glue/paper/glue method that I've always done.

I like the idea of a final hot glue bead around the outside so I'll do that too.

Ed

[Mike907]

At a recent woodturning demo at the local club, the presenter used hot glue, and after gluing the faces together, he ran a fillet around the joint for extra holding, so your idea has precedent.

Mike

[reible]

I'm still here and no wood chased me around the shop so I guess things are looking good for the hot glue method, well with a sample of one for me.

I wasn't able to get to this until this evening, had a lot of other stuff to do today. I have a few more pictures that I took to document what I did. One of the things I mentioned yesterday was the small hole in the blank on the side I was going to hollow out. I had that because I wanted to get the waste block and work piece centered on each other. I have a part that fits the 5/8" hole in the faceplate and has a rod centered on that part. So if I use that and find the center hole on the blank then things are pretty well lined up. Here is a picture of how I did this:

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Note the double sided tape to make sure the work piece stays centered.

Next I added a MT2 extension to the tail stock so I could use the quill to apply and hold pressure to the hot glue joint. Here it is in the test position:

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I took of the face plate with the waste block to put the glue on then slipped it on the quill and applied pressure. That looked like this:

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I added the extra hot glue around the exterior. Waited about a half hour then set up the live center and proceeded to turn the blank round.

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I then went on to remove the live center and started hollowing.... well yes I did check to make sure it felt nice and tight. Now I'm to the point of starting the sanding so the glue has held for the stressful portion of the turning.

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So that is about it for this test.

Ed

[swampgator]

Ed, can you please post a pic of the centering device that you use in your faceplate? This appears to be a Shopsmith faceplate. I haven't looked closely at mine yet, but tomorrow, I will remove it from the packaging and clean it with mineral spirits and put a good coat of wax on it. But, I didn't see the device you have. I like that idea of centering. Thank you for posting this.

Steve, the old swampgator