Ready to glue the skin on this week

[Kody]

Hi fellas,
I have now glued in all the foam insulation into the frame members. I have also started to sand down the urethane foam (needs 1/4" sanded off) to be level with the frame. Sanding takes about 1 1/2 minutes to sand down about a square foot. I then finish the foam off with a sanding board, it works so fabulous and is so quick. It is also extremely accurate producing a very uniform near perfect surface over the entire framework. Photos will come tomorrow, I promise.
I will be ready to fit and glue the remaining skin onto the frame this week. So now I have a problem that I need your advice on.
The original plan was to fit and lay the 1/8" ply on the pre-glued frame and cover it with plastic sheet/s all taped down. A vacuum hose from the vacuum cleaner would then suck the ply down onto the frame and hold it all together as the glue dried/cured.
However, the antics involved in doing this will not be easy for me. I will have my cobber to help me but it's still a big job. There are three panels to be fitted and located with some precision.
I have been working so far most of the time by lying on my side on the floor (and frame) to fit all the frame parts together. I also had to do most of the welding the same way, lying on my side and its a real pain to say the least! However, it's much less painful lying down than standing up and bending over or working on my knees. (Knees? What knees? They gave up a long time ago)
So, -- rather than try and use the vacuum method to hold it all together, I thought I could hold the ply down with about eleventeen hundred steel staples and pull them out when the glue is all dried. My best mate would help me do this, I only need to buy another staple gun for her. It also means that I can do most of the work laying down and a minimal amount on my knees. The question is not that I can or can't do it but do you think the staples would be sufficient to "clamp" down the plywood? I tried a few on a scrap piece of ply and frame work and it seems to hold perfectly. The complete side will be finish skinned on the floor as this is the flattest and smoothest place to do this. I have build the entire frame on the floor and have no hassles with it. Do you think the staples would be the way to go? They will be spaced about 4" maximum along the edges (or less) and the same on the frame parts across the wall. The greatest spacing would be about 12 or 13" going across the framework. Driving a staple thru the ply and into the foam would be pointless but I can place some weights at strategic places. What do you reckon about using staples to hold the ply down?
Some of the weights already being used consist of a gorgeous Shepherd who has helped so much by holding things down, kisses, holding things down, kisses etc.

Kody

[Larry C]

Kody,
I use staples for holding wood strips till the glue sets. I suggest you use the longest ones you can find. Here in the US they are called Ceil-Tile staples, and are 9/16" long. They are used for installing ceiling tile onto firing strips. You want a staple that will stand proud, and not penetrate/dent the outer ply skin. Because.... all these dents would have to be leveled

Also, removing the staples is very difficult if the staples are tight to the skin. There is another method that is even better, but takes a little longer. You would need to find the THINNEST headed nail available about 1-1/4" long. Cut hundreds of 3/4" X 1-1/2" long X 1/8"-1/4"thick wooden gaskets. These could be ripped from cheap 1/4" (5-6 MM) plywood. Start a THIN (headed) nail in each gasket.

When you are ready to start hammering, use a little 10 oz. nail hammer. The little hammer is so much easier to control with the THIN (1 mm thick) nails. Having the nail pre-started in each gasket make it quick and easy to work pretty fact.

The beauty of this method is the gasket protects the ply surface from ANY damage, and it only leaves a single hole instead of the 2 holes from the staple method. If you want to get fancy (anal) you can fill each hole with a tooth pic and a dab of glue. Just find the round style pics, cut them in half, and put a tiny dab of glue on each point, and tap them in the holes (point first). When the glue drys, cut them of with a pair of diagonal wire cutters. Sand them smooth. You now will have nice neat rows of tiny little plugs that look pretty cool especially if your going to finish bright, and are not putting on an aluminum or plastic skin over the ply.

Either method will work or even a combination of both. The nail method has much better holding power thus you would need less nails than staples.

[tony.latham]

I used a 1/4" pneumatic crown stapler for a lot of my build. Don't know if I'd try another build without one. For those areas I had glue in the joint, if I pushed real hard, the staples worked real well. Those staples have a "cement" coating on them and they're damn tough to remove. It sounds like you're talking about using a hand-held stapler. I'm not that optimistic for them to draw the ply down. Dunno. Unless you're building a "woodie," I'd go with sheet rock screws. They'd certainly draw down your ply and are easy to remove. Those buckets of water I used sure worked for me.

You might be complaining about your fingers in your next post if you shoot in that many staples by hand!

TL