Food Saver vacuum bagging for glueing

[Tucker]

Has anyone tried using a Food Saver vacuum bagger for glue up of bows or handle risers?

Recently I did a one piece longbow and a handle riser for a 3 pc takedown by gluing things up with Smooth On, vacuum sealing in a bag (6 feet long for bow, 2 feet long for handle riser) and then clamping bow to form and clamping riser parts.

It seems the vacuum bag held everything in place nicely, putting a little bit of "clamping" pressure on the pieces. There was no mess or leakage of excess glue. The bag came off the projects very easily after curing in the hot box.

I really liked it. Granted I've only done it twice now, but I'm wondering if there is a downside to this.

Has anyone else tried this and had good or bad results?

I have photo's, but don't know how to add them to this post.

[macbow]

To me the down side would be the expense, but I guess they could be reused several times. I use saran wrap and some black tape here and there to hold things together.
Ron

[KellyG]

Tucker you can send the pics to me to post but if you get on photo buck an upload them there, the ensure you make it resize copy and past and there you have it. easrier to show then explain.

[rbbhunt]

If you are wrapping something, Rudder bows has a saran wrap type stuff that I wrap it with and it shrinks somewhat under heat and holds stuff together well.

[JamesV]

Harbor freight has the heavy duty heat shrink on a spool with a handle for cheap. I double wrap my bows tight before putting in the heat box. No slipage or leakage. Also I found when I used tape to hold everything in place I got dents in the glass, this plastic film eleminates that.

[R.W.]

I think this technique will work well.

Besides the pressure that the atmosphere puts on the item being glued, the vacuum will also assist with the removal of air bubbles from the glue.

No air bubbles means no voids in the glue line, as long as you have thoroughly coated both sides of each piece you are gluing.

Bagging a full bow might be a bit pricey, if you build a lot of bows, but if one takes into account the cost of the materials to build a decent bow, the cost of the vacuum bag aren't that high.

[Tucker]

Thanks guys for the other creative ideas on wrapping bows. It's good to keep thinking and try new and potentially better ways of doing things.

R.W. - your insight into this got me thinking further...I do think that the longbow I glued up with the vacuum bag did indeed have one of the best glue lines of any of the bows I've done. There have also been times when a few air bubbles have appeared under the glass. This one was flawless, without any strange looking things under the glass.

I bought a 6 roll box of bag material at costco that has 104 feet of bag, for $39. Works out to about .38 per foot or $2.28 for the 6 foot bag to do the bow in. $2.28 seemed like a good deal to me considering the cleanness of the whole deal and the way it held things together.

So, back to my original question...is there anyone else out there who has tried this? If so what were your results, good or bad?

[fujimo]

i think that is a really novel way to vac bag- because if you go the "proper" vac bag route, well you need a very costly vac pump, resin traps- you dont wanna suck the resin into the pump, peel plys, vac panels etc etc- so i think your idea is perfect for your application.
 and if you have any bag left over then you can vac bag all that elk meat ya got!!!!!!!
bless ya
wayne

[KellyG]

I would like to see PICs of the set up. It sounds very easy.

[red hill]

Tucker, I'm with KellyG. Show some pics, please.  
It would seem to me that your set up would provide consistent pressure the entire length of the bow.  
An intrigueing idea.  Hova said it, "novel".
Stan

[hova]

fuj : you hit it on the head. i have used vacuum bags like the foodsavers , and the ones for packing clothes away ...(sounds like..ace bags) ... both worked just fine for fiberglassing things. the "ace bags" were pickier about the amount of glue they would move around. the foodsaver bags i had , had little criss crossed relief lines in the bag. iirc moved a lot of glue out.

the ace bags didnt clamp as much as the saver bags for me , but i was doing larger objects not thin bows , so you might get some really uniform clamping with just the saver bag on a bow.


keep at it , and for goodnes sake , pics already!

-hov

[Tucker]

This is the Food Saver vacuum sealer I used.

[Tucker]

http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb435/Altaiargali/TuckersAlaskaandFall2010422.jpg

Here is a side view of the bow in the bag, sealed.

[Tucker]

http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb435/Altaiargali/TuckersAlaskaandFall2010421.jpg

Here is an end view of the bow in the bag, sealed.

These photos are before clamping to the form and putting in the hot box. Really no difference other than the nice r/d shape after coming out of hot box and off of the form.

[Tucker]

Sorry about the humongous photo of a Food Saver vacuum sealer. It was my first photo ever off of Photo Bucket. I'm figuring it out.
Moderators, please have mercy on me.
Thanks.

[R.W.]

I read an article about building skateboard decks in a woodworking magazine.
The builder used a vacuum bagging kit to glue up his deck, and mentioned the fact that the vacuuming of the laminations helped prevent gaps, and air bubbles in the project.
Even if you only started your "clamping" with the vacuum bag, and then placed the bow blank in a rubber band, or air hose form, it would help evacuate most, if not all, unwanted air from the glue up. Which, in my books, would be a bonus.

[hova]

the secret to removing bubbles from bags is a needle and some superglue or rubber cement. i have used to ride a snowboard of a guy that did a very similar thing to the skateboard deck , only larger. my guy had some issues with gaps cause of the large area , and thats what he ended up doing , since he was making 300+ per board , he just called the bag part of the cost to build it...

and yes , you would still need real clamps , this just keeps the mess contained , and gives you a start on your alignment.


the one thing i remember you have to watch for , is that you use glues that dont need evaporation to cure. obviously if its sealed in an air tight bag , nothing can evaporate...


-hov