OK, so if you do jigsaw the 2 inchers out of ply and glue them up face to face - you will end up with a lot of short grain. Even more short grain in cut curves. Couldn't agrue that that plywood structure is particularly strong at all. Nix that. Plus it's too much work - and wastes expensive ply.
Plywood bent flat, two inches built up of 8 layers of 1/4" marine ply wil be about twenty times stronger than that on edge stuff. A 2X8" made like this might not flex at all. But what are the loads? You will be cancelling any flex with interior supports. In 1/4" you might prebend the 8" strips - taking some stress out of the lamination. A little hot water, a hot day, and a black tarp.
Maybe prebend DRY it in the form for a few days. but overbend it, ie a smaller radius so that they might relax back to the curve of the form.
Could glue up 6 pieces of ply, let it set up hard, cut out the center, put it back in the form, layin some pvc foam with epoxy gel in the hole and glue on a top and bottom of 1/4". Don't think it would act exactly like a composit - it might be stiffer - but it would be lighter. Don'i know that the saving would be worth it.
What's the matter with overbuilding the compression beam anyway???
Reply With Quote