I have some 9" wide, 1-3/4" thick LVL offcuts. I also have a Beall tap for my lathe spindle. I was thinking of tapping the LVL to make faceplates. Is there any reason this would be a bad idea? I've never tried to work LVL.
I have some 9" wide, 1-3/4" thick LVL offcuts. I also have a Beall tap for my lathe spindle. I was thinking of tapping the LVL to make faceplates. Is there any reason this would be a bad idea? I've never tried to work LVL.
I wood drill the lvl then pour in ultra thin ca glue. Then cut threads. I use lvl everyday at work building housed. It will work.I think the ca will toughen up the wood component of the lvl to hold threads better for a long period of time. Use tail stock support when you can.Boy, I don't know how the LVL plies would respond to tapping. Maybe tapping threads isn't needed, maybe initial screw insertion is enough to create a thread memory in the wood, unless you are using larger screws, like actual lag screws rather than smaller pan head wood or sheet metal screws. Pre-drill at a minimum, esp. for larger screws where you want to maintain a thread. Some plywood has plies that can run thick in the core layers, LVL seems to be quite uniform in thin layers. I would guess the adhesives and assembly pressures used for LVL is different than plywood. 4x8 sheets of plywood can take on a life of their own and distort in different directions, LVL stays quite uniform dimensionally and in plain.
Here's the website I should have included in my first reply, speaking to engineered lumber. About half way down is a quick explanation to LVL manufacturing, more research can be done at this site, too.
https://www.apawood.org/structural-composite-lumber
, well, that's what he would have said if he was a woodturner...Obviously wood face plates have limitations
So Jason, it seems the question is not really whether you can tap LVL with your Beal spindle tap (you can), but rather just what are you going to use these "faceplates" for???