April 2021 Meeting Report

Torsion Box Construction

Ian explained that this type of construction replaces the need for large pieces of solid timber often required for tops or sides of furniture and had brought his “S” shaped table in to show that you are not restricted by shape or design, just a different way of working.

The internal grid can be made of any material, but his preference was to use 6mm MDF which was just stapled together until the two outer skins were added which made this a very rigid and lightweight construction. It was essential to work on a perfectly flat surface or any imperfections would carry through to your new table.

He said you had to remember to cut a slot or hole into each segment to equalise the air pressure with the outside as this could cause the surface skin to move and that in most circumstances yellow glue was his preferred adhesive as this system worked best with his vacuum bag.

Pyramid Wine Rack

Laurie and Mark Pearson talked about the wine rack they had constructed based on the OOTW competition requirements, this was a very impressive three-sided pyramid made from NZ Kauri, Karri, Meranti and of course Jarrah.

The construction with all the different angles required, had presented quite a few challenges and they had been worked out to two decimal places which required a digital angle sensor and a perfectly accurate table saw to achieve the finished results.

On top of this Mark had then added his signature “lightning” decoration to the surround which finished off a nice wine rack.

It was probably good that the competition did not go-ahead last year as I could see the 1st prize looking a bigger challenge than I had anticipated.