STATUS UPDATE: Box Glued and Srewed and Setting
STATUS UPDATE: Box Glued and Srewed and Setting
STATUS UPDATE:
This morning, I disassembled the dry-fitted box that was screwed together, but not glued. Recall that the box was dry-fitted with screws as a test-run, to ensure all panels would align and could be screwed, without missing holes or splitting the wood. Today's wooden overflow-box is actually the
second box I made. My first wooden overflow-box, made last weekend, failed miserably. It failed because I did not dry-fit all panels together in a test run. My mistake there may help others avoid similar mistakes in the future. Thus, I will briefly touch upon my first, failed overflow-box, before I discuss my second overflow-box, which is a success, so far.
A.
First Wooden Overflow-Box: A Failure
Last weekend, I made my first wooden overflow box, but it failed. Had I done a dry-fitting of the box, with screws
fully engaged, it would not have failed. However, the screws were never fully engaged in a test fitting because the pilot holes were not drilled through
both pieces of wood.
Instead, I drilled pilot holes through the
floor panel, but
not through the
wall panels (admittedly, a bonehead move). At the time, my concern in drilling pilot holes through
both pieces of wood was that doing so would make it too hard to realign the holes for screwing later, through a film of glue. However, such a fear was completely unfounded, as confirmed by today's successful box: realigning the pilot holes in the wall and floor panels, for screwing, is quite easy--even through a film of glue.
In the first box, I began the gluing and screwing process without having pilot holes drilled all the way from the
floor panel through the complete depth of the
wall panels. Man, I ran into a
lot of problems there: split plywood edges, screws not going in straightly into the
wall panels and then the
stripping of the screw heads from over-cranking, all of which caused some panels to become
mis-aligned. It was one, big, depressing experience. That is why last week's box is now known as the "test box."
B.
Second Wooden Overflow-Box: A Success (So Far)
Okay, back to the second, successful overflow box.
So I removed all the dry-fitted panels, by unscrewing all 34 floor-screws and 6 wall-screws of the box. Next, I lightly "banged" the wood panels on a flat surface to empty out all remaining sawdust deposited in the holes. I was very surprised at how much dust still remained in the holes, even after previously removing a lot of it (see picture below). Tapping out the sawdust here, further reduced the risk of the plywood splitting at its ends.
Next, I taped the panels with masking tape, so as to receive the bulk of the "squeeze-out." Next, I assembled the panels.
1. A note about assembling the panels:
I previously stated earlier in this thread (at Post No. 22,
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=21285618&postcount=22) that the method recommended by Garf.org was to lay down a single bead of glue
on all four sides of the bottom panel at one time. However, that method is ill-advised, if you are using Gorilla Glue. Garf.Org was using Resorcinol Glue, which might have a longer "open-time," than Gorilla Glue. (Or the people at Garf.Org are just much better at assembling the panels than I am, going much faster than I can go.) At any rate, my experience has shown me that Gorilla Glue does
not allow one sufficient time to carefully place
all of the wall panels to the bottom panel, before the glue starts to cure.
When making last week's failed box, I used that recommended method. I poured glue at all four edges of the floor panel, expecting that I could adhere the four wall panels in sufficient time. Nothing is gained by such a method, but much can be lost. I found myself
rushing to place the wall panels on the glue that was applied to the floor panel. Rushing is not good.
So, today, I disregarded that advice and worked more slowly. Instead, I laid down glue on the floor panel for
one wall panel only. Once completed, I repeated that process for each successive wall. By gluing only one panel at a time, I had plenty of time to glue and screw each wall panel to the floor panel before the glue began to cure. I
highly recommend this piecemeal method for peace of mind; my first, failed box was very crude, but my second box came out very smoothly. As well, adhering just one panel at a time allows you to recover from mistakes--and no matter how good of a wood-worker you are, you might make a mistake.
For example, today, I laid down the glue for the assembly of the first wall panel. I placed it in the correct position, by lining up the screw hole of the floor panel with the screw hole of the wall panel, according to a pencil marking on each piece. Guess what? I totally screwed up: I
completely forgot to moisten the wood with water, which is required to activate the bonding agents in Gorilla Glue. At first I was alarmed: "Oh, man--this wood is ruined!" But then I realized that I still had time to correct the mistake. The glue had
not yet been activated, so fixing this problem was easy enough to do. I unscrewed the wall panel from the floor panel and quickly moistened the wall panel. Then laid a new bead of glue down on the floor panel and reassembled the two panels without a hitch. Had the original glue been laid down for
all four walls, I simply would
not have had enough time to fix the problem; the glue would have begun to dry at
the other three wall-panel locations, as time was ticking for that glue there. I would have ruined the floor panel, requiring a re-do.
Anyhow, the second box came out very well, as I adhered all four wall panels, one at a time, gluing and screwing each one into place. The box is drying now. My next step is to paint the box with the epoxy paint, which I will tackle tomorrow. I think I will do a test painting of the "test box," since I have one to use, and since I have never used epoxy paint before. In the meantime, I want to give the glue 24 hours to completely cure. Then I will sand off the dried "squeeze-out," which is the recommended method for polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue).
I welcome your thoughts, advice, and comments. Thank you.
2. Pictures:
Here are some pictures:
PICTURE 1: The sawdust that was tapped out of the holes, before glue was applied. (This picture is out of focus, but see the faint piles of sawdust on the blue tape):
PICTURE 2: How the wall panel will slide up under the glued bottom panel, when glued. Note that the holes for the stainless-steel screws pictured here are
countersunk and are set apart every
three inches. My first, failed "test box" did
not countersink the screws, causing a rougher floor and potential problems sealing the surface to make it waterproof. As well, the first "test box" set the screws apart every
two inches, which produced too many screws, or so it seemed for such a small box.
PICTURE 3: The overflow box, after glued and screwed, and now curing. The box panels fit cleanly and are well aligned.
PICTURES 4-5: Other angles of the box, glued and screwed and curing.
