To MDF or not to MDF

[Ub Hauled]

I went to a few shops to find myself a nice straight, level piece of +- 48" x 24" piece of MDF and let me tell ya... they were all bent. How are you guys dealing with this issue? Do you use another type of material? How do you build a jig to make your builds straight and true?

[Gerwin Brommer]

Buy yourself a few thin pieces of MDF and glue them together, put some weight on it
while curing. That will do.

[Ub Hauled]

Good plan, but the surface where the MDF sits needs to be perfect right? Otherwise the gluing of the layers will become a copy of the uneven surface... that is the problem I have now, no perfect surface...
good idea tough... if one has the good surface

[Gerwin Brommer]

An old double glassed window.....................that's my base for flat builds.

[Ub Hauled]

hmmmm... now that's a good idea...

[jcald2000]

9 ply 3/4" plywood works very well.

[carlcisneros]

believe it or not, I use my boat table out in the garage.
It was once a confferance table at ATC HQ in Illinois. :-)
nice, straight and true.

[JimClark]

if the surface you are attaching it to (side rails) are cut good and straight the mdf should lay nice and flat.

Jim

[FloatDaBoat]

A table saw surface works like a champ ... if you've got one.

[detox]

Just keep looking until you find a strait piece. It does not nead to be perfect. What are you building?

BTW interior doors are VERY flat. You can buy them at HomeDepot or Lowe's. Or take one down at home.

[bwells]

I'll go with Detox's idea of a hollow core door. Make sure you level the sawhorses and you should be good to go for under 20 bucks

[steve-b]

A chalk board works great as long as its a real one.
You can drill into it as long as your careful. I got mine at a thrift store... DEAD FLAT.

[Ub Hauled]

Just keep looking until you find a strait piece. It does not need to be perfect. What are you building?

...Or take one down at home.

I will start on the Rockett Zipp Kit, looking forward to it! It seems pretty straight forward and simple to build great for my skills, lol... she'll be christen U77 E-Miss Chrysler Crew
Keith, I do understand that it does not have to be flawless, but the ones I looked at were "bananas"... pretty badly curved. I want something acceptable, that's all.


Carl, I have a table out in the garage, a kitchen table from IKEA, it is pretty straight believe it or not, but that has been assigned to something else (until i give up on the MDF idea).

[PaulKTM]

Stop by pretty much any place that sells/installs granite and ask for a leftover piece. MOST times they will give it to you for free or say $20. I have one that is 32x26, must weigh in at 75+ lbs, paid the guy $20 for him to load it into the truck. Very flat, smooth and you can scrape epoxy off it real easy. You do need a strong table or support for it as it is heavy. I also use some 24" levels as straight edges and clamping surface to hold things while the epoxy sets.
Paul

[Ub Hauled]

Paul, that is a level surface, a bit heavy though

I have to keep it mobile, easy to move around since my garage is already full and I am about to place this 4'x2' board in there... granted it does not have to be horizontally all the time but, it will be for the duration of the build...
good thing to have in mind though, thanks!