PG Plywood Thickness?

Is anyone else having an issue where medium PG plywood is a little too thick? For the past 2 or 3 orders I’ve received (so maybe for the past 2 months…?) I’ve had to literally hammer pieces into place that normally would have just slid in with no problem.

Medium Maple Plywood is what I primarily use.

I’ve had it swell slightly during the humid summer months. (But haven’t bought the plywood recently. Just draftboard. Which is swelling during the exceptionally humid summer months this summer.) :rofl:

2 Likes

I purchased some recently and haven’t noticed any changes.

Hmmm… we’ve had some pretty dry weather out here in Northern California and I’ve had no problems with PG wood before, even during the winter.

I just measured with calipers and my current batch is 0.14" thick without tape on it.

I have seen more inconsistency in thickness from ALL brands over the past year than ever before. I think there’s been such a shakeup in the entire supply chain that we’re seeing wood sourced from different manufacturers and perhaps skimping on tolerances in order to not to worsen shortages. Even when my supplier swear they’re buying from the same manufacturers as always, they’re getting wood sheets with different characteristics including greater variation in thickness.

Just last week I was working with some 1/8" melamine-coated MDF from Johnsons Plastics that usually slides right into 1/8" slots in some display stands I have, but this batch really doesn’t fit. I salvaged it by engraving a rectangle on the back side of every piece the same size as the slot in the stand to make that part under 1/8" thick again.

I also was buying 1/4" MDF religiously from a certain seller on Etsy for two years. The last box I got was suddenly 0.2-0.3" thicker than usual. They swear they haven’t changed suppliers either.

3 Likes

I’ve got 4 pieces/projects/test pieces sitting around within reach that are all “medium” maple ply, and have for months, well over a year. They measure from 0.122 to 0.137.

Anything with tabs & slots/notches, I measure and design to suit. That’s why I have all these test pieces sitting around in the first place (and have more, just seemed that wide range of measurements demonstrates the point…)

Acrylic is the worst, especially considering how easily it cracks if you have undersized notches.

hi @pauljima - thanks for bringing this to our attention. Thank you for reaching out. Proofgrade hardwoods and plywoods are natural products, so each board is endowed with a distinctive pattern and grain all its own, and no two boards are alike. If you don’t mind sending a couple of pictures to us at support@glowforge.com, we can take a look at what you are seeing and guide you from there.