Spiffy. I have been following Cough42 on his digital lead screw conversion. Quite the cool project.
I’m new to this and in BC. We have a Windsor plywood in town… What plywood do you buy?
i don’t have a receipt kicking around atm but from what i know is it is simple maple plywood finished one side.
We were at the Faremont for our honeymoon in 1974
The Empress is the place to go if you got the bucks. We love Victoria - go about once a year, hit all the same places. Very relaxing.
Empress is what I meant. Too many years have passed!
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Truth be told you’re both right. It is managed by the Fairmont Hotels group and referred to as The Fairmont Empress.
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The city resident knows! Definitely need to make the ferry trip this summer…
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Fun to find so many of y’all are up in Canada, but I’m wondering about your 1/4" Purebond Ply, @gewubs . Did you ever get the warp out? has anyone tried the other veneers that Home Depot sells, like the mahogany or cedar? On the search for better puzzle plywood in 1/4" or 6mm, so I figured I’d ask since I’ve read everything else in the forum about the Purebond, although most of it specifies 1/8". Didn’t want to start a new topic!
I bought the pre-cut 10=pack of PB maple in 5/32. It’s nice enough to work with - not being masked would not be a problem for puzzles - but if you’re doing them in bulk, it’s probably overpriced.
The only issue is the warping. I keep all my 20x12 sheets stacked on a flat surface (it’s a pile over 1’ high) and unlike everything else I use (including BB I pick up at Rockler and cut down myself), this stuff still will not lay flat even after being stacked that way.
Sure it can be pinned, but that won’t help much when you start cutting out a puzzle and the tension is released.
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Thank you for the insight! So far I have found that a little warpage is okay, since the pieces are so small themselves the puzzle will lay flat once cut, but yes, if it springs up while cutting, it can cause areas that won’t cut through because of the defocusing of the laser.
I’ve looked at the Columbia website, and there are about 6 wholesale ply providers in GA that stock the Purebond in full sheets, but I don’t want to commit to a huge order if the ply is going to cause problems constantly, or if the interior is solid MDF.
On a side note, I thought you had “Peanut Butter” Maple, and it took me a minute to figure PB is Purebond ;p
Likely the search continues! The best I’ve looked at is ApplePly, which a lot of scrollsaw puzzle makers have used. They are pricey but offer some deluxe plys. When you put $$$ and time on a scale… it might be worth it not to spend ANY time cutting through areas that didn’t make it.
Another is Aircraft Plywood Manufacturing, who provide 5mm custom ply for Nervous System’s puzzles. Jerome sent me a 12x12 to test, and I realized that 5mm isn’t 1/4" (obviously duh, just wasn’t thinking about the size difference when I started the convo with him). His sheets cost $120, cut down for shipping. I prefer the chonky-ness of 6mm puzzle pieces, but the jury is still out if puzzle collectors themselves care about 5mm vs 6mm.
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The pre-cut sheets I have are a very thick MDF-style core - “100% natural wood bonded with a food-grade soy-based adhesive”.
It cuts a lot nicer than PG Maple ply, however. I want to say it’s lighter, albeit slightly thicker.
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Thanks for that. I’m not a fan of MDF for most of what I use it for, inside a veneer or not. Suffice it to say that the several sheets of draftboard I bought when it first came out are still in my stock 
That is how I found out I don’t like cutting it or painting it!
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I reserve it for stuff that’s going to be painted and given away to people who won’t know any better… 
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