Repairing Damaged Wood

[criageek]

Hi guys (and gals)!  First time on here.  I'm not a woodworker, but have a woodworking problem.  I bought a 1937 Seeburg jukebox to restore and it has a damaged piece of wood in front of the speaker grill:

   

   

   
Here's my plan.  I have designed a form and printed it on my 3D printer:

   

   
When I'm satisfied with the fit (and I'm very close) I'll print one that's longer and has thicker walls.  Then I'll apply some moisture to soften the wood and gradually move the form down the wood to straighten it, then glue it into place.  First of all, is this a good plan?  Secondly, what's the best way for me to soften the wood?

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Rich

[RickW]

Hi guys (and gals)!  First time on here.  I'm not a woodworker, but have a woodworking problem.  I bought a 1937 Seeburg jukebox to restore and it has a damaged piece of wood in front of the speaker grill:
Here's my plan.  I have designed a form and printed it on my 3D printer:
When I'm satisfied with the fit (and I'm very close) I'll print one that's longer and has thicker walls.  Then I'll apply some moisture to soften the wood and gradually move the form down the wood to straighten it, then glue it into place.  First of all, is this a good plan?  Secondly, what's the best way for me to soften the wood?

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Rich

Nice job on the 3D printing, but I don't think it's going to work. Moistening the wood isn't going to make it flexible enough to bend back into shape.
I don't think you need to soften the wood to get it back in to position.It looks to me like you can clamp the wood back in to place, and replace the missing pieces with similar wood.
Here is how I would clamp it: I would try a dry run first to see how well it would go back together. I would cut a piece of wood a little bit larger than the back of the piece you're repairing.I would lay the piece on it, and put a clamp across it, clamping it gently. Then I would use the top part of your 3D printed piece as a caul over the curved part, clamping it vertically.You may have to try the clamp in several places to get it to close up. If it fit back together well, I'd glue it with fresh liquid hide glue and leave it overnight. If there are any missing pieces, I'd splice in a piece using the same species of wood as the original.If the pieces were small, I might use wood filler to match the finish.
Hope this helps. Good luck with it!
Rick

[BobW]

Here are my thoughts, for what they're worth:  First, I would take that metal bracket off or loosen it.  Then I would put a parallel clamp of the appropriate length on it, end-to-end, and tighten it down until the bottom edge lines up.  (you said you're not a woodworker, so you might not know what a parallel clamp is, but maybe someone here could post a picture.  They are available at HD or Lowes...not cheap, but it looks like you're willing to go to great lengths to fix this).  As you're tightening, push the broken piece in to place, with edges glued.  Then you will need to add small clamps to get the edges of the break tightly together...if you slide that plastic piece down, it might help, or it might hinder the clamping.  You will then need to fill the cracks with some sort of filler, and apply a finish to match...since it appears to be an opaque finish, the challenge will be getting a color match and blending.  Nice old Seeburg, by the way, is it working?

[ez-duzit]

Nice job on the 3D printing, but I don't think it's going to work...

This. The 3D piece is unnecessary. Just clean up the internal splinters and epoxy the wood back together.

[criageek]

Thanks for all the great input guys!  It feels to me that the wood will break if I try to force it into place, that's why I thought I would need to soften it.

Bob W - I intend to remove the metal bracket when I do the work on it...I've left it in place for now for support.  I'm having trouble visualizing what you're saying.  I looked up parallel clamp and no, I don't have one, but I do have this bar clamp...is this how you're saying I should clamp it?

    And then use small clamps to force the damaged piece into place?

The damaged piece is actually bent, so as I force it down into place, the 'spire' that's attached to it also moves down and is no longer at the same level as the other one.  I hope I'm explaining this well enough.  If I'm understanding Rick's advice properly, perhaps that would help with this.  Here are some pictures that show what I'm talking about.  There is a crease basically along the blue line in the first photo.

    In this photo I've clamped the end of the damaged piece to be flush with the end of the good piece on one side and you can see the difference in angle because of the crease.

    Just another photo to show the effects of the crease.

   
Thanks again for all the advice. I'll study this and any additional comments that come in and figure out a plan of attack.

Rich

[BobW]

Bob W - I intend to remove the metal bracket when I do the work on it...I've left it in place for now for support.  I'm having trouble visualizing what you're saying.  I looked up parallel clamp and no, I don't have one, but I do have this bar clamp...is this how you're saying I should clamp it?And then use small clamps to force the damaged piece into place?

Yes, that's what I was saying, and that clamp could work to pull it into alignment vertically.  The only idea I have for "softening" the bend in the broken piece is to steam it from the backside...perhaps hold it over a steaming teapot or use a steam iron that has the nozzle on the front that shoots out steam when a button is depressed.

[criageek]

Thanks BobW!  I appreciate the input  


I printed a new form that is a slightly tighter fit and slid it all the way on...it's getting close!  I'll print a new one that is an even tighter fit.  After the current one has been on for a while I'll try the tighter one.

Rich

   

   

[ez-duzit]

This falls into the category of "playing with the printer" and is entirely independent of effecting a useful repair, which can simply be done with a few clamps and some tape.

[KyleD]

Thanks BobW!  I appreciate the input  


I printed a new form that is a slightly tighter fit and slid it all the way on...it's getting close!  I'll print a new one that is an even tighter fit.  After the current one has been on for a while I'll try the tighter one.

Rich

Why don't you print a sturdy form for the inside (concave) part of that moulding and use clamps to gently draw the wood down to it and together along the width of the moulding. I agree with others here that say clamps alone should pull that back into alignment but if you have the plastic printer and want to use it; the inside form is where it would be most useful. 

Myself, I would grab my #4 plane and an appropriate sized piece of scrap wood and have an inside form fitted in about the same time you would get the g-code loaded into the printer. I do realize that may not be an option for you depending on tools and experience.