I don't care for the face down seaming because you can see the quality of the dry seam before applying the adhesive. Face up with seam clamps is the ultimate option.

We all have our preferences.  We also know that Dani has many years experience as a fabricator.  That doesn't mean that I do everything as Dani does.  I do like his method of fabricating upside down.  Using the melamine board as a leveling device works great (no need to wax, SS glue won't stick anyway).  It eliminates the need to use a ski router to cut off the squeeze out.  The biggest advantage to fabbing upside down is a reduction in the number of times a top needs to be flipped.

I also use the same technique for inside corner blocks as he does.  They work great and make a much stronger corner than standard methods.

Here is one place that I am going to differ from Dani.  The site seam technique he posts here would make me a bit skeptical about glue voids on the reinforcement piece.  Also the gaps between the fingered reinforcement pieces and the reinforcement pieces and the edge.  A No-no in most manuals I've seen.  I think when you slide these two pieces together you will inveriably scrape glue off of the rienforcement piece.

Between "shave a poo" and these clamps.  I achieve flat seams.  Since the mechanism can swing completely out of the way, these clamp can be secured in place prior to applying glue and possitioning the mating piece.  This provides very positive down pressure onto the reinforcement piece. 



Johnny C

Posted By John Christensen on 09 Jun 2010 01:10 PM

Here is one place that I am going to differ from Dani.  The site seam technique he posts here would make me a bit skeptical about glue voids on the reinforcement piece.  Also the gaps between the fingered reinforcement pieces and the reinforcement pieces and the edge.  A No-no in most manuals I've seen.  I think when you slide these two pieces together you will inveriably scrape glue off of the rienforcement piece.

First thing, I will never post a fabrication technique that wasn't 100% proven to work perfectly. I have tested and retested every method I use or told other fabricators to use.

By tipping and lifting the deck with the long blocks you do not disturbed the adhesive at all. Also if you failed to lift the deck slightly you would only scrap the adhesive on the 2" blocks and that would not effect the strength of the seam. 

Here is a photo on how the seam blocks avoid hitting the deck.



Here is a photo with adhesive on the seam blocks



Here is what happens when everything is put together.



One thing John did not mention about seaming face down is that the adhesive always flows down, no need to worry about getting enough squeeze out. Also to check for a bad joint just look at the joint from the under side. If you see a ray of light any where through the seam from your shop lights over head you have a bad seam.

Dani,
Your demo using the clear acrylic is great.  Thanks for the clarification.

Johnny C

John,

This wasn't that bad, all it took was about 1 hour of time, $30.00 of acrylic, and a little adhesive. I'm glad the process is totally clear now. HeHe...

Dani