Experiment:The Press
Background:
I started thinking about some kind of press system a while ago...After seeing Doug Kumph's results with the concave stuff he combined with my 2 panel construction technique...I decided to take it a bit further into a fixed press that would allow me to make a curved and concaved piece of glued plywood that has 150cm by 30cm dimensions...All this will give me the freedom of cutting out whatever shape I want afterwards...There is no exact file on how to make the press...as it would be different for any builder...

Here are pictures of what I did:
After some on the spot thinking I went for a main spar that would give me the curve or rocker I wanted in the deck...next would be the ribs with an amount of concave... Only trouble here is to think in advance...what is enough?...how will it all flex back after the glue is set...
In the end I got to this halfway product...It looks like a boat or an airplane wing...I know...but it does produce longboards decks!....After adding threaded rods for clamping...I made the first tryout to see what the result would be...
Next I glued together 2, 6mm 5ply Birch, panels with 2 component polyurethane wood-glue...and clamped the lot between the press...I left the experiment alone for 3 days, as I found out that the glue needs quite a lot of time to set...
Out came a 10 ply panel with curve and concave...150cm long...30cm wide (that's 5 by 1 foot)...This is actually the maximum deck size if I would like to build a giant...but I'll stick to 1m20 (+- 47 inch)...As you can see...the concave stayed in there afterwards...only a slight flex-back was noticeable...

This is what I have cut out of it...a trial example...totally unfinished...

I did some restyling of the press...a bit more concave and a bit more curve...also made the whole thing clean fluid...

It pops out nice panels now...and those were used for a longboard construction weekend course I gave together with Eva and fellow builder Nick from Oostende (Belgium)...
1: About the size:

Many people asked measurements of the press...you all will understand that this will differ from builder to builder...
A general, returning question considers the amount of curve in the press...so ...here it is...You'll see that 45mm (1,77 inch) curve looks quite a lot...that's because it is for the whole length of the press which is 1520mm (5 feet or 59,85 inch)...In theory, you can build 1500mm (5 feet ) decks with the press...I stick to 1200mm (or +/- 47 inch)...
You'll also notice that the shape of the curve is gradual...the deepest point is at the 1/3 length mark...This gives me the opportunity to shift the shape template a bit when I want the curve a bit different or at another place in the deck...
The whole contraption is 380mm wide so that it can take those 300mm wide panels :-)

This is how a rib looks like...as mentioned above...it's 380mm (14,99 inch) wide...It has a slot in it that fits into the main spar...every
rib is a bit different in height so it follows the curve of the main spar...
They are also positioned at an angle to follow that curve...in this way you get a good surface to press the panels against...The thing is assembled onto a sturdy panel with long screws...
This is basically it...there's not too much more to tell about it...I didn't have a plan drawn before I started on it...lots of the stuff is pure experimental...
Good Luck!!!

Greeettzzz

Ive" Toothless" Vandewalle
2: Other people's presses:
3: Virtual press design:

Doing a course in Autodesk Inventor means that you end up designing other stuff that mechanical bits and pieces...
Here's an impression of a press that would pop out decks with a tail...

The nice thing about Inventor is that you can pour all your work into usable drawings and plots...
Pro/Engineer and SolidWorks can do the same stuff...