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I built a mold for a OO.

3 layers of MDF.

1/2" dowels help align the two halves.

6" eye bolts with knobs hold the 2 halves together but stay out of the way of the neck and end block when it's time to clamp them to the sides.

Rather than gluing up the layers and cutting out each half (lots of sanding), if you use dowels or some other means of registering/aligning the layers, once you cut/sand/perfect the first one, you can rough cut the others on the bandsaw and use the first one as a template to finish the rest with a router and pilot bearing bit. Very little additional sanding needed. Then glue them together.

The router method would work well too. I have an random orbital spindle sander connected to dust collection. I'm pretty good with a band saw so the sanding doesn't take long at all.

Lots of ways to get from point A to point B. That one of the reasons I like this forum so much. I get to see lots of different ways to accomplish the same task and decide which works best for me.

Agreed. I just try to avoid sanding (and routing) MDF as much as possible. Even with a dust collector, that stuff goes everywhere, and it dulls blades quickly too.


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