Dowel Laminated Timber Fabrication
In order to give an example of the functionality of dowel laminated timber and to explore the process of its fabrication and how it works as a mass structural element I wanted to create a small piece of DLT myself.
In the building lab I cut a piece of soft wood into sections and did the same with a bamboo dowel, as it was the only one which has a corresponding drill bit in terms of diameter. Using a stationary drill I drilled three holes at equal spacings through two of the pieces of soft wood at once. Keeping the soft wood pieces together so that the holes lined up I placed the first dowel and using a mallet, tapped it into place. I did this for all three dowels and then evened it off with the band saw so that the dowels were equal lengths on either side.
Once the dowels were in place the soft wood elements are impossible to pull apart given the friction fitting of the dowels against the timber.
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