Expandable honeycomb - any good

[Dave Hutton]

Hi All

ive seen some Ali honeycomb on an auction site and also (way cheaper) from a UK supplier.

it appears to be designed for laminating between two flat sheets for panels etc, but is described as 'for lasers' on the auction site

it arrives in a compressed form which you have to expand and could be fixed to a frame with correct adhesive.

anybody tried this? Seems like an economical option for occasional use as a suppliers honeycomb panel (albeit in a frame) comes in at £250+ vat wheras a 4ft x 2 ft sheet of this stuff costs £40.60 plus vat, so almost a 'disposable' price. Ok it doesn't come in a frame but it's 20mm thick so should be pretty rigid placed on the slat bed.

couldnt find any mention of this in a search so any views welcome, before I spend £250 on a 'proper job'

im thinking for cutting papers it might be better than the slat bed in some situations.

cheers

dj

[Lee DeRaud]

My ULS uses that stuff in a frame as its cutting bed. No adhesive, just clamped between the top and bottom of the frame.
I've looked at aftermarket replacement, but haven't found a source with the required cell-size/thickness combination, not to mention than I have no idea what tools to use to cut a big piece down to the 13"x17" I'd need.

[Dave Hutton]

Hi lee

what at size combination are you looking for? The supplier in UK appears to have three mesh sizes and three thicknesses so I'm sure that's available in USA

dj

[dave standing]

I've just got some. It has arrived as a compressed solid block so could be cut with a saw. I too am not sure how to frame it to make a practical bed so I too would welcome any suggestions.

Dave

[Dave Sheldrake]

It's not bad mate, only problem is even when supported it's really hard to clean or keep clean. It just doesn't have the strength to support itself when trying to remove stuff like baked on resins and smoke staining. I'd probably suggest a pin bed if you are going to be doing a lot of card and paper (it will also prevent backscatter)

[Lee DeRaud]

Hi lee

what at size combination are you looking for? The supplier in UK appears to have three mesh sizes and three thicknesses so I'm sure that's available in USA

dj1/4" cell size, 1" thick. (Or 6mm/25mm if you prefer.) The obvious supplier (McMaster-Carr) doesn't have cell sizes that small on bare core, just on complete panels.
At the moment I have larger issues (see my other thread), so it's not a high priority in any case.

[Lee DeRaud]

1/4" cell size, 1" thick. (Or 6mm/25mm if you prefer.)Actually 1/2" thick, not 1". The frame will handle thicker, but much over 3/4" would impede airflow.

[Dave Hutton]

They have 6.4mm x 10mm (or 15 or 20) I'll bet you cane get it where you are - don't think I can post a link here though:confused:

[Bert Kemp]

I think a link for something like this is ok

[Dave Hutton]

Here you go then

http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/core-materials/aluminium-honeycomb/6mm-aluminium-honeycomb.html

they do ship to America but same sort of price as the product.

dj

[Lee DeRaud]

They have 6.4mm x 10mm (or 15 or 20) I'll bet you cane get it where you are - don't think I can post a link here though:confused:Yeah, I'm sure there's a semi-local supplier, the stuff gets used way too much in aerospace for there not to be one somewhere in SoCal.
It just has the potential to turn into a scavenger hunt: find a place that will sell a usefully small quantity, then figure out how to cut it, yada yada.

[Lee DeRaud]

they do ship to America but same sort of price as the product.There's a lot of that going around. Seems like I've dealt with places that do that even though they're practically walking distance from my house.

[Dave Sheldrake]

On the post subject I've been working on a shipper for some models houses that have been finished lately, flatpacked 1,200mm long, 830mm wide, 250mm deep weighing 22 LB

Lowest price is £189 !!

Sea Freight has an £80 Homeland Security clearance charge (all sea shipped orders do now) and takes 5 weeks on top of the £120 postal fee

UPS £367.00 !! on 5 day courier

[Julian Ashcroft]

I had a custom sized egg crate vent cover made for my laser bed, it was reasonably priced, strong enough to pressure wash clean and comes with a frame. http://www.ductstore.co.uk/acatalog/egg_crate_extract_grilles.html

[Dave Hutton]

I had a custom sized egg crate vent cover made for my laser bed, it was reasonably priced, strong enough to pressure wash clean and comes with a frame. http://www.ductstore.co.uk/acatalog/egg_crate_extract_grilles.html

Thanks for the heads up on that Julian - prices seem good.

DJ

[Joe Pelonio]

I was able to get a 2'x2' 1/2" on Ebay for $40, cut it with scissors, one cell at a time. It's better than the original, but larger cells so real small parts will fall through. Now I have a spare.

[Lee DeRaud]

I was able to get a 2'x2' 1/2" on Ebay for $40, cut it with scissors, one cell at a time. It's better than the original, but larger cells so real small parts will fall through. Now I have a spare.It's things like that that give "tedious" a bad name. :eek:

Not sure I could live with that cell size though. I do too much small stuff, especially tiny bits of veneer inlay...the 1/4" is bad enough.