I need to make some medium sized (2m*2m) cored panels.
I’ve already got my 10mm rohacell foam core, but It’s not the infusion type so has no flow channels.
I ran a small test panel and cut grooves in x and y direction on the downward facing side using a pizza cutting wheel, and drilled 2mm holes where the grooves intersect.
It didn’t infuse the underside very well, there was a huge dry patch near the vacuum side.
What information can anybody offer? Thanks.
Table saw. Set depth on saw blade and set the side rail for flow Chanel spacing. Can be used to cut intersecting hatch grooves or straight channels.
I cut mine using intersecting 45* top and bottom. 1/16 deep
What thickness blade do you use to cut the grooves and do you drill it too?
I use a crown molding blade. They are super thin. I do drill sometimes. Only problem I ran into was the resin running in the channels to fast. So it takes a test run or two to get the groves down. Another thing is to clamp the feed for a few minutes if it runns.
Also use double sided tape and a flat board to support the core from the top. I have a handle on my board.
Press chicken wire into the foam. This is more than enough. Also make sure your bottom laminate infuses a tad faster than the top laminate.
You do not want to have too large channels, or you get the “Diab effect” (dry islands)
If you infuse sandwich laminates make sure that you have a very good vacuum of about 0.6 inHg!
Than you can also get good results with diab. In most cases flow chanels in the flow direction are enough!
Chicken wire… Great idea!!!
Thanks for the help folks.
I tried chicken wire but I can’t even press the chicken wire into the surface, the foam is really quite crush resistant!
I don’t have a bench saw, but I’m going to try a dremel with a grout removal attachment and the smallest bit I can fit in there. 1.6mm is the smallest I can buy, if it’s too large I’ll have to make my own tooling.
Use a V-shaped bit.
And in case of the chicken wire: press harder…
Rookie error on my behalf, I just noticed somebody (not me!) had ordered the wrong type of resin so I was trying to infuse with a regular viscosity mix.
Big oops!!! :embarrassed::embarrassed: