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Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:00 am
by Overnuts
Hi,
anybody here has build using aluminium composites as outside skin ?
Any feed back ??
I mean AluCoBond, DiBond, MatelBond or other.

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:16 am
by dales133
Yea Sheddie used it on his and I've looked alot into it.
Where are you and what did you want to know?
Sheddie used the ulrich brand stuff

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:26 am
by Overnuts
dales133 wrote:Yea Sheddie used it on his and I've looked alot into it.
Where are you and what did you want to know?

I'm in France (europa)

if you consider a wall built like this:
inside plywood / frame +xps / outside panel / outside skin
the main question is : is a such panel is able to replace the outside skin + outside plywood panel ?

and, as a bonus, how does this material goes across the time ?

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:38 am
by dales133
Well I've seriously considered using this product on my build for external walls and at this stage plan on using it for my galley hatch skin.
It's used alot here in Australia for cargo, motorbike and race trailers ect.
It's often just stuck to a steel frame with double sided tape or polyurethane adhesive and lasts very well.
To answer your construction question from the research I've done witch is pretty extensive is that you will have no issues I'm aware of leaving out the outer ply skin and sticking ACL straight to your frame.
As far as how it lasts there is a big range in quality and you'd need to see what's avaliable there but it's only the paint quality that varies from what I can tell and you shouldn't have any issues with any brand as far as the bonding and skins are concerned....let's face it it's revolutionized the sign industry due to its durability and lasts decades everyday in the weather.
Hope that's of some help...I don't profess to be an expert but know a fair bit about it from research as I sad.
Cheers dale

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 12:35 pm
by Overnuts
This seems to be used on trucks.
I will try to find some pieces in a truck garage.
Could be a good substitution in price for exterior side of walls, and waterproofing.
And available in strange holographics colors, could be cool for roof !

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:17 pm
by felixx
I will be skinning mine with this within a week!

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 3:11 pm
by Overnuts
felixx wrote:I will be skinning mine with this within a week!

Ahhhh great !
I will check ! 8)

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 4:32 pm
by dales133
Cool felix, skin mine while your at it :)

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 6:41 am
by teddy
I'm going to use it, got myself a 1x3 foot testpiece here, bends like a charm, very sturdy, no need for plywood backing.

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 7:11 am
by dales133
It has pretty decent impact resistance from what I've read

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 8:18 am
by Overnuts
teddy wrote:I'm going to use it, got myself a 1x3 foot testpiece here, bends like a charm, very sturdy, no need for plywood backing.

I need to find test pieces, where did you get some ?
(are far away from Zeeland ? )

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 8:22 am
by dales133
Just google suppliers in your area most should be able to send you a sample.otherwise sign writers or thier suppliers would be the go

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 3:30 am
by teddy
Ive got mine from a local sign shop supplier, as im running a sign shop here in Holland. I just asked for some offcuts.

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Thu Apr 09, 2015 5:07 pm
by Sheddie
Hi Overnuts,
Welcome to tnttt :shake hands:
I see that you are thinking about using ACL (aluminium composites laminate). I built my TD in 2012 and have been extremely happy with the decision to use the ACL sheets. our TD is 3m x 1.5m and I was able to get sheets of sizes to fit the job perfectly. As I had put the roof beams on top of the side walls, to gain a bit of interior height, my sides were a bit over the normal 1220mm (4ft) sheet size so I was able to get 3m x 1.5m sheets for the sides. (The offcuts were used for drawer fronts). For the roof a 4.8m x 1.5m sheet did the full length in one piece, from the bottom at the front over the roof and right down to the bottom of the galley hatch, with about 100mm of off cut.
If I was to build another TD I would do it the same way again without hesitation. It was easy to work with and once it was on, it was finished. :thumbsup:

Re: Aluminium composites

PostPosted: Sun Apr 12, 2015 2:06 pm
by teddy
Overnuts wrote:(are far away from Zeeland ? )


Yes, about 300 km from zeeland, so i'd think quite a drive. You're welcome to take a look though :) (old Zeeland Sheddie, not that new one of you :) )