Hi everyone,
Happy New Year etc!
Its been awhile since I was last on here, I have been distracted by many things recently.
I have been planning a foamie for awhile now, (well have been going back to steam bent oak frame construction occasionally but am put off by amount of work needed) anyway I really want Aluminum sides/top and I would like a birch ply interior. Much like the Atma Tear!
Anyway I have stumbled on a form of construction which is apparently common in the US but less so in the UK, SIP (structrual insulated panels) these comprise of a foam core ususally expanded polystrene with a layer of wood either side. usually OSB I think. Anyway this is apparently really strong and light etc. I have also found out that SIPS can also have metal skins which made me think, I could just make a SIP panel that comprised of a 3mm (sorry for the metric
) birch ply on one side, and a 1mm panel of aluminum on the other, with an expanded polystrene 50mm core.
I have made a test panel out of 50mm foam, 0.5mm alu (B&Q wanted an insane amount for 1mm alu plate) and a 6mm hardwood ply, (again birch ply is expensive in small amounts! Anyway I glued the alu to the foam using Gorilla Glue and the ply to the foam using titebond and the resulting panel is really light and strong. I can stand on the panel with it across two chairs with only 10mm on either side on the chair and there is no deflection or deformation, I am working my way up to jumping up and down! I was thinking I could almost get away with 0.5mm aluminum but it does dent far too easily.
Anyway it took me awhile to get a nice layer of GG and Titebond on either side of the foam (and it was quite a small test piece) and I was wondering how much time do you have before GG or titebond will cure? I realise this is probably dependant on ambient conditions! but some experiences would be nice!
This form of construction really appeals (as it uses the mimimum amount of materials), but I still trying to work out the details, the main one being how to join the panels together, I am thinking of using the same sort of construction as ghcoe is using, eg making the foam panels lock together, then taking the foam pieces and gluing the wood and aluminum on, then I would assemble them together. I know that canvas and paint create a "sock" effect and I was wondering if the aluminum trim would create a similar effect? and on the inside using something to join the wood panels together would that also help?
Hopefully that makes some sort of sense,
Many Thanks
Tom