Seeking honeycomb - hollow door type stuff

[johnm]

Folks -

Okay, I'm sure there's a better name for it... I am looking to build some lightweight tables for a prospect, and hit upon using hollow core door type construction - I think it's also called torsion box construction - at least in Fine Woodworking magazine.

I am looking for a source of either the honeycomb material that I would glue up to some door skins or a lightweight panel of some sort 1 to 1 1/2" thick. I would fab up some hardwood edging for it...

Any ideas? Sources???

TIA

John Moorhead

[gerald_d]

www.hexcel.com (http://www.hexcel.com) www.mcgillcorp.com (http://www.mcgillcorp.com) www.aerocell.us (http://www.aerocell.us) www.plascore.com (http://www.plascore.com) www.ahtinc.com (http://www.ahtinc.com) www.unicelcorp.com (http://www.unicelcorp.com) www.eurocomposites.com (http://www.eurocomposites.com)

[bleeth]

John: The least expensive and easiest way to go about this is to buy a hollow core door larger than the table you wish to build and cut it down, push the exposed honeycomb out of the way around 1 1/2" deep and put a solid "plug" in to recreate the solid edge.
If you insist on going another direction you have a choice of klegocell, divinicell, or end grain balsa for the core material. All three are used heavily in the marine industry for both hull and bulkhead construction and lightweight furniture core. They are, however, pricey and to do the job right require epoxy bonding and a vacuum bag for panel construction.
I have used all three of the core materials mentioned in boat construction and for your usage there is no real difference. For lightweight slabs in a normal interior environment I will choose the "remanufacture a door" system every time and then edgeband and veneer it for final surface.

Geralds kindly supplied links will give you info about the various cores available

Dave

[benchmark]

John

Have a word with Bill Young , he has a designed really neat programme called Egg Crater which designs a set of parts and the Shopbot file that would be perfect for a torsion box.

Paul

[waynelocke]

Vacupress Systems sells 2' X 4' honeycomb in 1/2", 3/4" &1" thicknesses.
http://www.vacupress.com/accessories.htm

Wayne

[ed_lang]

When I first read this thread, I too thought of the Egg Crater program. It is what I would use for this task.

[Mayo]

If the tables will not need to support any heavy objects, why not just use sheets of 1 1/2" building insulation foam in between the door skins? You could place wood supports for added strength.

The pink or blue foam is more dense and stronger than the white.