Machining 3D form into aluminium honeycomb

[jegero]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any experience with machining a 3D multiform shape into Aluminium honeycomb?

I'm hoping to remove one skin from a sandwich panel (or buy it in only skinned on one face).... Vac it to the bed of my router, then use some kind of ball end honeycomb cutter to shape the form I need.

Has anyone tried this before?... I've seen Honeycomb hoggers from companies like Onsrud for machining planar geometries but can't see anything for multiform 3D machining.

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[Routerfiend]

Never tried but it`s an intriguing idea. You don`t mention the thickness of the honeycomb that you are thinking of machining nor the width (thickness of the web upstands ). I think the biggest problem will be feed rates. As you enter each section the cutter will have a tendancy to bend rather than cut through the mesh. If I were going to attempt this I would certianly think along the lines of backing up the form before attempting to machine it. Possibly use some expanding foam but not before applying a good coating of release agent then that will help in the cutting. The next problem will be extracting the foam without damaging the aluminium .

Good luck

Syd

[awerby]

Maybe filling it with wax would work - it would be easier to remove (by melting) than urethane foam.

[bostosh]

We did honeycomb of trailing edge (F-18) stuffing 3d with a 4axis machine and "baloney slicers" It looked like they made those from old Hemi 2.12 intake valves, They poured some waxy (glycol) in the cells to hold the shape.and melt it out after

[Routerfiend]

Also may not be an issue removing urethane foam if you can get it as component parts an add water to the mix . It lowers the density of the foam whilst remaining fairly rigid and of course lighter so if weight is a problem then you can just leave it in. If you can give some more information about what your design intent is there might be a whole lot of info` that the community can pass on to you.

Cheers
syd