dibond (Aluminium composite) questions

I've ordered a few A3 size sheets to have a play with. Nophead uses it on the thin Mendel 90.

My questions are:
Can you cut shapes out of it with a Jigsaw?
And is it still rigid?
Is that the best way to shape it?
Is it very sensitive to temperature? (I'm thinking of a new y carriage here, so under a heated bed).


Thanks
Ian

It works fine as a Y carriage without warping. You'll need a reflector for higher temperatures above 70C or so. It is not hard to cut and drill.
Getting it ready cut to size adds little to the cost. [www.plasticstockist.com].
It has some flexibility so needs bracing for use in a printer as is done in the Mendel90.

The Mendel90 is fast becoming my favourite design so far, I will crib from that bed and see what happens

A jigsaw won't leave a very good edge. It had a tendency to tear the edge rather than cut it. A table saw left a fine edge for the straight cuts, as did a router. A bandsaw also likely would be more like the table saw rather than the jigsaw. Waterjet or laser cutting it are options, but most people don't have those types of machines lying around.

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cdru
A jigsaw won't leave a very good edge. It had a tendency to tear the edge rather than cut it. A table saw left a fine edge for the straight cuts, as did a router. A bandsaw also likely would be more like the table saw rather than the jigsaw. Waterjet or laser cutting it are options, but most people don't have those types of machines lying around.

I am a member of the Lasersaur community albeit as a lurker, so one day

I've got a list of machines I want for my workshop, and I keep reprioritising and not actually getting anything, so I'm working with what I've got at the moment.

Have you tried using a drill hole cutter? I'm going to have a play with that later and see if it works. For cutting along straight lines, you can score and snap it, it's just for anything that isn't a vertex between two edge points I need a tool :/

As mentioned in the Mendel90 forum, Dibond is not what I expected. It's two thin layers of aluminium as expected, but the sandwich filler is solid material, not corrugated or gappy at all, so it's heavier than I expected, but also probably stronger and better able to resist crushing pressure.

Also not all dibond is equal... different thicknesses of aluminium for one...

I've never had a good feeling about di-bond.
its also called composite board, or Sign-board in australia.

without bracing would make everything wobbly.

its more suited for non structural applications.

it can be cut with jigsaw with a steel/metal cutting blade. and need to clean edges.

I use Dibond for the Y Carriage to mount the heatbed on. Works like a charm for over three years now

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

That's my current goal. I'm trying to lighten the y carriage generally.

You can see it at work here
[www.youtube.com]
I use one for the carriage and a second to mount the heatbed.
I wouldn't use two anymore, but the material itself has proven useful and reliable to me.

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[www.bonkers.de]
[merlin-hotend.de]
[www.hackerspace-ffm.de]

My current plan is to have dibond at the bottom, a 10mm sheet of cork, heated bed, glass on top.

If I bolt all those together it should be pretty rigid I think. I'm going to experiment cutting holes out of the dibond so it isn't a continuous sheet, so it more resembles the y carriage chassis you see on an i3.

I figured if heat made it through the cork and under-bed temperature was really a problem I could just add a fan down there.

I'm also experimenting with replacing the glass with thinner lighter materials. 2mm polycarb with a kapton coat "should" work.

@pushthatbolder,

3mm Dibond with 0.3mm skins is as stiff as 2.8mm solid aluminium and much stiffer than 6mm acrylic. Sign makes use 0.2mm skin Dilite AKA Dibond Digital. That is still pretty stiff. I made my first Dibond Mendel90 with it having been sold it as "Dibond".

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

ok, i may give it another shot...
we have a 20 ton brake press and made be able to press into profiles, like angles and stuff like that...
that would make it really strong

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pushthatbolder
ok, i may give it another shot...
we have a 20 ton brake press and made be able to press into profiles, like angles and stuff like that...
that would make it really strong

The minimum bending radius is 15 times the thickness. For a smaller radius, it needs to be scored with a v-grove on the interior of the bend. No you're not going to build a CNC milling center with dibond as the primary structural support. But for something like the Mendel90 it makes a great material. Just as good if not better than any other material I could think of using. The only downside is that you can't find it at your local hardware store. But most decent sign shops should have it or be able to get it. That's where I found my source, it was a cutoff from a larger sign and they charged about a $1 a square foot. Name another substance that's as light, as strong, and as cheap...