Casting Honeycomb Aluminum

[crokett]

a friend sent me some honeycomb aluminum. It is about 1" thick. Earlier this summer I tried casting it in resin and turning it, but the problem was when I cut the sides off one of the cells on the aluminum on the outside of the turning, the resin would chip away from the aluminum and ruin the blank. I am wondering about casting using epoxy. Since it is a glue, would it stick any better to the aluminum?

 

[commercialbuilder]

I have thought about trying the honeycomb but I don't think epoxy would work very well either. If you have one already cast you might try soaking it with ca often to see if that would help, but it would have to be after just a little turning every time I would think.

 

[low_48]

It could be that the resin doesn't like to stick to mill finish aluminum. I also don't think resin and epoxy are very different. Maybe etch or media blast the aluminum before casting. No experience, just thinking out loud.

 

[angelofdeath]

I have tried this with the same result...I have even tried soaking in CA...and...same result... all I can say is if you go VERY VERY slow with scary sharp tools you may find results...using this technique I completed 1 out of about 6 or 7...not really worth it in the end...although the end result was pretty cool...

 

[Justturnin]

I hate to ask the obvious question but are you cleaning the Al? I would think a good long soaking in Acetone in case there is a coating on the Al to protect the surface. Acetone should melt that right of.

 

[healeydays]

Honeycomb can be real tricky. You're dealing with little individual pours in each cell and if one doesn't bond just right and fails, it can cause the material in adjoining cells to break out too. I have been making my non-aluminum honeycomb blanks for some time now and don't believe CA would help it out in any way. The CA won't soak into the epoxy or resin and will just coat the piece and with aluminum and what I use, it won't soak into that material either. I have found the only thing that really works are uber sharp tools and very shallow cuts...

 

[wood-of-1kind]

Here's a suggestion, use corrugated honeycomb instead of aluminum hoeneycomb and you make life easier for yourself.

 

[healeydays]

Here's a suggestion, use corrugated honeycomb instead of aluminum hoeneycomb and you make life easier for yourself.

I did alot of research in what materials were available for this and found that corrugated cardboard honeycomb is usually not small enough celled to do pens justice.

 

[wood-of-1kind]

Here's a suggestion, use corrugated honeycomb instead of aluminum hoeneycomb and you make life easier for yourself.

I did alot of research in what materials were available for this and found that corrugated cardboard honeycomb is usually not small enough celled to do pens justice.

I beg to differ since I have personally have cast my own with corrugated honeycomb and have received comppliments. ymmv

 

[healeydays]

That's great to hear. Can you show us a finished pen and one of the blanks?

 

[crokett]

Here's a suggestion, use corrugated honeycomb instead of aluminum hoeneycomb and you make life easier for yourself.

The aluminum was cleaned.

Corrugated as in cardboard? That's an idea.

I may try the epoxy, at least on one piece of it. I was using scary sharp tools and as light a touch as I could muster but it still didn't work.

 

[wood-of-1kind]

Here's a suggestion, use corrugated honeycomb instead of aluminum hoeneycomb and you make life easier for yourself.

The aluminum was cleaned.

Corrugated as in cardboard? That's an idea.

I may try the epoxy, at least on one piece of it. I was using scary sharp tools and as light a touch as I could muster but it still didn't work.

Yes, carboard. We use it here in our factory to add strength to our table tops over veneer. The honeycomb is both strong and lightweight. You can also
paint the honeycomb any color of your choosing and then cast in clear PR if you like.

 

[hewunch]

I believe the "genesis" blanks from woodturningz are corrugated cardboard with resin.

 

[commercialbuilder]

Does anyone know where you can get small pieces of aluminum, plastic or cardboard honeycomb. I have an idea but don't want to buy large pieces I find online. I would think that a 3/16 or maybe 1/4 cell size would be the best and 3/4 or 1" would be the depth.