Anyone use Dibond or similar/alternative?

[ReaderScars]

I'm interested in finding out of dibond would be a good material to form into a sled, similar to the image below. Would dibond handle sledding stresses? Supposedly it's not affected by summer and winter temperatures.

If it wouldn't stand up to it, are there any other materials which would, and can also be quickly and easily formed (ie, no heat/chemicals/setting/curing etc)?

[jon h]

We use a huge amount of what is generically known as ACM (aluminium composite material). Mostly as flat panels, but sometimes folded or even rolled to curve it. I would not think it would suit your product. To fold it, you first cut a groove in it, so the material thickness on the fold is only about 0.3mm. It has no spring to it, so if you bend it unintentionally, it will stay there. Once the aluminium skin is cut through on one face, the skin being 0.3mm or less, it is easily snapped by hand.

You can build some strong static structures with it, but the battering that a sled will take would destroy it fairly quickly, I would have thought, based upon the design you have in mind.

[ReaderScars]

Thanks for the insight you've provided. Taking into account what you've said about the particular design I've uploaded, I would create my own design to hopefully address those issues - I can see now the seating position would likely bend very easily if that exact sled was in dibond.

Will try to find alternative materials in case there's something more appropriate (plywood looks good, it's just the equipment/costs involved in forming it which is a drawback at this early stage, although might have to just accept this).

[mph1977]

a structure like the one ilustrated is best made in moulded veeners ( hot or could moulding techniques are available - and it;s good enough to drop lifeboats off low flying bombers / Maritime recce aircraft to downed crews since WW2 ... ) or fibre + resin composites

Edited by mph1977 on Sunday 26th April 15:53

[ReaderScars]

Yep, I can imagine it is - if I can design to adapt to dibond's limitations I'd like to give it a go, though. Maybe even look at aluminium without any core as an alternative, if it's not too expensive.

[matjk]

We use loads of the stuff, i can assure you dibond is not the correct material for this project, its very easy to cut , we route it on a cnc machine, but the edges are razor shard and because the aluminium is thin there is not much you can do about it, it would be dangerous and finger could be lost. Plus as everyone else has pointed out it bends way to easy and has no real structural strength and a sledge is going to have forces coming at it from all directions. Aluminium might work, google reveals aluminium sledges exist but normally made of tubes which have great strength

[ReaderScars]

I was a bit worried about the edges TBH, Matt - I've handled this stuff before in it's 8x4 format and got slight cuts. Was thinking about some sort of extruded rubber profile to go around around sharp edges.

I think it might be possible to design a structural shape which would take the weight of a child - but, after what's been said, the effort and complexity of making it up might make it impractical/too time consuming.

If anyone's got any suggestions about other materials which could be formed cheaply and easily, would love to hear them.