Quote:
Originally Posted by Hachiban VIII
My team actually has several peices of honey-comb almunium and I assure you it is far easily bent then wood.
We also have some honey-comb carbon-fiber, but its a real dog to work with...
Given the right grade and the correct tools you can make quality parts out of wood.
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I've worked with honeycomb as well. If the cells are unprotected or the face sheets aren't up to part, the cells can easily damaged, or distorted and bent.
From what I've learned (2 years interning in the satellite part of Northrop Grumman). You want to make the honeycomb and face sheets the right size the first time, and never try to cut or reshape it. But then again, my background is where they make every part custom and remake parts rather than adjust an error in a current one.
One time, I had to scrap a whole bunch of panels and once the face became distorted or bent, they lost all their strength. Sure was a fun day.
Back to Al vs. Wood. There doesn't seem to be a universal right or wrong, it all depends on the application. I tend to prefer Aluminum because my team has been able to beg and borrow resources to deal with it, but if we had less we would probably use wood a lot more.