new material to me, facinating stuff

[Bruce Seidner]

Has anyone built cabinets or shelves with this stuff?

I will have to live with my increased sagging. But bookshelves and utility shelves are another matter.

http://www.superhoneycomb.com/index.htm

[Jay Maiers]

Has anyone built cabinets or shelves with this stuff?

I will have to live with my increased sagging. But bookshelves and utility shelves are another matter.

http://www.superhoneycomb.com/index.htm

I've not used that particular brand, but I have used honeycomb type panels in the past. I work in the tradeshow exhibit industry (CAD guy). Once in a while we need lots of size and rigidity without the weight. This stuff fits the bill, but I rarely get to use it due to the expense. However, it's more common than it used to be, and the prices have come down over the years. Perhaps it's time to spec that stuff in a job and see if the money people will take the bait

Anyhow, the version I've used is made by a company called Tricel (tricelcorp.com). Good stuff! Some of their products can be kerf cut to make rounded corners.

[Loren Bengtson]

Bruce,

The cabinetry in airliners is made from similar material. I never talked to the actual guys who made the cabinets, but I saw the material.
I think the core was Hexcel material with Formica or other similar material glued to the outside. It was incredibly light. To install screws for hardware required drilling a hole, then filling the cell with epoxy, waiting for the epoxy to harden, drilling the epoxy, and finally installing the screw.

I don’t know why you would insist on taking such drastic steps for regular cabinets, or are you building cabinets for airplanes?

– Loren

[Bruce Seidner]

Airplanes resist gravity with the application of fuel and other dynamics that book shelves can't.

No, just heavy big books that bend even Baltic Birch.

I am happy for suggestions. Most solutions involve some front shelf support which makes the front a bit thick to my eye. I could make the shelves short and decrease the span. But thought this material might be a novel (to me) solution.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Assuming it is stiff enough, I don't think I would be put off by the additional work machining it. You don't have to build a whole book case out of it, just shelves. I would think that you could band it like plywood ... then just mount it on supports like a conventional shelf.

Remember that deeper shelves also resist sagging more, sometimes you can increase the depth a bit and get stronger shelves since books don't increase in width as the shelf gets deeper. (of course if they're real deep I tend to stack other stuff on the front of the shelf..)

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I've got some Ikea stuff that uses similar construction. 1" thick panels with what appears to be 1/8" skins. Very lightweight and rigid.