who makes up large DiBond trays?

[Steve McAdie]

Hi Neil, I can’t offer advice on this but just wondering if you have the Dibond pdf file there is a lot of info on expansion, cutting and making trays in it. If you haven’t I can e-mail it to you.

Steve

[Peter Normington]

Cherwell supply the trays to order maybe give them a call, they do a good job on them, and may be able to advise of the suitability for post fixing

Peter

[Neil Churchman]

Steve – yes please, if you could forward the pdf for DiBond specs that would be great. Can you send it as a personal message through this site? 🙄

Peter – I think I saw a mail shot about that – I’ll give Cherwell a ring and maybe they’ll be able to advise

thanks for your input

Neil 🙂

[Steve McAdie]

Can’t send it by PM Neil, I will post it on a new thread. I know it’s been posted before on here but I can’t find the thread.

Steve

[John Harding]

Hi Neil

I did some 10′ x 5′ trays last year for wall mount no problems, but if suspending between posts wonder if some extra strengthening would be required, maybe two trays back to back with a timber brace through the center.

John

[Neil Churchman]

Hi John,

I’m quite new to using DiBond as I’ve always used aluminium panels,
but I’m fast becoming converted to using this product as I’m so impressed by demonstrations at various sign shows.

It’s seems an easy product to work with and I was really impressed with what one of the other members did with a facia box by folding over and gluing the inside folds. Just not sure how strong this would be if secured between two steel posts.

Not sure what’s the best glue to use on DiBond to sufficiently bond the inside of a fold together and I’ve heard that solvent based glues can create a slight rippled effect to the surface of the DiBond where the glue is applied.

Maybe if there is a suitable glue, then we could make some internal braces for the DiBond box to stiffen the centre of the box and possibly improve the strength of the box where it secures on to the steel posts. 🙂

We’ve also been experimenting with widths and depths of fold lines, and wondered if anyone has any hands on advice for the ideal width of a fold line, as we need to start routing these on the material, rather than running the panel through the saw bench with the blade set very low. 🙂

[Peter Normington]

Neil, I had a saw blade ground to a flat bottomed "v" for dibond returns, works well, but you do need a large area to support the sheet so it stays flat going through the sawbed.

Aluminium trays are not that much more expensive than composite to buy in, especially coloured, but for do it yourself, composite is far easier and versatile,

Peter

[Andy Gorman]

I use a v shaped router bit with the point ground to a 3.5mm flat.
At the size you are talking about, I wonder if 4 or 5mm dibond would be better than the normal 3mm. Even then, I think a rigid sub-frame would be a good idea. Bolt the frame to the legs and fit the panel after it is in the ground and cured. (I’m assuming this is going to be on posts concreted in ?)

[John Harding]

Using a "u" shape router bit negates the need to grind the tip off a "V" pointed bit – and ive only used 3mm panels and theyve been adequate so far

john

[Ian Johnston]

buy one of these, we’ve had ours for 6 years now and it’s priceless.

http://www.festool.net/mediandoweb/inde … 8&BEGIN=1&

very useful for onsite clading were you have a lot of awkward shapes to contend with.

we have an CNC in house but do all our folding with the festool.

Ian

[Neil Churchman]

Ian – thanks for the advice on the power tool, at £1000 + vat it’s a bit too pricey for me 😮

Thanks everyone else for your opinions

I think I need to experiment with different glues and router bits,
and find out if 3mm DiBond will be strong enough with some stiffeners 🙂

I’d appreciate it if anyone can recommend a good glue to bond the bends together 🙄

[Brad Mulock]

Hello Neil,

We have been using reynobond, Dibond and Alcobond for a while now and make all our own trays.

We have had issues with glue making indentations on the faces of the panels before. The only one i have found so far which doesn’t seem to make any indentation and which has stood the test of time for us is simson ISR 70-10 Transparent sealant. We buy ours through Amari.

Hope this helps

[Peter Dee]

Neil, I use Penloc 1:1.
http://www.eurobond-adhesives.co.uk/productlist.php#sa

[Neil Churchman]

Peter and Brad

thanks for the glue recommendations – I’ll give a try 😀

[Neil Churchman]

Just thinking about making the corners stronger on these DiBond boxes and remembered when I used to make up aluminium illuminated fascia boxes there were these triangular braces inside used during fabrication.

Anyone know what these braces are called and where to get them, or even
if they think the triangular braces could be rivited to the internal corners of a DiBond box for strength 🙄

[Steve Morgan]

Neil,
I use a short piece of folded aluminium or extruded aluminium angle glued into the corners, however if you’re really stuck for a solution cut a short length 2" x 2" prepared timber and glue that into the corner with Penloc.
I have stiffened up long folded edges with pieces of extruded aluminium rather than glueing along the fold, Penloc doesn’t have a very long ‘open time’ to work with so it’s easier to work with small amounts at a time.