Can you vacuum press honeycomb cardboard?

[flanajb]

I want to make a cabinet so that it has a thickness of 50mm. Obviously, laminating birch ply to 50mm would not only be a waste of materials, but also result in a very heavy cabinet. So my plan is to use laminated birch ply for the front edge and either honeycomb cardboard and MDF for the remainder. I want to veneer the panels with either Walnut or Zebrano, but want to find out whether honeycomb cardboard can be vac bagged without issue?

I do have some foam that I have used for making templates for vac bagging which I could use instead of the honeycomb cardboard.

Any pointers on this would be most welcomed.

If anyone has an online source for the honeycomb then please can you post it.

Thanks

 

[Mike.S]

Can't help with whether it can be vacuum pressed but I purchased honeycomb cardboard from Dufaylite - by phone, rather than online ordering. They were helpful and pleasant to deal with but only possible drawback is that minimum order was £150 (last spring anyway).

I also made 50mm panels, using 38mm honeycomb sandwiched between 6mm MDF. I have some 38mm and 32mm (combine with 9mm MDF for 50mm thickness) honeycomb leftover if your cabinet project isn't too large - let me know if it's of interest.

Incidentally, I used homemade clamps (75mm deep ply with threaded rod and nuts) and Dufaylite told me they use weights.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've not used honeycomb cardboard, but I have done a bit of vac bagging, including torsion box construction, which is what we are talking about here.
The danger is one of overpressing. I once made a vac-pressed former for a chair back and it was a bit of a shock to hear the bang that ensued as the interior of the mould succumbed to the weight of the earth's atmosphere.
I'm not at all suggesting that you should not so it, just be aware of just how much pressure is being applied, so watch the press and seal the bag just as soon as you have glue squeeze out all round, and before the core starts to telegraph through the skin.
S
PS If it goes bang you need to reduce the pressure.....