Coroplast - supporting bracing for "Aero Tail" on my trailer

[oldtamiyaphile]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Better than Coroplast but it's still brittle.

Polycarb is anything but brittle:

https://youtu.be/FSP-2VINGa4?t=141

Unless it's degraded from age, which applies to any polymer.

[Bicycle Bob]

Sorry I'm late to the party here, but I've used a lot of Coroplast. Big flat panels are problematic, but if you can use a conic section, with maybe 30 degrees of arc across the width, it stiffens right up. For a flat section, you might make a series of bends to give a shiplap effect. You can also stiffen it with more layers, or by ordering the thick stuff. Non-paintable silicon seal is a good adhesive. I have also bent it into hat sections to add ribs, and used strips of unidirectional fiberglass for hard points. For a monocoque section, just adding extra layers near the mounting points helps a lot.
I'd always start by trying for a monocoque, and reinforcing that, rather than building a frame and wasting most of both it and the covering. The peak loads are gusts, and a bit of calculated flex can handle that with far less material. However, if you don't melt the ends of the flutes to seal them, you will hear people calling it cardboard.

[TimRogers]

Even later to the party...
What about these panels?
https://www.homedepot.com/p/FiberCor...C320/206084818

[freebeard]

The FRP is a layer of glass fiber particles in a plastic matrix layered onto an unspecified plastic corrugated core.

Could be a fancy Coroplast, it could be more brittle like greenhouse glazing.

Maybe you could inspect it at your local Home Depot.

[Bicycle Bob]

If that stuff was for structure, not decor, it would have 'glass on both sides, and preferably continuous, straight fibers. Back before the beancounters ruined Boeing, their surplus shop used to have a marvellous variety of honeycomb-core structural panels of various weights, down to near-Coroplast and beyond 3/4" plywood. Making your own sandwich panels with foam, epoxy, and 'glass cloth is not all that darn difficult, and you get to do curves and whatnot.

[Piotrsko]

AND coroplast comes in many other thicknesses, up to 1" thick which will support a person stepping on it. Hard to find and expen$$ive, but it's out there.

[TimRogers]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The FRP is a layer of glass fiber particles in a plastic matrix layered onto an unspecified plastic corrugated core.

Could be a fancy Coroplast, it could be more brittle like greenhouse glazing.

Maybe you could inspect it at your local Home Depot.

In my area, it is a special order item at $101.00 per 4'x8' sheet and a 10 day lead time.
Here is the link on product info from the mfg.: https://www.nudo.com/resources/p6_product_data.pdf

I have used the thin sheet version of this product: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Glasline...9600/100389836 for an undertray, but in that application the edges were all supported by existing car structure, did not extend very far to the rear and worked very well. My latest project does not offer that same support and I don't want a whole bunch of bracketry so I'm looking for a more rigid panel.

[freebeard]

Nudo are who make Polymetal, which would be my preference. They have a product that is a compromise between the two, aluminum skin on polypropylene corrugations.

www.nudo.com/p_alumacorr.php?crumb=%3Ca+href%3D%27l_sign_panels .php%3Fitem%3Dproduct%27%3ESign+Panels

The advantage (to me) of the aluminum skin is that it comes prefinished with baked enamel. I see they have a new product called ValuMetal, similar to Polymetal without the fire rating in white only.

www.nudo.com/p_valumetal.php?crumb=%3Ca+href%3D%27l_sign_panels .php%3Fitem%3Dproduct%27%3ESign+Panel

Whichever be sure to seal the ends of the corrugations shut before it hits the road.

[freebeard]

I don't want to be responsible for a new thread so I'll drop this here. I've only watched this one episode:

Reverse trike with fluted plastic body (part 13)

I'd have done a different frame design for ingress/egress, but he does get a tight radius across the corrugations of everybody [else]'s favorite material.

[Tahoe_Hybrid]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The FRP is a layer of glass fiber particles in a plastic matrix layered onto an unspecified plastic corrugated core.

Could be a fancy Coroplast, it could be more brittle like greenhouse glazing.

Maybe you could inspect it at your local Home Depot.

he can make it STRONGER by adding a few coats of bed liner to it....







the engineering problem have been solved