Been doing some digging around for a core material thats easy for me to deal with given my lack of tools, space and money and I found this stuff. The stats look pretty good -
It doesn't state the density on there but after a bit of digging I found out that it's between 350-500kg/m3. It comes in 8'x4' sheets like regular mdf and for the 12mm thickness it's about £16 and I would be able to et 3-4 boards out of a sheet.
Anyone used this before? Tried searching but putting mdf AND core into the search function throws up pretty much every post.
I would look at these modules in comparison to a wood like poplar. Do these numbers hold up?
You also get the benefit of grain orientation and longevity of fiber fom wood. Not from mdf in my opinion.
cheers for the reply, my thinking was that this could be used in the same way foam is as a core but it would have the damping characteristics of wood. I think I'm going to go for it and see what happens, it certainly makes producing a core a lot easier.
In general MDF is weak and heavy, it's basically saw dust and glue. The exterior grade may hold up to the elements if exposed but I would make sure no mdf is exposed. It could swell like a sponge. I guess it could be in the category of foam when comparing to wood, since there is no grain structure.
I think it would be damp because of the weight and glue. You may want to think of using carbon fiber to give it some spunk and durability. I would abrade the surface, mdf is usually very smooth.
Keep us informed if you go this route, it's all about the experiment!
I do not think it is a good idea. There is a big difference in density from surface to inside of the MDF. inside it's like a sponge. I think you would have to seal the cores after profiling with something fast drying, waterbased floor lacquer for example, to avoid that the cores suck up all the epoxy. But then you would have a bond inbetween epoxy and floor lacquer instead of between core and epoxy.
But I have been wrong before, maybe it works.
You might get away with OSB, provided it is laminated vertically, it's about as cheap at MDF, but not as light. Pallets have been used in the past ... you might be able to find a few.
If you're thinking of doing MDF, why not just do foam? Its almost the exact same to work with, and has about the same mechanical properties (as far as bending/screw retention, etc), but its even lighter.
I was just interested in mdf as it's so easy to get hold of, also on the battaleon website they describe their 'toughcore' as being made of a 'wood composite' I know that could mean anything but it got me thinking about what types of panel might be suitable to build cores.
I want something cheap that I can go wreck at the indoor slope on freestyle night and not feel too bad about it. Any board I build probably won't spend too much time up a mountain because we're kind of lacking those over here.
PTTR- I was concerned that it would soak up all the epoxy as well, I'm picking up some fibreglass on Wednesday so I'll make a test panel. If it soaks up resin like it does paint though it might be a no go.
I've been looking at core cork today, that might solve the problem of soaking up resin but I think stiffness might be an issue. Anybody tried using that before?
Plywood is expensive over here and the guy is a student. There appears to be a lot of recycling centres around Sheffield... worth researching. This link might get the juices flowing, when it comes to alternative board types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriented_strand_board, scroll down. Composite materials are also in short supply too in the UK. Gruit is probably the best bet. The most common work used by skibuilders at the early stages of manufacture is 'sample'. ;)
I would try construction plywood if it is for a slam-slum-bamm- board. Buy a 12mm 8x4 and rip it up and profile. Or maybe check different thicknesses to see fiberdirections. The layers are thick in construction plywood and with a little bit of detective work I am sure you can get the cores to be made out of most 0 degree fibres. Construction plywood is more expansive then mdf here in denmark but still not to bad. and way cheaper than hardwood cores.
edit:
OSB boards are way to irregular to make a flat base.
