Basically a 48x96" sheet would be less than 15lbs the fluting would make it a lot less flexible than a 1/4" sheet of ABS. If I absolutely needed to I could reinforce it with fiberglass to stiffen it up even more.
Best thing is that curbell is local to me so I don’t have to pay shipping.
You will DEFINITELY need to reinforce it cause once it bends or gets a crease its worthless. It will loose all rigidity along the crease and flopp around till it breaks apart. Also wind pressure will bend a single layer but if you stack layers and glue them together so the fluting crosses at 90* angles shit gains strength exponentially
The layering thing sounds familiar. My sister uses this stuff for the bottom of mammal cages. It doesn’t seem very strong in one layer. Shit hold up gud tho
Alumalite or dibond are the most common. They definitely arent the best, but they arent expensive. Orient the veins so it wont bend (its obvious when you have it in your hands).
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I used a pressed laminate panel wrapped in f.g. mat for my undertray. It is strong enough to take some abuse, and will flex slightly before breaking. Best of all it is cheap and lightweight. The Alumalite, as well as the abs plastics are great as well. Slightly heavier although sturdier.
Normally if the under tray were integrated with the splitter (one piece) that would be obvious. However, in my application I have a f.g. lip which is separate from my laminate coated under tray. My car is low and sees street use so I need the underside to give a little.
I can assure you that an alumalite copy of my under panel is actually very close in weight to what I’ve constructed. I’m talking much less than 1/2" thick.
Mike, what is the lip going on? What are the uses of the car?
I have heard many solid racecar guys in the paddock say that “you should be able to stand on your front lip”. While this sounds redneckish, its pretty accurate. If you want something that will work you do not want it to deflect at all with 100+ pounds of force. In most of the setups that I have used or seen, bracing and mounting seems to be almost as important as the material. Pics of area where its to be used may help some people here generate good ideas for you.
It’s going on the honda, I’m creating an entire setup that will support it for track use with a few variations for me to try out once I can drive consistently enough to be able to judge it.
I picked up 3/8 and 1/2 inch ABS sheets, but I really think that if I can find some other microfluted plastics it would work better. Material companys are making almost everything with microflutes now and its available is polymers and thicknesses that offer significantly more durability than what people think of for typical “sign board”
May was real busy so I haven’t been able to get back to this project yet. I will soon and will add more info here when I do.