Thread: Alucobond fence?

gday mate just wondering if you ended up doing the composite panel fence id like to see some pictures and what panel you used and whether its doing its job?
cheers bj

Hi BJ

In the end. I decided that Alucobond wasn't stiff enough for a panel that was 2 metres wide by 600mm tall. Instead, I made them from 6mm solid aluminium sheet. Here are a few pictures of the first panels. It is still a work in progress.

Originally Posted by snowyskiesau

I'll be interested to see how this stuff cuts with a high speed router.
I have half a sheet of red Alucobond sitting in the shed, it's destined for splashbacks in a friends kitchen once I work out the best way to cut/shape it.

I'm hoping there are enough offcuts for me to play with on the CNC router.

Have cut quite a few sheets in a PROCAM 8 x 6 router for kitchen splahbacks, using 45deg cone bit to cut fold lines, 3mm down spiral for tight internal corners, and 3/8 compression bit for general external cuts and non tight internals. Feeds about 80% of normal, so basicly on par with MDF colourboards, but we raise the dust foot around the cutter to avoid sucking metal fragments into the dusty which is invariably half or more full of chipboard/MDF dust.

Hope this helps

Originally Posted by Gaza

what do you want to know, we do building facdes & fascias at work with composite sheet. just did a 400m2 building in januray.

yes you can router we use dewalt / festool routers to do edge detailing also a grooving blade on our panel saw.

you would need to miter fold the sheets to give it some stiffness,

alcubond is about $80m2

alpolic (mitisbusi) $55m2

other ones range from $40m2 to aslow as $30m2.

not hard to work with but a lot of effort to do a good job withit,

i have miles off cuts you are welcome to.

Hi Gaza,

Any chance you could PM me the details of some of the companies.

Have a project I would l like to build with this stuff but having trouble finding people who do it in sydney.


Thanks in advance.

A simple Google search for alucobond sydney turned up almost 200,000 hits.

Plastix sell the Aluminium composite panel, no idea on the brand but its not the cheap stuff it was ~ $60-$70 per 2400x1200 sheet when I purchased it.

They still have 2 stores around sydney last I looked, my local one closed down.

plastix.com.au


But I'd think most businesses selling perspex/acrylic ect. would also be selling the aluminium composite panel.

I realise it's a few months since this thread was active, but we've cnc cut & hand cut & cnc routed scores & scores of sheets of ACM (aluminium composite material).
There are several suppliers of various brands, at varying prices.
There are also several different qualities.

There is a big 'beware of what you get when looking at the cheap end' factor.
The cheaper stuff has a much thinner skin, often 0.1mm aluminium (to 0.2mm) while the better quality sheets have 0.3 or 0.33mm thick aluminium skins.
The core is polyethylene with a reinforcing fibre in it, and the cheaper products can tend to have the aluminium adhered to the core purely via the manufacturing process's heat - they simply touch & stick, sort of, till they let go. And they will when you don't want it to happen...
The better quality sheets have the core actually glued to the skins.
The cheaper sheets are often made for entirely indoors no stress uses.
For external work, you should not skimp on standards.

Sign Sheet Distributors sells Alupanel, an English product, and they have a delivery service in Sydney & Brisbane. Great product & service.
Alcoa have alucobond
SAS signage accessories supplies in Sydney & Brisbane have it also-their own stuff.
Graphic Art Mart in Sydney & Brisbane carry their version of the ACM.
Mulford Plastics in Brisbane carry their version of it.

Some grades are very el-cheapo, and others are made to be self-supporting at 1200 centres or supported around the perimeter of the sheet alone and are correspondingly priced. Most are about 3mm thick, but 4.5mm is available.

Common sheet sizes are 8 x 4 ft (1220 x 2440), 12 x 4 ft (3660 x 1220), 3050 x 1500 mm, 4050 x 1500mm

Prices can very from around $75 to $138 for an 8x4 ft sheet, and from $130 to $210 for a 1500 x 3050 sheet.
You do get what you pay for. Don't think a $70 sheet is as good as the one that will cost you $138!