Sandwich panel origami...

it was quite difficult to bend until the laminate was heated up by the sun... the epoxy was only about 36hrs old, with no post cure, so the HDT of the resin would have been quite low, it didnt need much heat to get things moving...

 

Ok you are part way to were i have been making origami panels
not the length you are using but i made panels that had multipal bends all pre-made and the core simply left out where the corner was . i also changed the glass weight just in the corners only and use a lighter weight double bias then carried on to the next corner witha heavyer glass and did the same !!.
The radius of a corner can be determined by the weight of glass you use light glass will bend easy and you can get a smaller radius !! use a heavyer glass you get a bigger radius . Draw out your corner and stop the core back just a couple of mils to start the bend and same on the other side where the core begins again . I used a 45 degree cut end leaving about 3 mm of the square end then the 45 coming off that , the edge of the 45 degree foam could bend as well . i been doing these thing for more than 10 years and showed a few people but not one has picked up and run with it in any way
I made and folded all the interior face panels for the inside of a yachts The folded panels had to fit through a hatch-way and be unfolded inside the boat . the young Korean lady designer i worked with was very clever and worked all and everything so it could be made on a bench . had a gelcoated finish on the outside so didnt need to be painted once it was fitted in place and all glassed from behind including the corners . just two joins for the whole panel ,against bulkheads .

 

Nice , any problems with gelcoat cracking where the bends are?

 

Ah takes a little thinking about !! thin gel wont crack so easy !! so pigment the resin as well and its like a second coat !! !!,

 

Know and understand the capabilities of the materials you have to work with and you will get better results and will be able to make almost anything !!

 

infused the panel for the second hull today, this time without the core where the folds are... note the flow media stepped back from the middle peice of core edge... this allows the bottom resin front to catch up the the top resin front before it becomes a single skin laminate and prevents a potential void forming...


We shall how this one folds up tomorrow

 

The second panel out in the sun...




is bending a little easier today without the core at the fold line... no messy cutting either, although i think i have a bit more work stiffening it back up once its shaped. The first peice only needs some bog and taping over... dunno which way is best just yet...

 

origami panels !!just needs a little throught !!

The cut foam is just an idea to look at you might be able to use the idea set the saw at one angle and turn the sheet as you do each cut and should all fit snuggly together . if you have a bench saw or band saw you can make something simular and lay the glass and infuse it to what you already got just make a former to get your angles of you corners right

Just for the sake of interest with origami and bendy panels etc etc
The spa pool base was 99% made as flat panels with one side rolled up and done on a bench comlete with cores glassed over and stiffeners and as many things as were needed ,when finished glassing released and cut and a couple of bits added and lifted up onto the boat to be fitted to the sky bridge .

We made lots things like this that the other contractors had put in there to hard basket to make and wanted absorbidant prices!!
Two deck pedisals come engineroom access !, left and right complete with doors openings recesses all ready formed and fitted ,with one side on a angle , 1.8.x1.4 insize with 30mm high density foams always just one stepped and ready to glass join .