Our Story
SDM Technology began building composite presses and composite panels in 1982. The owner, Dean Maples, became directly involved in honeycomb composites in 1967 with Zero Bonded Structures as their Lab Manager. Shortly thereafter, Dean was promoted to Materials and Process Manager and was responsible for all panel and autoclave processing.
Now with over 35 years of composite manufacturing experience in a variety of composite firms including General Atomics and Pratt & Whitney, Dean has key understanding of difficult process requirements for various thermosets and thermoforms. SDM Technology has benefitted from this experience.
SDM presently processes a large variety of composite structures. We built our first composite press in 1982 and introduced the LAMINATOR SERIES™ of presses in 1997. Our Laminator Series™ presses have delivered the highest performing phenolic faced honeycomb panels on the market. This equipment, with its MAX RAMP™ feature, offers unequaled composite panel and laminate performance.
SDM Technology Has…
- Improved balsa panel processing technology to eliminate voided areas in aircraft floor boards.
- Delivered the first 5′ × 12′ × 0.090 PPS carbon laminate for Boeing (C-Scan revealed the highest quality ever produced from a platen press!).
- Built General Electric phased array radar system panels.
- Supplied production presses to panel manufacturers since 1982 and introduced our LAMINATOR SERIES™ of composite presses in 1997.
- Produced the highest strength phenolic faced Nomex® honeycomb panels — Climbing Drum Peel strength results typically of 15–18 in·lb per inch of width (2 plys 7781).
- Introduced the dual loader LAMINATOR SERIES™ press in early 2000. This flexible design allows 5 ft × 24 ft or longer panels to be manufactured.
