Hello all, happy holidays
this is my first post.
A bit of background: I have been working with metal for about 6 years now, I have a rather full metal shop (Bridgeport mill, Clausing Colchester lathe, atlas shapers, the entire works) but have always wanted to get involved with wood. I have stocked my shop with the basics (Sawstop pro table saw, Laguna 18″, Powermatic jointer, some hand held power tools like biscuit joiner, router, etc and of course a couple of dozen clamps)
One of the things I am trying to do is build some accessories to help me in my work, for example, a cross cut sled, Now to my question, I want to make some of the parts out of plastic, so, here it is, can I cut plastic with a table saw and can I run those pieces through a jointer? my worries is that there will be a “gumming up” of the blades. has anyone had any luck with this.
thanks all, hand happy new year !!
The type of plastic I am considering are:
HDPE
DELRIN
UHMW
and NYLON
Replies
Most of the plastics you list are soft, so gumming might be a problem, but should not damage your blades. I have cut acrylic on my TS with no problem so I don't see any problem with you cutting the plastics you list.
All themoplastics easy to rout and joint, but with carbide.
Phenolics also rout-able, but again with carbide.
Expect to booger HSS jointer knives with plastic.
http://patwarner.com/images/eg_2665.jpg : routed with brazed on carbide. Tablesaw blades have some sensitivities to plastic.
Cut alot? Then get a blade for that job.
Hss bandsaw blade followed with carbide routers: most forgiving and cheap way of shaping.
8-12 wavy x 3/8 hss BS blades will handily cut your plastics. Can't qualify circ-saw blade tooth geometry.
Cutting plastic
You might try putting duct tape on both sides of the plastic to help lubricate the cutting blade.
Machining
Delrin is the best machinable plastic around. UHMW is good as well, very good wear and impact resistantce like Delrin. HDPE can become gummy if you cut it to fast so use slow speeds so not to build of friction. Nylon pretty much machines just as well as Delrin. Found a website with more info and specs that could help you further. Good Luck!
Industrial Plastic Sheet, Slab, Rod and Tube 866-832-9315
After frustrating experience with UHMW plastic runners on table saw sleds, and reading a FWW article a couple years ago that suggested iron or sttel runners (can't remember which) I tried the metal and much prefer them. I was attaching the plastic by screwing up into the underside of the plywood, and it seemed easy to widen the plastic by snugging down the screws. The plastic was also flexible, and it was harder to keep straight.
With the metal runners, the screw comes through the plywood into the iron and I haven't had binding issues like I did with the plastic. Not answering your question, but wanted to share my experience with plastic before you made your sled. Just my two cents on the subject.
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