Sawing 1/4" thick UHWM
- Thread starter krudawg
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MikeGE
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I cut the sacrificial strips for my MFT-style workbench from a sheet of 5mm thick UHWM using my slider saw. It took me over an hour to clean up the mess because the static cling caused the UHWM chips to stick to the inside of the saw rather than be sucked up by the dust extractor.
It did cut like butter, but very messy butter.
It did cut like butter, but very messy butter.
I had a 10" Forrest Duraline AT blade but I gave Forrest a call and he said it would tear it up. So on his recommendation, I bought another Blade and it cut the UHMW very cleanly - some byproduct had to be cleaned up but other than that, It worked great
Crazyraceguy
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A zero-rake triple-chip (TCG) blade will give you the best finish/feel on the edges, but pretty much anything will cut it. It all depends on what you are expecting from it and ultimately how much of this you need to do.
A dedicated blade is a good way to go, if the volume makes it worth the cost.
U-H-M-W
Ultra
High
Molecular
Weight
A dedicated blade is a good way to go, if the volume makes it worth the cost.
U-H-M-W
Ultra
High
Molecular
Weight
That UHMW is expensive! I live in the Phoenix area and called two plastic places and one of them said my order was too small (I wanted a 13"X48" 1/4". The other place I called in Phoenix directed to their plant in PA or someplace as that is the only plant that sells small orders so I ordered one. I wanted to save on shipping and said I could pick it up locally and was told my order was too small for me to pick up at the plant in Phoenix. It shows up finally and it was 24"X48" 1/4" thick - I had to rip it to size. The Cost, with shipping $285.
Michael Kellough
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What flavor of UHMW PE? Did you check out McMaster.Com? They stock a dozen varieties ranging in price from $90 to $240+ for the same size.
squall_line
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McMaster is likely the way to go, but you won't be getting a custom size; it'll be stock sizes like you found.
1/4" white UHMW 24x48 is about half as much as your number, ground-shipped to my door from Chicago. 25% of the total bill is shipping.
Shipping is the killer when you start talking about objects with a 4-foot dimension in any direction, honestly.
1/4" white UHMW 24x48 is about half as much as your number, ground-shipped to my door from Chicago. 25% of the total bill is shipping.
Shipping is the killer when you start talking about objects with a 4-foot dimension in any direction, honestly.
[member=75217]squall_line[/member] McMaster does do (sort of) custom cuts on 1/4 and 1/2 white UHMW sheets.
The sort of is that only offer two ranges in sizes. If your piece fits within a 29x29 square or a 48x60 rectangle. Unfortunately on the bigger sizes the widths don't cross over they start at 30 inches. So if you need a piece 29 or under wide and longer than 29, you are out of luck.
https://www.mcmaster.com/products/plastics/slippery-uhmw-polyethylene-sheets-bars-and-strips/
Scroll down to where it says
Additional White Sheet Sizes
Ron
The sort of is that only offer two ranges in sizes. If your piece fits within a 29x29 square or a 48x60 rectangle. Unfortunately on the bigger sizes the widths don't cross over they start at 30 inches. So if you need a piece 29 or under wide and longer than 29, you are out of luck.
https://www.mcmaster.com/products/plastics/slippery-uhmw-polyethylene-sheets-bars-and-strips/
Scroll down to where it says
Additional White Sheet Sizes
Ron
mgrobins
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For small dimension pieces is the material quality of chopping boards the same as what is being provided by larger suppliers?
I'm thinking of use cases like sliders for T-Slots, small bushings and such. Unsure what else people use it for in the workshop... but interested to learn
I'm thinking of use cases like sliders for T-Slots, small bushings and such. Unsure what else people use it for in the workshop... but interested to learn
Michael Kellough
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- Jan 23, 2007
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- 7,096
mgrobins said:For small dimension pieces is the material quality of chopping boards the same as what is being provided by larger suppliers?
I'm thinking of use cases like sliders for T-Slots, small bushings and such. Unsure what else people use it for in the workshop... but interested to learn
Nowadays most plastic cutting boards are made of polypropylene not polyethylene. If the board is PE it should be as good for other purposes as raw stock but if it is PP don’t buy it. I bought a few plastic cutting boards to make vacuum clamps and there was a molded in texture I had to remove and in the process discovered that the stuff is uneven in thickness. Also, it’s milling characteristic is somewhere in between PE and styrene. PE is much better to work with.
A brief comparison of the different types of polyethylene.
I believe that the majority of the poly cutting boards available through a commercial kitchen supply house will be high density PE in varying thicknesses.
I'm also a big fan the IKEA Legitim cutting boards. Seems to be HDPE, has a slight texture and is reasonably flat and consistent in thickness. They are 13.5x9.5x.25 inches. Used to be able to pick them up for 1.99 but are now 3.99.
Use them as backers on the drill press, sliders, shims, washers, etc.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/legitim-cutting-board-white-90202268/
Ron
I'm also a big fan the IKEA Legitim cutting boards. Seems to be HDPE, has a slight texture and is reasonably flat and consistent in thickness. They are 13.5x9.5x.25 inches. Used to be able to pick them up for 1.99 but are now 3.99.
Use them as backers on the drill press, sliders, shims, washers, etc.
https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/legitim-cutting-board-white-90202268/
Ron
