Cutting UHMW

[LG63]

A recent post on drilling UHMW got me thinking about a sheet of this that was given to me years ago. (At least I was told it was UHMW) I kept it because I was going to make a set of furniture glides, but was never sure how best to cut it. I'm not where I can measure but as I remember it was somewhere between 1/16" to an 1/8" thick.

Can I cut it on a table saw with a fine tooth wood blade?

 

[A_Pmech]

Table saw with a sharp ATB grind carbide blade, around 40-60 teeth.

 

[coalminer]

i cut pieces of it off stock that is 1" square with a band saw . It's the same saw we use in our shop for general metal cutting

 

[E.rodz]

any wood working device will work fine for uhmw. bandsaw,miter saw, coarse or fine tooth it does not matter it will cut like butter.table saw can be used as well.

 

[trboxman]

The stuff even planes and joints pretty well if your machines are setup correctly.

 

[mbatarga]

The stuff even planes and joints pretty well if your machines are setup correctly.

it routes well also - just be prepared for thousands of little white shavings that will stick to everything in the area - due to static electricity.

 

[raross]

I also had great luck on cutting this stuff with the table saw. I will caution you on one thing though, if you use the cheaper job site type saw's, with a brush motor, make sure you blow out the motor often, I wiped one saw motor out all ready, this stuff is also a great insulator, and when it hits the hot brushes it sticks! Causing them to make marginal contact,I wiped the armature right out of one of my saws, pretty fast!

 

[Boiler]

1/8? Papercutter

1/16? Straight edge and utility knife.

3/16+ sheet metal shear or water jet work nice

 

[NOZZLEMAN]

Table saw works great... if you want to clean it up with a jointer that works great too or a hand plane to take out the blade marks. Blush it with a propane torch after that and that will bring back the gloss

 

[paranoid56]

it routes well also - just be prepared for thousands of little white shavings that will stick to everything in the area - due to static electricity.

yea this. that **** gets everywhere.

 

[BlindViper]

Furniture glides? all the ones I have are round. How about a holesaw?

 

[LG63]

Furniture glides? all the ones I have are round. How about a holesaw?

Glides for moving furniture. I saw carpet layers use them one time. Two strips about 6" wide x 4 ft. long, placed under the feet of the couch or whatever. They had sash cord tied to the strips so one guy could pull the piece into position.

 

[JerryHondo]

I have tried to cut with table saw, and found that a fine tooth blade doesn't work too well. Need to move the chips out so they don't melt. Used a triple chip blade - 10" with 40 teeth, cut beautifully.
Also, just a tid-bit of info, if you want to be sure the stuff is UHMW, take a small piece and put it in water. The stuff has a very low specific gravity, and so it floats. Other mechanical plastics sink.

 

[Ign]

I also had great luck on cutting this stuff with the table saw. I will caution you on one thing though, if you use the cheaper job site type saw's, with a brush motor, make sure you blow out the motor often, I wiped one saw motor out all ready, this stuff is also a great insulator, and when it hits the hot brushes it sticks! Causing them to make marginal contact,I wiped the armature right out of one of my saws, pretty fast!

LOL, both this and Delrin/acetal will fly onto the incandescent bulb in your machine tool light, melt, and then cause the bulb to explode and the operator to soil himself. It's worst when fly cutting..... BTDT