phenolic machineability?

[Greg Bender]

Has anybody had any luck running phenolic through a planer to dimension it? I'm talking a lunchbox type planer with straight knifes. I have some 3/4" that is actually about .769 and I want to use it for cutoff sled runners (3/4 by 3/8) and was looking for the easy way there.
Greg

[pat warner]

You might get away with it with carbide knives but I wouldn't. Get it abrasively planed.
Appreciate the stuff is supplied as pretzeled. So flatten one side before thicknessing.
Great hard durable material, available in a million thicknesses and fabrics.
Worst flatness and thickness specs of nearly all man made materials.

[Greg Bender]

Pat,
Thanx for the response ,the stuff I got my hands on seems to be pretty consistent in thickness. Carbide is definitely the way to go. I think I'm going to come up with a shim that is the same thickness as the amount I need to remove.I'll offset the fences that same thickness and ..... well, we will see.
Greg

[Carl Beckett]

I have machined phenolics using a mill or lathe. Do you know what type? Some are paper based, some are linen based (fabric), some are epoxy/fiberglass combo.

Be careful - it might not machine well at all. And the paper based material in particular might dull the blades very quickly (and could be some strain on the blades/planner). And it might not stay flat - or even delaminate a bit depending on the grade.

Im with the suggestion to try a drum or belt sander if at all possible (you can tell Im not jumping on the planning bandwagon - but I have never actually tried it).

OTOH, if you cut the narrow strips first there wouldnt be that much surface to plane. In fact, once into narrow strips you could even bring them down with a router table. Let us know how it goes.

[Bill Huber]

I know it routs really good, do you have a router table and a good straight bit?

If you off set the fence you could mill the strip right down to what you need.