Phenolic for shaper jigs?

[richard newman]

Anyone have experience using phenolic sheet for shaper jigs?

I want to replace some jigs made of Baltic Birch because they just don't stay flat enuf with seasonal changes. Would be 3/8 - 5/8 thick sheet, and need to be able to stand up to aluminum and steel rub collars as well as the BB does. And be machinable with carbide tooling.

I see paper, cotton, and linen based phenolic, what are the relevant differences for this application?

Thanks, Richard

[Mel Fulks]

I used some one time to make ratchet sticks for an old blind machine. It was an orange brown color and you could see it had cloth in it. Really tough material.

[Brad Shipton]

McMaster Carr sells nice small pieces for jigs. I would probably use UHMW plastic or aluminum if I could add things to keep the cutter away from the aluminum. Medex can make some nice jigs in some cases too. Phenolic is awful to cut and I cut it on a CNC with sharp bits. I have used the Garolite Type X and XX. Here is the McMaster Carr link to the ones I have used---> https://www.mcmaster.com/#phenolic/=1br7rxs

(https://www.mcmaster.com/#phenolic/=1br7rxs)

[keith wootton]

i had bad luck when i tried to replace the plywood on my biessmeyer fence with phenolic. thickness varied along the length of the piece, not good for fence. i found it did machine well with carbide cutters, if dimensional accuracy is required, you could mill if flat. it does stand up to abuse.

[Mike Heidrick]

I like hdpe.

[Roy Turbett]

I'm wondering the same thing. Anyone tried corian?

[Mark Bolton]

I would think you would need a wood or other material lead in for any type of plastic jig on a rub collar. Even high dollar bearings will come up to speed when they are free wheeling and in our experience with any plastic templates they will melt a divot in the lead in short order. Corian may be nice but hard on the back if they are of any size.

[Wayne Lomman]

Phenolic works well. You have to machine it to be accurate sometimes so carbide tooling is essential. Plastics melt as Mark said. Corian is too brittle as it will develop unseen fractures if dropped that can cause catastrophic failure later.

I personally prefer plywood. However, I do use a high grade ply and build the jig with appropriate stiffeners. I also give them a coat of lacquer all over which helps with stability. If it is a short term usage jig, MDF is OK but the edges will wear sooner than ply. Cheers

[Michael Wildt]

What about phenolic faced plywood. Only used small pieces, but it was flat and very stable. Pretty hard and watch your fingers on the fresh cut edges. I think I got the pieces I have from either woodcraft or rockler, been years back.

[Bohdan Drozdowskyj]

Anyone have experience using phenolic sheet for shaper jigs?


I used to use a lot of 5 mm thick fabric based phenolic for both shaper and router templates in a production environment where they were used for many hundreds if not thousands of items in a run. Found that it lasted extremely well especially if you oil the wearing surface.

Very stable and easy to make with the right tooling, significantly more expensive to make but as they outlasted all of the other options, much cheaper in the long run. These days that sort of work would be preferably be done by CNC routers.