Machining Phenolic

[Heather Thompson]

I just ordered a 72"x30"x1" slab of Phenolic from http://www.mcmaster.com/, will need to cut it down to 28x46 and 28x24 for my application. My question to the group is how many have worked with phenolic, pros and cons please.

Heather

[Greg Hines, MD]

I have cut it with regular woodworking tools, including my table saw. It makes a terrible mess, though, lots of tiny flakes of the resin. It has a lot of static attraction to everything, at least as bad as UMHW plastic.

For the guards that I made out of it, I used a blowtorch to polish the edges of it. It softened them very acceptably without needing sanding or any other work on it.

Other than that, it machines well, and holds screws without difficulty.

Doc

[Bob Wingard]

It can be cut with standard woodworking tools, BUT .. it is very hard on blades, and the dust/fumes from machining are very nasty & probably somewhat toxic.

I would probably cut it with a circular saw with a disposable (cheap) blade .. do it outdoors while wearing a respirator, and with a fan blowing the dust away from me.

NEVER try to plane or joint the surface of this stuff ..it will ruin your cutters, and probably kick back violently. The board is made up from layers of a fiberglass-like mat, impregnated with resins. It is VERY tough stuff, but it can be cut.

[Kyle Kraft]

Roger that, Bob. Phenoli aka micarta is really mean to cutting tools.

[Scott Loven]

I just ordered a 72"x30"x1" slab of Phenolic from http://www.mcmaster.com/, will need to cut it down to 28x46 and 28x24 for my application. My question to the group is how many have worked with phenolic, pros and cons please.

Heather
We use carbide saw blades to cut it at work. I work at Norplex-Micarta where we make over 250 different kinds of thermoset plastics, about half of which are phenolic resin based.
Scott

[Peter Quinn]

I just made a coping/miter sled for the shaper using 1/2"X15"X20" phenalic. Didn't have to cut it to size, but milled a radius and several slots using carbide router bits.

Seems you have to take light passes and keep the feed rate moving, not to slow or it starts to heat up. Not to fast either or the router gets cranky. Mills with good precision. I wouldn't use any HSS on this stuff or try to thickness plane either. Definitely wear a mask, that dust can't be good for you.

[Noah Levy]

We use carbide saw blades to cut it at work. I work at Norplex-Micarta where we make over 250 different kinds of thermoset plastics, about half of which are phenolic resin based.
Scott

Scott - just how toxic is phenolic dust and fumes generated while machining it? I've heard the whole gamut from don't worry about it to it's worse than plutonium.