Mini lathe & scrap plastic

[Will Krautkramer]

Took some time this evening to try turning some nylatron on my mini lathe. I decided to make a handle for a file cleaning pick I plan to make. I loosely based it off the shape of the handle of the scrapper in the picture but I wanted a little more flare on each end.

Been turning little handles like this with different types of scrap plastic from work using several different 1/4" Oland style tool bits. The white one in the picture is uhmw polyethylene and the dark gray one is the nylatron one I made this evening. I prefer turning the uhmw over the nylatron. The nylatron seemed more grabby and whiskers coming off the cut were much stiffer and I had to stop frequently to clear them off so my hand didn't get "weed whacked". I want to experiment a little more with some tool grind variations to see if I can achieve a smoother surface finish with less ridges and divots.

[Adam Morgenstern]

Those look good. How much plastic do you have hanging around that you can use it for turning handles and where can I get some? I like using plastics for inlays and bands on pens etc. but have never tried turning a huge chunk. Did you sand it or can you even sand it?

[Will Krautkramer]

I haven't tried sanding either but I did wax/burnish the nylatron handle. I don't like using abrasives on the lathe so with the handles i just aim to get them as smooth as possible with the lathe tools. I think the nylatron should sand well, the uhmw is much softer so it probably wouldn't sand as well. The scraps I get are from sheet stock, material that comes in round bar might have different turning properties?

You should be able to get some off ebay or through industrial supply houses. The largest scraps I usually run across end up roughly 1" to 1 1/2" sq. by 5-6" after I trim them into usable turning stock. Thats why they often end up as handles.

[Bernie Weishapl]

When I turn corian, acrylic or plastic's I wet sand them on the lathe. I start at 220 grit to 800 grit then polish on the beall buff system. I lay plastic over the bed when doing the wet sanding to keep the water off. Works rather well.

[Bob Hamilton]

I work in a polyethylene plant where we produce high density polyethylene. The ethylene gas comes into the plant via pipeline and is converted to polyethylene in a chemical reactor. It comes out of the reactor as a granular plastic (coarse grains like sand) and is then melted down and extruded into pellets for shipment. Sometimes we will get a pluggage in the piping of the reactor discharge system that results in a "log" of plastic forming inside a pipe or vessel. I did try turning it a few years ago and it turns very well.

The problem is that since there is no grain the shaving doesn't break. When hollowing a bowl the shaving (singular) comes off by the running mile and gets tangled up all over. Waste disposal was a PITA so I stopped bringing chunks home. It was kind of neat, though. :)

Take care
Bob

[Marvin Hasenak]

I work some of the plastics, especially Delrin and UHMW, I found that wet sanding using automatic transmission fluid (ATF) works pretty good and I don't have to worry about any rust problems. ATF does gums faster, but I still prefer it to using water.

Marvin