From Wikipedia: Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid[ materials used in the manufacture of industrial products.
Although plastics are commonly molded, in many cases it makes sense to machine plastic parts rather than mold them. Some of the reasons for machining plastics include:
• The ability to hold tighter tolerances
• Much shorter lead times
• Machining is much more economical for low volumes
• Often high volumes can be competitively priced
• No extra “tooling” costs. No need to purchase tooling (molds) and maintain them
• Design changes can be easily accommodated – no tooling modifications needed
• Virtually all plastic can be machined
• No need for secondary operations
Machining plastics is somewhat of an art form, since each material has unique characteristics. Depending on the design and purpose of the part, some plastics are very soft, some are very brittle, and some are very abrasive. To be successful at machining plastics, much attention must be paid to the particular characteristics of each material. Often the work holding and cutting tools need to be highly specialized for working with plastics. More often than not, the methods used for machining metals do not work for machining plastics.
When selecting a CNC shop to machine your plastic parts it’s very important to choose a shop that has a lot of experience machining plastics. Many machine shops will say that they can machine plastics. However, the best results will be achieved by selecting a shop that has extensive experience in machining plastics. One such shop is CNC Industries, Inc. Located in Fort Wayne, Indiana CNC Industries has extensive experience in machining plastics of all types.
CNC Industries uses the latest CNC equipment as well as advanced information technology to insure consistent quality and on-time deliveries.
Plastic material list:
| ABS – Acrylonitrile Butadlene Styrene |
| Acetal |
| Acetate |
| Acrylic |
| Celcon® – Acetal Co-polymer |
| Cellulose Acetate |
| Cellulose Acetate Butyrate |
| Copper Clad Laminates |
| CPVC – High Temperature PVC |
| Delrin ® |
| FEP – Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene |
| Fluoroglas ® |
| G7 |
| G10 |
| G11 |
| Hydar ® |
| Kapton® |
| Kydex ® |
| Kynar ® |
| LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) |
| Lexan ® |
| Meldin ® |
| Micarta ® |
| Mylar ® |
| Nylon 101 |
| Nylon 6/6 |
| Orkot ® |
| PET |
| Plexiglas ® |
| Polycarbonate |
| Polyolefins |
| Polyphthalamide |
| Polypropylene |
| Polystyrene |
| Polysulfone |
| Polyurethane |
| PVC (Polyvinylchloride) |
| Radel® R (PPSU) |
| Ryton Bearing Grade (PPS) |
| Ryton® (PPS) 40% Glass |
| Ryton® CM (PPS) |
| Rulon ® AR |
| Rulon ® LR |
| Rulon ® J |
| Tivar ® |
| Tuffak® – Polycarbonate |
| Turcite® |
| Tygon® |
| UHMW – Ultra High MolecularWeight |
| Zelux® |
| Absylux® | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Absylux® CN-F | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Absylux® CN-P | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Ardel® | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Crystat® | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dielux® | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ECTFE | |||||||||||||||||||||
| HDPE | |||||||||||||||||||||
| HIPS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kynar® 1000 HD | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kynar® 2850 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kynar® 740 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lennite® UHMW-PE | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lennite® CN-P | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Lennite® SD-P | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Norylux | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Pomalux® | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Pomalux® B | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Pomalux® CN-F | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Pomalux® CN-SS | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Pomalux® SD-A | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Propylux® | |||||||||||||||||||||
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