More Playtime With Polycarbonate!

[Ulma Doctor]

I needed a rack for my R8 toolholders and collets.
so i looked around the shop to see what i had to make a collet rack from.
sure, i could have just bought a commercially made rack- but what is the fun in that???

i started off with a hunk of reclaimed 1/4" polycarbonate that i just couldn't bear to throw away.
using my tablesaw, i rendered a piece 11" X 9".
i laid out the spots to drill and using the drill press and clamps i went to work at punching the 12- 7/8" holes
then deburred


then i checked fit and spacing
the top row was intended for collets
the 2nd and 3rd rows were spaced out for R8 Weldon toolholders, R8 mounted Drill Chuck, and R8 mounted Fly Cutter


stay tuned for act II !

 

[Randall Marx]

Looks good so far!

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Looks good so far!

Hi Randall,
Thank you very much

 

[brav65]

As usual Mike your work looks great! I have been working so much I have forgotten what my shop looks like.

 

[David S]

The nice thing about polycarb is that you can cold form it to make a bend or whatever.
Nice work.

David

 

[chips&more]

Hi UD, lookin good! How did you make the holes? With a Uni-bit, hole saw, or? Is ack II going to be LED edge lighting with engraved identification?...Dave

 

[Ulma Doctor]

As usual Mike your work looks great! I have been working so much I have forgotten what my shop looks like.

Hi Brooks,
thank you very much for the compliment!
i'm sorry to hear that work has interfered with fun- i know that feeling all to well!
hopefully you'll get a break soon for fun time!
always nice to hear from you!

The nice thing about polycarb is that you can cold form it to make a bend or whatever.
Nice work.
David

Hi David,
thank you!
it is an interesting material to deal with, it has some very nice properties!

Hi UD, lookin good! How did you make the holes? With a Uni-bit, hole saw, or? Is ack II going to be LED edge lighting with engraved identification?...Dave

Hi Dave,
thank you always good to hear from you!
I used a centerdrill to locate all the holes in the drill press, then used a unibit to punch them out to 3/4"
then i used a 7/8" S&D bit and clamped very close to keep the polycarbonate from climbing as i plunged hard.
the 7/8 drill bit was going way too fast, so i compensated with hard feed- the results were satisfactory and only required minor deburring.
Sorry Chips, no LED's- just a mount custom for my milling machine so i can use them readily
but you never know, I've never tried scraping and flaking polycarbonate...

 

[brav65]

Thanks Mike, it is a bummer when working gets in the way of having fun.