Phenolic

[Michael Sullivan]

Anyone machine this stuff much. The stuff we are going to have to use is the cotton/canvas strand type. Seems a bit like G10 which I've machined a bit years ago. Very abrasive. Anyhow, I was wondering If I can use coolant on it or not. I know it machines into powder so I'm not sure if it is a good Idea. Maybe an air blaster to clear chips(powder) for the tool?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

 

-Mike

[DG]

I have allways milled it dry with a vacume line because it stinks and does powder up

[Ployd]

Here is a previous thread that has good info.

 

HTH

 

Phenolic

[Michael Sullivan]

Thanks guys. Anybody use any special cutters other than traditional geometry endmills?

[cadcam]

I use air and standard carbide tools.

[Goldorak]

quote:

---

I have allways milled it dry with a vacume line because it stinks and does powder up

---

and don't breath the yellow fumes!!!

 

it's a little bit toxic

 

in pass i make several parts in phenolic and i alwaus ad good result with very very sharp HSS cutters

 

HTH

[Programinator]

really? HSS cutters. Never thought of even trying that. I guess it could work cuz the hss drill seem to do ok in that crap.

[Goldorak]

HSS will work fine but at low SFM + high feed to cut into it not just "wear" the phenolic

 

carbide tooling for non-metallic material should also work fine

[gcode]

... and clean your machine thoroughly when you're

done. The dust is highly abrasive and can do real

damage to your ways..

I always charged a premium for phenolic just because its a PIA... hard on machines, hard on tools and hard on your lungs

edit.. never had a vacumn system, so I usually

ran a spray mist to keep the dust under control..

the downside to that is that it turns "chips"

into an abrasive sludge.

 

[ 11-24-2007, 01:15 PM: Message edited by: gcode ]

[Graveyard]

use a shop vac with a good filter

later

[billet programmer]

The shop vac with a good filter is good, even still the filter will clog quickly if you have a lot to cut. I use diamond coated carbide tooling when you have a lot of machining to do, if not the corners will wear fairly quickly. This coating is expensive, but worth it if you have plenty to cut.