Can this be done with sintra?

[knight_toolworks]

A customer wants to make this as a workout aid. we played around with solid wood and bb plywood but he really likes sintra. it does take less time to cut and would stay in place on the table better. but he wants colors like pink or green or at least color the edges. or add some kind of grippy coating. any idea's or is there a better material?
the part is about 9x5 or so
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s266/knighttoolworks/posting/f9d27aa4.jpg

[Brady Watson]

You can only get colored Sintra/Komatex up to 1/4". After that, it's white or black only. The edges don't paint well. Cast polyurethane is probably the only material within a small shop's reach that can be dyed to any color to the core. The problem is, it isn't cheap...If you need padded edges, you can use the T-spline edging like they use on the edges of video game consoles, desks etc.

I would try to discourage any kind of plastic or composite for this and go with a nice wood or even bamboo plywood. A nice finish on either may sway the customer in a new direction. Stay away from dark woods like Walnut, Paduk etc. Maple would be my 1st choice along with Bamboo as a close 2nd.

-B

[steve_g]

Can you get the recycled material that some bathroom stalls are made of? it has a black core and several choices of finish. I don't remember the source but used it many times as a contractor. If it sounds interesting I'll ask some old contacts...

Steve

[letterman7]

My thought was ColorCore from King Starboard - two color polyethylene board sandwich. It's heavy, though, and you'll need to relieve the edges to get rid of the sharp corners...
You're going to have to ask your customer exactly what these are going to be used for and how much stress they'll be under - Brady may be correct with suggesting a wood product.

[knight_toolworks]

I cut his samples first from hemlock (home depot sold them them) he realized how much work was involved in sanding them. I cut him one from Russian birch and he liked it but still does not like the idea od sanding. and I cut him one from sintra. He likes the feel of the sintra since it does not feel like plastic.
the birch would be the way to go easy to stain it colors and finish it no real waste like solid wood would be.
this is some kind of exercise tool or he calls it a recovery board. your hand hands go into the holes and I don't know from there. but figure hot sweaty hands on it. I can see these breaking with solid wood that narrow section is cross grain and easy to break.

[dengler]

I would suggest sintra. I use it all the time. It can be painted any color under the sun. I don't know what you paint with but we use lacquer bases, you can get styrene bases which hold to plastics much better but we find they are not necessary. If the finish is not durable enough we have outsourced to screen printers for a stronger finish (This tends to be very slippery tho). You can paint or finish the sheets before cutting for a really cool two tone look (Engrave that logo too).

The only finish that I have used that is grippy, is spray-on truck bed-liner this comes in a variety of colors too.


Best of luck.

[knight_toolworks]

Here is the finished product. we used some type of iron on vinyl from a local sign shop. I cut them then they apply the vinyl and I then round them over.http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s266/knighttoolworks/posting/771ed25a.jpg