Anyone have a little bit of HDPE they'd sell me?

[bjones]

Heya all. I want to make some small vac pods for my bot but everyone I find either wants me to buy an entire sheet of 3/4 material or they want silly money for 6x12 pieces.. anyone around have some spare material or a source that is reasonable for a couple pucks worth of HDPE?

Thanks!
/brian

[billp]

Brian,
Sometimes you can find HDPE, or similar materials at discount stores. They are disguised as cutting boards...

[harryball]

Bill, I didn't have to go that far, I found some in our kitchen disguised as a cutting board. :-)

I find many objects not living up to their full potential. I also feel there is no such thing as scrap... only parts that I don't know where they go yet.

Robert

[dray]

Whats a vac pod?

"I find many objects not living up to their full potential.I also feel there is no such thing as scrap... only parts that I don't know where they go yet."


LOL best quote I heard all month

[Brady Watson]

Brian,
If you want a really good material for vacuum pods, go buy an 8' piece of Veranda composite decking from Home Depot ($15/8ft). It works very well in my experience and it is composed mostly of HDPE. I would steer clear from Trex or any other brand...I've already done testing on all of these and Veranda is the best.

-B

[bjones]

Thanks for the tip Brady. For those that suggest cutting boards, how do you get around that texture they have usually on both sides? Doesn't that cause loss of vac?

[billp]

Brian,
If you use a CNC gasket tape, such as those sold by All Star Adhesives (.com) you will not have much of a problem unless your "texture" is really deeply ingrained.
Another option is to coat the surface of the pod with something like MAS epoxy to fill in the texture, and then apply the tape on top of the new surface.

[Brady Watson]

...or run it thru the planer or surface it with the bot. Cuts like butta...

-B

[harryball]

The board we had was about 5/8" thick and was due to retire. It had large cut marks on it. I surfaced it with the bot and it is still sitting in the shop. I haven't gotten a pump yet... but I'm going to need one soon.

Pump and design suggestions welcome.

Robert

[billp]

Robert,
Here is one option;
http://www.baycraftdesigns.com/Shopbot.html
If you go to the link for the Austin,TX Camp you can also see another version of this rig which Mike Kelley built from plans available through www.joewoodworker.com (http://www.joewoodworker.com)
http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/11096/17516.html?1172442257

[rcnewcomb]

One of our surplus hardware stores has HDPE and other plastic scraps for $2/lb. I have also found leftover phenolic for a reasonable price.

Be aware that not all plastic is flat and sometimes when you surface one side that causes the entire piece to curl -- you have to surface both sides. (ask me how I know)

[larry_r]

Go to mcmastercarr.com They have many sizes and thicknesses.

[davidallen]

Robert,

A good source for vacuum pumps is discarded refrigerators. The sealed compressor usually still works even if it's out of coolant.

Just cut it loose and plug it in. One end will suck and the other will blow. You may get some oil out of the outlet. I generally just put the whole unit in a 5 gallon bucket which gives a carrying and containment case.

Volume isn't large but it's enough if you're using pucks.

da

[Mayo]

I have a lot of 7" round HDPE cut outs from something I make. It is 1/2" thick. They weigh about 11oz each (consider this for shipping purposes). Both sides are smooth.
Email me if you would like some.

[Mayo]

I just realized there was no email in my profile.
I have added it now. You will need to take out the words in my email address which say "REMOVETHIS" for it to actually get to me. Hopefully this will eliminate some of the spam potential.