Hello,

My company is designing a machine, specifically an antenna positioner for antenna testing, which requires a large number of pieces cut from phenolic sheet. The majority of the parts are 2D and cut from relatively thin sheet (0.093, 0.125, 0.250). A few parts are from thicker material (0.500) and have a chamfer, so they are partly 3D but should be quite doable on a CNC bed router with a chamfer bit.

The machine parts are designed to be laid out in 48x96 sheets so that full sheets are used to make all the parts in general. The idea is to load one sheet, run the program, and get a number of parts out.

I have been having trouble finding CNC router shops who are comfortable with phenolic XX (Garolite XX, Micarta XX, NEMA XX), and can do the work at reasonable prices. We're willing to work on the design to optimize it for minimal production cost (say provide rig holes, designated sprue points to retain parts, and so forth).

We will need to make a few prototypes, and then maybe 10-20 units per year, each unit being about 3-4 sheets of phenolic XX. Parts of the machine might also be made from acetal if that proves to be overall lower cost, particularly the thicker pieces.

If you do CNC bed routing of phenolic, please send contact me and we will send you example parts to quote.

Mike Ciholas
[email protected]
812 962 9408

Ciholas, Inc
3700 Bell Road
Newburgh, IN 47630
www.ciholas.com