[SIGNMAN]

i am looking for a plastic to use on a 5' x 10' table
1/2" to 1" thick, what type and where can i get it
in michigan
thank you

[diamus]

Are you looking for one piece or multiples?

Do you want it to be a sacrificial top or not?

[SIGNMAN]

i would like one piece, and yes it can be sacrificial.

[Labidus]

What you are looking for is probably High Density Polyethylene Sheets, you can buy them from 1/8 tickness to 1" tickness and the sheet are usually 4'x8'

Unfortunitly I don't know if you can find some in Michigan but I bet you could!

Hope this help

[Med-Pac]

Hello,
UHMW may also be an option. Not sure if that's the same as polyethene. McMaster-Carr or Cope Plastics might be a good place to look.

Mike

[diamus]

You could also use MDF. Obviously this wouldn't work if you were using coolant. You can get MDF at most home centers. It is cheap (where I am a 3/4" x 49" x" sheet is $25), relatively uniform thickness, easy to machine, you can glue mounting points to it if you don't want ot use fasteners to hold it down. All this isn't to say it is perfect. It is heavy, not very tolerant to moisture/liquid, breaks easily under inpact.

So I guess the question is what will you be using it for. Wood routing, maching metal, etc...

As for getting a single piece 5' x 10', that will be more difficult. Most materials are made in the 4' x 8' range. I think you can get some metals larger. The other option might be to make your own by laying up several layers of thinner material. You could use 1/4" MDF and glue layers up to a desired thickness. This would let you overlap the seams and essentially make one larger piece. This has it's drawybacks as well.

[probinson]

High density polyethelene or delrin are great materials. They are both Very rigid and unusually heavy for a plastic so they don't need much support and their mass helps reduce vibration. They are also low friction so they are very easy on your tooling. The slickness makes moving heavy work pieces around easy but that also means you need to clamp your work down really well or it may move while machining. The only real drawback is that they are quite expensive if you are actually going to use them as a sacraficial surface.

If your surface is going to need occasional replacement then I would recommend a couple alternatives.

Starboard is a less dense material but, other than a slight texture on the surface, has similar properties and costs half as much.

Personally, I would go with either the Delrin/high density polyethelene or an aluminum top and cover it with foamed PVC. The foamed PVC is hard enough to be a good surface but it is a lot less expensive so you can afford to replace it now and then.

You should have no trouble locating a local plastics ditributor if you just look under plastics or glazing in the yellow pages. Once you get ahold of someone in the business, even if they don't have what you want, they can direct you to someone does.

Pete

[b1driver]

I built a 24x36 bed out of HDPE from usplastics.com and am here to tell ya that it will bend and your going to need support for it. I used two metal rails underneath the table to support it. But now its as straight as its gonna get and I love it. Hope this helps.

Luis