drilling the rod stock(or steam) for delrin what size

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 5:34 pm

I get all my delrin from onlinemetals.com. Great customer service there. I just wish they had black acrylic rod stock too.

bvartist · Post by **bvartist** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:20 pm

Next question about delrin for all you guys using it.

what is a good tenon length? I got my delrin the other day and was playing around with it. Due to its flexibility I was wondering if a shorter tenon would work better. The tenons I cut now are 5/8 inch long. Wondering if the flexibility of the delrin will cause too much torque on the stem/delrin twisting the tenon out of the morise in the stummel. Could I go with 1/2 inch? Also, how tight is too tight with this stuff? I test fit the delrin in a couple pipes I've made using a 5/16" end mill for the mortise and it is tight tight tight.

Still looks like the delrin will be an improvement over my PIMO tenon cutter!

David

hazmat · Post by **hazmat** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:41 pm

quick question... after paying more in shipping than for the price of the actual delrin rod, I did some checking around locally and found a location that has delrin rods, however, not in the size I need. I can buy larger and turn it down... is there anything special I need to know about turning this stuff down?

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:02 pm

That you're not saving yourself any time or effort versus turning vulcanite?

Seriously though, delrin is tough stuff, with very interesting properties. Turning it by hand would be interesting. It is machineable, but the self-lubricating ability f delrin would make turning it with a wood lathe rather difficult.

jeff · Post by **jeff** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 6:33 pm

hazmat wrote:quick question... after paying more in shipping than for the price of the actual delrin rod, I did some checking around locally and found a location that has delrin rods, however, not in the size I need. I can buy larger and turn it down... is there anything special I need to know about turning this stuff down?

Yes. You need to use a live center on the tailstock to support the tenon if you are turning it down. Delrin is more flexible than vulcanite or lucite, so you cannot get a perfectly cylindrical tenon without some support. But, even for the relatively high price of delrin, I am sure that you will find buying the appropriate size to be much more financially rewarding than turning it down. Time is money, and wasted time is lost money.