ABS - So Far, I'm Impressed

[Frank]

Started playing around with ABS today.
This stuff cuts like butter with no signs of melting.

Most folks recommend drilling the stem draught hole at the slowest lathe speed. I decided to kick it up a notch from 160 rpm to 250 rpm. Beautiful spirals of waste fed through the drill flutes with no hint of melting. Drilled the whole thing in seconds flat.

I reduced the base diameter (1") of the rod to 3/4" with a spindle speed of 1000 rpm. ABS ribbons came flying off, wrapping around anything that was moving, the chuck, the rod, me (the cat managed to scarper out of there to avoid being trussed like a chicken). Again, no signs of melting.

That's all I managed before having to go and mess with making dinner, but, yes, I'm impressed so far. Lovely stuff to work with. Added bonus, no singed rubber smell.

[pierredekat]

I reduced the base diameter (1") of the rod to 3/4" with a spindle speed of 1000 rpm. ABS ribbons came flying off, wrapping around anything that was moving, the chuck, the rod, me (the cat managed to scarper out of there to avoid being trussed like a chicken).

Hehehehe

Yeah, I have been theorizing, based on the fact that the cuttings have as much physical integrity as they do, that an ABS/Absylux stem is probably darn near indestructible.

I haven't tested that theory yet, but the next time I mess up an ABS stem, I'm going to crank it down in a vise and start whacking it with a hammer to see what happens.

[LexKY_Pipe]

Robert

Forgive me for taking the lazy route and not searching the forum, but who are some ABS suppliers?

[hollywood]

Craig, here ya go.

Of course, you can still get Absylux directly from the manufacturer:
http://www.westlakeplastics.com/viewres ... &busgrp=EN

And from various suppliers:
http://www.plasticdistributioninc.com/d ... bsylux.htm
http://www.portplastics.com/plastics/co ... uxWES.html
http://www.ridoutplastics.com/abssheetrod.html
http://www.sdplastics.com/absylux.html

[Frank]

These guys seem to have the easiest online ordering: http://www.indplastic.com/index.cfm?id= ... &pageid=40