pipemakersforum.com

Okay, with my new lathe I think I'm ready to try my hand at Delrin, but which one do I use? I have copied and pasted the snippette below from http://www.professionalplastics.com/cgi ... omopolymer


Delrin Exhibits:
Slightly higher tensile & flexular properties than acetal copolymer.
FDA, NSF, USDA & 3A Dairy approved. (in Natural Color)
Weakness: Delrin Homopolymer Acetal is prone to centerline porosity.
For porosity-free acetal sheets & rods, try Acetal Copolymer
Delrin 150 SA natural, standard general purpose, unfilled acetal. This grade has the best impact toughness of all unfilled Delrin products.
Delrin 100 -black this is the black equivalent to the 150 SA. It has the best toughness of any standard acetal. It is also UV stabilized
Delrin 550 SA natural, general purpose, unfilled acetal. This grade has the best machinability of all standard Delrins.
Delrin 507 black, this is the black equivalent to the 550 SA. It has the best machinability of all standard acetal grades. This grade has outstanding UV stabilization, even better than the 100 series black
Delrin 570, this grade has 15% or 20% glass fiber filler. It has much greater mechanical properties over unfilled acetals

I'm assuming the 570 is the best, but I think I may have just found the answer, there is no option when ordering, the natural is the 150 SA. I'm thinking about inquiring with the company about getting some of the 570 or 550 SA, but have went ahead and ordered some of the 150 SA.

Do you intend using it to make the entire stem or just the tenon?

You might want to look into using this: http://www.indplastic.com/index.cfm?id= ... &pageid=40
It's about 10% the cost of Delrin. I've made two stems from ABS, one of which I have fitted to one of my daily smokers. I'm very pleased with the mouth feel.

You don't want or need glass-filled. Just the standard black. I use McMaster, and don't suffer from quite so many choices.

As Frank pointed out, Absylux (ABS) makes a tenon that's easily as slick as Delrin. Plus, you can make your whole stem out of it, if you want.

And it sure would be a shame to spend all that money on a fancy metal lathe and still not be able to turn your own tenons.

You might want to look into using this: http://www.indplastic.com/index.cfm?id= ... &pageid=40
It's about 10% the cost of Delrin. I've made two stems from ABS, one of which I have fitted to one of my daily smokers. I'm very pleased with the mouth feel.[/quote]

Hi Frank, what size do buy?

Dane,
It depends on whether you're just going to make tenons with it or the entire stem. I bought 1" diameter. This pretty much allows me to make just about any size of stem.

Frank wrote:Dane,
It depends on whether you're just going to make tenons with it or the entire stem. I bought 1" diameter. This pretty much allows me to make just about any size of stem.

In what situations would you use it to only make the tenons?

Dane C wrote:In what situations would you use it to only make the tenons?

Some folks, like Kurt, who don't have a metal lathe (yet ) use delrin to make the tenon for the stem. I imagine it would also make a better tenon for acrylic stems, being less likely to crack/break. Instead of delrin, one could use ABS (Absylux), since it is almost as slick as delrin.

Dane C wrote:

Frank wrote:Dane,
It depends on whether you're just going to make tenons with it or the entire stem. I bought 1" diameter. This pretty much allows me to make just about any size of stem.

In what situations would you use it to only make the tenons?

In pretty much any situation. If you don't have a metal lathe, but do have wood lathe, you can use delrin rod for your tenons. I wrote up a procedure a while back on that:
viewtopic.php?t=1530

Actually the Delrin is cheaper if you order enough, there is the $20 line minimun, but once you buck the order up to 14 feet it comes up under $2 a foot, looked like the ABS was quite a bit more expensive. I am planning on making just the tennons from the Delrin and not the entire stems, it's quite flexible stuff and don't imagine it would bend very well. My order arrived this weekend but was working all weekend too, may get a chance to play with it this evening.