Making thin slices of plastic rod

Norm- Try chucking the drilled rod in a drill press and cut it with your knife blade while spinning, lathe style.

Howard

Norm Dresner spake thus:

You described the technique yourself. I'm pretty sure that the rolling cut is the only way to do this reliably. I can tell you that this is one of those things you do get better at with practice. Why not set aside 20 min.-1/2 hour to just make a bunch of practice cuts? I was able to get pretty good, though I must admit I wasn't cutting hollow pieces as you are.

You have a good idea. But try using a single edge razor blade instead of X-Acto knife. Razor hasa much thinner blade.

How about a different method. Get yourself one of those modeling punch and die sets.

Then drill bunch of #75 holes in a strip of 0.016" styrene. Select a punch/die close to to 1/16". Slide the drilled plastic strip and center the #75 hole in the die. Punch it out. Repeat for the next one...

You will now have a nice 0.016" styrene disk with a #75 hole in the middle! Exactly what you're looking for.

:-)

Peteski

Yeah, I've thought about the razor blade but I didn't try it this time. I will the next, though.

Unfortunately the smallest punch I have been able to find (which I do have) is 1/8" which is twice the size I'd like

Norm

You hinted at the tool yourself - a lathe. I don't know how anyone can get along without one.

How are you drilling the hole in the 1/16" rod? That's a pretty common procedure with a lathe, although a small lathe would be nicer than a large one for the sizes you're working with.

Once you have a hole drilled you could reverse the drill in the tailstock chuck and shove the back end of the drill into the hole to give some stiffness to the workpiece. Run or turn the lathe by hand while holding a knife against the tube to cut off a slice. You could rig the knife to the carriage somehow to control the size of the slices.

I've used a similar technique to cut off thin slices of silicone rubber tube to use as gaskets.

Ahhh...

Much smaller punches are available (or were available). Search Google for 'waldron punch die set" (without the quotes) and see if you can find someone who has a set in stock. I just picked those up recently and I'm very happy with them.

Or as an alternative try

A lathe? That's one of two or three tools I've never convinced myself I couldn't live without.

How am I drilling the hole in the end of the rod? With a drill in a pin vise and a very steady hand! It's taken me years to develop the technique but I can typically get .1" deep into the rod with each pass and two or three passes makes a useful piece of tubing.

I suppose that if I had a lathe I could just chuck up commercial 1/32" tubing and slice off a chunk at a time -- but again the space that even a small metal-type lathe would take is desperately needed for other tools. For now I'm going to try the suggestion of faking it by putting a piece of the rod into the chuck of a drill (or Dremel) and make believe it's a lathe.

Thanks for the advice Norm

Norm Dresner spake thus:

You can do what I did, although better, if you just have a drill press, which is a really useful tool for other things too. What a guy would want to do is to drill a hole the size of the rod into a holder, say a block of hard wood. Then put a piece of rod in the hole, change drills, then drill the hole into the rod. The hole will be automatically centered, assuming the press is rigid enough. I did this with a jury-rigged setup I built myself, including rubber bands; a real drill press (even the Dremel jobbie you can buy) would do an even better job.

| > A lathe? That's one of two or three tools I've never convinced myself I | > couldn't live without. | >

| > How am I drilling the hole in the end of the rod? With a drill in a pin | > vise and a very steady hand! It's taken me years to develop the technique | > but I can typically get .1" deep into the rod with each pass and two or | > three passes makes a useful piece of tubing. | >

| > I suppose that if I had a lathe I could just chuck up commercial 1/32" | > tubing and slice off a chunk at a time -- but again the space that even a | > small metal-type lathe would take is desperately needed for other tools. | > For now I'm going to try the suggestion of faking it by putting a piece of | > the rod into the chuck of a drill (or Dremel) and make believe it's a lathe. | | You can do what I did, although better, if you just have a drill press, | which is a really useful tool for other things too. What a guy would | want to do is to drill a hole the size of the rod into a holder, say a | block of hard wood. Then put a piece of rod in the hole, change drills, | then drill the hole into the rod. The hole will be automatically | centered, assuming the press is rigid enough. I did this with a | jury-rigged setup I built myself, including rubber bands; a real drill | press (even the Dremel jobbie you can buy) would do an even better job.

Yeah. If I had to go beyond a few tenths of an inch at a time, I'd definitely want to try something like that. It's a neat technique. Thanks for sharing it. Norm

Norm, just a thought. I've been building some O scale sawmill machinery that uses a number of shafts made of .020 - .040 brass rod. I have used heat shrink for the same thing you're doing (if I understand you right) I slide a piece on the brass rod, shrink it and then use a single edge blade to cut off what I don't need. just a thought

Ken Day

| >Obviously a razor saw and miter box are not suitable for something of this | >scale. What other tools could I be using to fabricate these "washers"? | >

| >TIA | > Norm | Norm, just a thought. I've been building some O scale sawmill | machinery that uses a number of shafts made of .020 - .040 brass rod. | I have used heat shrink for the same thing you're doing (if I | understand you right) I slide a piece on the brass rod, shrink it and | then use a single edge blade to cut off what I don't need. | just a thought | | Ken Day

NEATO! Thanks for the wonderful idea -- I've got yards, if not miles of the stuff laying around.

Norm