Working with UHMW

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178
I just purchased a sheet of UHMW to replace the fence on my router table (the fence was MDF). I would like to hear from other people about their uses and experience of UHMW. Thank You.

DKT
 
Dietrich,

It's great stuff. Mills nicely, slick as anything. Best use I've found for it: router bit setups. One piece I have is dependably 3/4", good weather or bad. ;) I get the bit height *exactly* where I want it, and run a piece through. Makes for very repeatable setups...

Thanks,

Bill
 
i have it on my router table fence and works well and has held up well.. frank they use t bolts to hold in in place on mine. set up blocks fo rme are the scrap piece's that i made.. use then next time for the same setup.
 
I have wondered how those strips are glued to the fence. In my experience you can't glue UHMW no way, no how.

I use the wide UHMW "tape". It is very consistent in thickness and the results will be directly proportional to the flatness of the surface you mount it to. . . . ohhhh; big words :rofl:
 
Obviously, there IS AN ADHESIVE that will stick well to UHMW, or they couldn't make the UHMW Tape.:D With that said, A couple of yrs back, a woodworker on another Forum gave me the name of an adhesive that was specifically for gluing UHMW and said he bought it at their Sears Store, (of course, OUR Sears had never heard of it,:rolleyes: so I never found it, and now can't remember the name of it. Keep searching, 'cause there IS something out there that is made to work on that stuff, IF, you really need to glue it to something.:D In the meantime, get some UHMW Tape, like Glenn Said, 'cause "TAPE DON"T WARP" like solid UHMD will.:D
 
Frank, what applications are you using it for its insulation (electric conductivity) properties?

I made several rack panels for my home network / CATV 'home run" system. I wanted to have separate grounds for the different CATV and satellite systems I have.

I also like it for small jigs of course, I price cutting boards at the discount stores or buy from eBay or The Cutting Board Factory.

A while back I also used to do bread boarding of circuits and just leave them in place.
 

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Frank, your "home" rack panel is much more organized than what we have at work! I don't how our IT guys know what to switch around. Is that cable tray leading from your rack?! I am impressed.

I am also guessing that you have quite the open space there because of that steel beam I see.
 
I agree with Bill...that's an impressive rack, Frank.

The previous owner of our house was in the business of making and selling data cables. Here's what he left for us:

Phone Wiring - Attic 1 800.jpg

:p

BTW, I'll echo the comments about UMHW plastic being dimensionally stable. I use a piece of it as a 1" reference around the tablesaw. It's also very easy to machine with woodworking tools.
 
Thank you Bill and Vaughn. I will admit this is the first time anyone said to me "Nice Rack Frank" :rofl:

Bill, the steel beam is now buried under drywall, I took these pictures just before we finished the basement. The part of the cable tray in the picture is the center part of an old coffee table I made many years ago. I took it apart and re-purposed it to get from the steel cable trays to the rack. Waste not, want not.

Nice job from the former homeowner Vaughn! We bought our home new in 2004 and, while the cable installers did 'all right', I wanted more capacity than that 'rolled into the mortgage'. The home run panel supplied was far too small, so the best way to do it is to do it right. I have a minimum of two to four Cat5e and four RG6 (coax) drops in each room.

I ran the installed cable plant to two (Cat5e & Coax) feed through panels on the wall and then ran the cables via cable trays to my rack. I made panels for Cat5e, Network, RF, and Telephone so I can jumper any combination for any room. I also run my weather station in a PC in the rack and have included Network Attached Storage (NAS) of 1Tb as well as a Mirra Personal Server backup system. I also upload my weather to Weather Underground.

I have a wireless router, but rarely turn it on liking the security and speed of hard wire.
 
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I'll be looking for that UHMW glue. I have several 1"X8' rods of the stuff that was purchased for another project but didn't work out. Mebbe, with glue I can find something useful to do with it. Be OK for handles but I prefer the look and feel of wood.
 
There you go Frank. I drilled out the center of a rod and tapped it to 1" X 8 T.P.I. (my Jet Mini spindle size) and further drilled through the distal end to slip a bolt sized for a wine bottle stopper. By using plastic as my support for the stopper blank, I'm not worried about my skew "slipping" off the blank and hitting metal.
 
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