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Posted to rec.woodworking
Toller
 
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Default What kinda plastic do I have?!

The current American Woodworker has an article on making clear router
baseplates. And... I found a large sheet of 1/4" clear plastic at a garage
sale yesterday. So I decided to make a base.

The plastic cut, drilled, and routed very easily, with none of the
brittleness I associate with acrylic; so I figured it must be polycarbonate
(which I have not used before).

The article says to use either acrylic or polycarbonate, and to "flame
finish" it.
As soon as I touched it with the flame, it caught on fire! (actually I
tested it on a piece of scrap first, so nothing was lost...)

So what kinda plastic do I have? If acrylic and polycarb can be flame
finished, then I must have something different?