I've worked with 0.03" acetal and it's pretty brittle. Cuts and machines ok
but fold it close to 90 degrees and it splits into pieces. Tends to crack
when punching holes with simple arch-style metal punches. I'd hate to try
punching holes in 0.01" material. Anneals at about 320F in 30-60 minutes -
I coil 1" wide strips and stuff them inside 1.75" tubing and put that into a
toaster over. Turn on the timer for 60 minutes and set it for 320F and let
it go, it reaches temp in 10-15 minutes and soaks for 45 then cools, and I
get nice strips that fit tightly on the outside of 3" pipe as a decorative
color band.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames
"Martin Eastburn" wrote in message
...

Wonder if you could turn down a cylinder and then bore out the center -
then use a HSS cutoff tool to slice off washers.

Hum.

Martin

On 8/7/2011 7:18 PM, Rich Grise wrote:
DougC wrote:
On 8/7/2011 3:10 PM, Pilgrim wrote:
Rich wrote:
DougC wrote:

I need to make some spacers out of .01" acetal sheet. I've not worked
with it before.
...
Personally, I'd first look up the properties of "acetal," whatever the
heck that is.

Acetal is Delrin, basically. Which is pretty rigid in thicker pieces,
but thin film I dunno. My question is if it would crack/split when cut
with a die in a press or not.

Delrin machines like a dream, but I'd definitely rather machine it than
try to cut it with a die in a press. It wouldn't necessarily crack/split,
but the die wouldn't last for more than a few hundred, if it actually
cuts and doesn't just gorilla its way through the material.

Why not just try it, record the results, and report back? Some people
call that "science." :-)

Have Fun!
Rich