DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2011-11-14, Searcher7 wrote:
I was wondering if it was common to use powered metalworking tools on
plastic.(Nylon, Delrin, ABS, UHMW, PVC, etc.).

Yes.

I assume that as long as melting your way through the stock is not an
issue then it is ok.

Note that some materials will pinch down on a drilled hole, and
otherwise make things more difficult. The main trick is to use *very*
sharp tooling and tune the speed just right. Too fast and you will

I'm not a machinist by any measure, but I found that on a tiny lathe with
UMHW, just using the back of a 1/4" HSS cutter blank slighly sharpened to
the 15 degree angle they come at worked the best for what I was doing.
This left left a perfect finish on the plastic and the chip or whatever.

sharp pointed cutting surfaces left grooves and tended to pull the
material into the cutter. I made some tools that were curved, like a spoon
and they still didn't work at nice as the end of a blank. I was just
turning some rods down in diameter and facing off the ends.