In article , Existential Angst
wrote:

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On Mar 26, 3:19 pm, "Existential Angst" wrote:

fyi, the actual size of this particular slider is approx. 3/8 x 3/4, with
a
1/8x1/8 rabbet on each side (so the captured sliding part is 1/4 x 3/4),
with a 4.5" L

Any class of materials I should specifically avoid?

Idears, opinions?

I suppose I could test various materials, by buying or making something of
a
power hacksaw, and just let various materials reciprocate for a few days,
see what stuff looks like at the end. Hopefully I won't have to go that
route, tho.
--
EA

MSC sell UHMW poly in rectangular rods 3/8 inch by 3/4 inch by five
feet long for $6.86 . The price is from an outdated catalog. So it
is lkely to be a bit more than that. But not too much more as I
think the raw materail is natural gas. MSC also sells UHMW wear
strips in various extruded shapes. They also sell teflon wear
strips and rectangular rods, but the UHMW poly is much cheaper. The
fact that they sell UHMW poly wear stripn ought to give you a clue
that UHMW poly wears well.

MSC also sells UHMW poly tape made by 3M. But you might not like the
prices unless you are going to use a bunch. The rolls are 36 yards
long.
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Is there a way to tell what a plastic is, or at least its class?
I'm machining a hard-ish black plastic from a bunch of drops of a buddy of
mine, fairly expensive stuff, machines OK (not great, stringy pita, have to
drill holes .015 oversize to get "size"), BUT, it's 1,000% better than the
alum slider.
Don't know what it is, tho. I do like the black color, tho. Don't know if
that's a characteristic of a plastic, or just a dye.

I've got other stuff that feels "oilier", other blue stuff that feels a bit
denser. Have no way of telling what these are, tho.
With metals, you have grinding tests, density, scratch, bending, magnet
tests, chemical.... are there such for plastic?

Bring to a plastics house?? I've got an AIN not too far from me. My buddy
says they have someone over there who can identify most plastics. I may
have pcs of Blue Nylon 6 plate, and Black Nylon 66 plate. The black stuff
works fine, so far.

It sounds like delrin (acetal).

Joe Gwinn