I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 11:18:20 UTC+1, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

Put 4 spacers in a frying pan. Put an HDPE bottletop between them. Heat gently until molten. Put a flat surfaced weight onto the gloop, resting on the nuts. Wait until cold. If you need more strength you could do this twice to get 2 pieces, then remelt them stacked with glass (etc) fibres between.


NT

MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

What about several strips of the 2" wide edging tape?

On 15/07/2020 11:18, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

Contiboard facing is not going to be hard enough. Although not so common
now, you used to be able to get chopping boards about 6mm thick with
melamine facings. (You might find one for a pound in a charity shop).
You could just about cut a 50mm square into two thinner pieces with a
hacksaw, then sand down the back face to the thickness required.

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 11:18:13 +0100, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

As a hard surface for alignment or wear resistance? Brass would have
been used in the past. Brass sheet is fairly easy to come by in small
sizes, can probably be cut to the size you want by the supplier.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard.

I think you'll find that the face covering on contiboard is very
thin, certainly not a formica type surface. Edging strip has been
suggested.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 15/07/2020 12:13, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 11:18:13 +0100, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

As a hard surface for alignment or wear resistance? Brass would have
been used in the past. Brass sheet is fairly easy to come by in small
sizes, can probably be cut to the size you want by the supplier.

I'd wondered about brass sheet too. The other stuff that is quite
impressive (and about the right thickness) is the glass sheets sold to
go on mobile phones, although you would have to figure out how to cut it
to size.


I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard.

I think you'll find that the face covering on contiboard is very
thin, certainly not a formica type surface. Edging strip has been
suggested.

Indeed. The iron-on type edging stuff isn't tough, but the stuff sold
for kitchen worktops might well do the job. I may even still have a bit
in my workshop (although I have a nasty feeling I just cleared it out).

On 15/07/2020 11:18, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

look for paxolin/phenolic resin (Tufnol) /epoxy glass or epoxy carbon
fibre board

--
Labour - a bunch of rich people convincing poor people to vote for rich
people by telling poor people that "other" rich people are the reason
they are poor.

Peter Thompson

On 15/07/2020 12:41, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 15/07/2020 11:18, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

look for paxolin/phenolic resin (Tufnol) /epoxy glass or epoxy carbon
fibre board

Good thinking, this one is not too bad

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/fr4-epox...___store=en_us

On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 11:18:20 UTC+1, MM wrote:
So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

If you really need only that small size, try asking the suppliers of the big sheets if they have a sample or offcut available.

Owain

In article ,
newshound wrote:
On 15/07/2020 12:13, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 11:18:13 +0100, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

As a hard surface for alignment or wear resistance? Brass would have
been used in the past. Brass sheet is fairly easy to come by in small
sizes, can probably be cut to the size you want by the supplier.

I'd wondered about brass sheet too. The other stuff that is quite
impressive (and about the right thickness) is the glass sheets sold to
go on mobile phones, although you would have to figure out how to cut it
to size.


when I used to use metal type for printing, I went to a glass merchant and
bought a piece of 1/4 inch glass about 6 inches square. I even got the
sides smoothed on one of their machines.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

On Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 11:18:20 AM UTC+1, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

FR4 single-sided PCB offcuts? probably a lot cheaper than Tufnol. eBay,
probably.

On 15/07/2020 11:18, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

Try again with the keyword "offcuts". I used to get such bits and pieces
from a signmaker for shop fitting. He almost always had model making
sized offcuts of about what I wanted. The bits left over after cutting
out large letters for sho front signs. I have done the same on eBay to
find stock bar offcuts just big enough to make things on the lathe.

The other place that might have A4 pieces of plastic sheet is Fred
Aldous who now have an online shop as well as premises in Manchester:

https://www.fredaldous.co.uk

He certainly has perspex and polystyrene sheet for scratch model makers.
Failing that try your local hackspace they often have the big sheets as
a shared resource and the means to cut smaller pieces off them easily.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

Typically people want to cover table sized objects so your best chance
is finding someone with an offcut the right width for what you want.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On 15/07/2020 11:26, wrote:
On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 11:18:20 UTC+1, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

Put 4 spacers in a frying pan. Put an HDPE bottletop between them. Heat gently until molten. Put a flat surfaced weight onto the gloop, resting on the nuts. Wait until cold. If you need more strength you could do this twice to get 2 pieces, then remelt them stacked with glass (etc) fibres between.


NT

That suggestion should win a prize for "out of the box" thinking! I've
no idea whether it would work, but I'll stash it away in the memory just
in case ;-)

In article ,
MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

Would fibreglass PCB board do? That is pretty strong and available in lots
of sizes, so less waste. You can get it with or without the copper for the
tracks.

--
*The average person falls asleep in seven minutes *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 15/07/2020 11:18, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM


Nip into Dunelm or Range and buy a ?melamine tray, and cut the
rolled-up edges off.

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 12:26:08 +0100, newshound wrote:

The other stuff that is quite impressive (and about the right thickness)
is the glass sheets sold to go on mobile phones, although you would have
to figure out how to cut it to size.

Screen protectors? Not glass AFAIK probably PET. PET is used for some
food packaging some of which have large flat areas.

I may even still have a bit in my workshop (although I have a nasty
feeling I just cleared it out).

"clear out" wash your mouth out. Clear out indeed, digusting langauge
for a DIY group.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:

newshound wrote:

The other stuff that is quite impressive (and about the right thickness)
is the glass sheets sold to go on mobile phones, although you would have
to figure out how to cut it to size.

Screen protectors? Not glass AFAIK

Some are

https://www.replacebase.co.uk/tempered-toughened-real-glass-protector-with-oleophobic-coating-0-3mm-lg-nexus-5

Don't think you could cut it though

MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

I don't quite follow - what properties does it need? Is this about
flatness/rigidity, or about resistance to tools?

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

Polycarbonate is quite rigid and robust, although can fracture if hit at the
wrong angle. An old CD case, or maybe the CD itself? CDs are pretty
indestructible, although maybe thicker than you want.

If you want it to be clear, there are people selling polycarbonate sheet cut
to size on ebay. Search 'polycarbonate micron' for the thin pieces.

Theo

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 13:07:32 +0100, charles
wrote:

In article ,
newshound wrote:
On 15/07/2020 12:13, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 11:18:13 +0100, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

As a hard surface for alignment or wear resistance? Brass would have
been used in the past. Brass sheet is fairly easy to come by in small
sizes, can probably be cut to the size you want by the supplier.

I'd wondered about brass sheet too. The other stuff that is quite
impressive (and about the right thickness) is the glass sheets sold to
go on mobile phones, although you would have to figure out how to cut it
to size.


when I used to use metal type for printing, I went to a glass merchant and
bought a piece of 1/4 inch glass about 6 inches square. I even got the
sides smoothed on one of their machines.

The glass route is too thick. I have a neodymium magnet embedded in
the 50mm x 50mm timber block, it's purpose being a magnetic saw guide.

The end face is covered with a 3mm thick piece of birch plywood, glued
on with PVA wood glue. I want the 0.5mm - 0.8mm layer of Formica to
protect the birch plywood from the saw.

Ideally, I'd attach the Formica layer with some kind of mount glue
that keeps it in place,but readily lets the Formica be separated from
the wood block in order to replace it with a new piece if and when the
Formica gets badly scuffed. The strong magnet is powerful enough to
pull the tenon saw against the surface and it works very well to cut a
piece of wood dead square, but a 1/4" piece of glass might reduce the
magnetic effect considerably.

I'm getting a new Japanese pull saw on Saturday and this may cause
less side-scuffing. At the moment I'm using a tenon saw.

MM

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 05:12:15 -0700 (PDT), jkn
wrote:

On Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 11:18:20 AM UTC+1, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

FR4 single-sided PCB offcuts? probably a lot cheaper than Tufnol. eBay,
probably.

Ah, now THAT's a good idea! Shame Maplins closed down. But I still
have several pieces of such board without the copper strips, just with
holes, but the holes wouldn't matter, and yes, that stuff is h-a-r-d.
It's obviously easy to get hold of.

MM

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 14:29:10 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

Would fibreglass PCB board do? That is pretty strong and available in lots
of sizes, so less waste. You can get it with or without the copper for the
tracks.

Yep, poster jkn above had the same idea. It's a good'un! See my reply
from a few minutes ago.

MM

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 14:36:40 +0100, Andrew
wrote:

On 15/07/2020 11:18, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM


Nip into Dunelm or Range and buy a ?melamine tray, and cut the
rolled-up edges off.

Also, ~quite~ a good idea, except that such a tray is likely going to
be too thick, more like 3mm.

MM

MM wrote:

Andrew wrote:

Nip into Dunelm or Range and buy a ?melamine tray, and cut the
rolled-up edges off.

Also, ~quite~ a good idea, except that such a tray is likely going to
be too thick, more like 3mm.

set your magnet into the back of the tray? You can get "slippy" HDPE
cutting boards pretty cheap, might suit the job?

On 15 Jul 2020 15:23:49 +0100 (BST), Theo
wrote:

MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

I don't quite follow - what properties does it need? Is this about
flatness/rigidity, or about resistance to tools?

It has to be flat and it has to resist wear from a tenon saw or
Japanese pull saw. And my kitchen worktop has withstood 16 years of
wear and tear (albeit not with saws!) and is barely marked. So I
reckoned that that's the material to use. Just the thin hard plastic
coating.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

Polycarbonate is quite rigid and robust, although can fracture if hit at the
wrong angle. An old CD case, or maybe the CD itself? CDs are pretty
indestructible, although maybe thicker than you want.

I thought of that, but I don't think the plastic of a typical CD case
is very hard. I could experiment a bit, as I have many such old CD
cases I can sacrifice.

If you want it to be clear, there are people selling polycarbonate sheet cut
to size on ebay. Search 'polycarbonate micron' for the thin pieces.

I searched what you suggested and found several suppliers. But just
how hard is polycarbonate sheet? My guess is not nearly as hard as the
surface of a kitchen worktop, which would typically be Formica.

Another idea I had was to buy the end strips for finishing the cut
ends of worktops.They are usually only about 40mm wide, but I could
glue two pieces side by side.

MM

On 15/07/2020 11:18:13, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

To my knowledge formic is pressed resin impregnated paper. Although the
surface may be something more?

The closest I can think of is FR4, which is pressed resin impregnated
fibreglass.

Try eBay. One hit:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FR4-G10-E...g/133459131901

There are others

On 15/07/2020 15:10, Andy Burns wrote:
Dave Liquorice wrote:

newshound wrote:

The other stuff that is quite impressive (and about the right thickness)
is the glass sheets sold to go on mobile phones, although you would have
to figure out how to cut it to size.

Screen protectors? Not glass AFAIK

Some are

https://www.replacebase.co.uk/tempered-toughened-real-glass-protector-with-oleophobic-coating-0-3mm-lg-nexus-5


Don't think you could cut it though

They are not toughened or laminated, though. They crack just like
"ordinary" glass so in principle they should score and snap.
Alternatively I wondered if it would be possible to stick it down to an
oversized piece of wood, then slit the glass with an abrasive disk in a
dremel, and then cut/sand the wood back to size.

On 15/07/2020 16:56, MM wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 13:07:32 +0100, charles
wrote:

In article ,
newshound wrote:
On 15/07/2020 12:13, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 11:18:13 +0100, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

As a hard surface for alignment or wear resistance? Brass would have
been used in the past. Brass sheet is fairly easy to come by in small
sizes, can probably be cut to the size you want by the supplier.

I'd wondered about brass sheet too. The other stuff that is quite
impressive (and about the right thickness) is the glass sheets sold to
go on mobile phones, although you would have to figure out how to cut it
to size.


when I used to use metal type for printing, I went to a glass merchant and
bought a piece of 1/4 inch glass about 6 inches square. I even got the
sides smoothed on one of their machines.

The glass route is too thick. I have a neodymium magnet embedded in
the 50mm x 50mm timber block, it's purpose being a magnetic saw guide.

The end face is covered with a 3mm thick piece of birch plywood, glued
on with PVA wood glue. I want the 0.5mm - 0.8mm layer of Formica to
protect the birch plywood from the saw.

Ideally, I'd attach the Formica layer with some kind of mount glue
that keeps it in place,but readily lets the Formica be separated from
the wood block in order to replace it with a new piece if and when the
Formica gets badly scuffed. The strong magnet is powerful enough to
pull the tenon saw against the surface and it works very well to cut a
piece of wood dead square, but a 1/4" piece of glass might reduce the
magnetic effect considerably.

I'm getting a new Japanese pull saw on Saturday and this may cause
less side-scuffing. At the moment I'm using a tenon saw.

MM

Could you make the saw guide out of a piece of kitchen worktop, with the
magnet sunk into the back of the worktop?


(BTW Japanese pull saws are the dog's danglies. I've been using a
Dozuki, a flush cut and a something else (forget the name) for years and
would not go back to a push saw for relatively fine work. The only minor
downside is that the dust gets pulled onto your line, there's a puffer
handle to get over this but I haven't bothered.)

No it will just end up looking like wrinkled skin.
I'd have thought you need an offcut. In them old days shops used to sell
them in racks.
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"MM" wrote in message
...
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

Blimey... Is it worth it?

Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 11:18:20 UTC+1, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

Put 4 spacers in a frying pan. Put an HDPE bottletop between them. Heat
gently until molten. Put a flat surfaced weight onto the gloop, resting on
the nuts. Wait until cold. If you need more strength you could do this twice
to get 2 pieces, then remelt them stacked with glass (etc) fibres between.


NT

On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 11:18:20 UTC+1, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

How about simply putting a layer of epoxy on the top? There are at least several YouTube videos of people achieving glass-like smoothness by doing so and blasting with a blowtorch while wet.

I have never done it but it appears to be straightforward.

(I prefer to avoid epoxy because of its potential impact as an endocrine disruptor - but that is my choice.)

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 21:55:40 +0100, wrote:

On 15/07/2020 16:56, MM wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 13:07:32 +0100, charles
wrote:

In article ,
newshound wrote:
On 15/07/2020 12:13, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 11:18:13 +0100, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

As a hard surface for alignment or wear resistance? Brass would have
been used in the past. Brass sheet is fairly easy to come by in small
sizes, can probably be cut to the size you want by the supplier.

I'd wondered about brass sheet too. The other stuff that is quite
impressive (and about the right thickness) is the glass sheets sold to
go on mobile phones, although you would have to figure out how to cut it
to size.


when I used to use metal type for printing, I went to a glass merchant and
bought a piece of 1/4 inch glass about 6 inches square. I even got the
sides smoothed on one of their machines.

The glass route is too thick. I have a neodymium magnet embedded in
the 50mm x 50mm timber block, it's purpose being a magnetic saw guide.

The end face is covered with a 3mm thick piece of birch plywood, glued
on with PVA wood glue. I want the 0.5mm - 0.8mm layer of Formica to
protect the birch plywood from the saw.

Ideally, I'd attach the Formica layer with some kind of mount glue
that keeps it in place,but readily lets the Formica be separated from
the wood block in order to replace it with a new piece if and when the
Formica gets badly scuffed. The strong magnet is powerful enough to
pull the tenon saw against the surface and it works very well to cut a
piece of wood dead square, but a 1/4" piece of glass might reduce the
magnetic effect considerably.

I'm getting a new Japanese pull saw on Saturday and this may cause
less side-scuffing. At the moment I'm using a tenon saw.

MM

Could you make the saw guide out of a piece of kitchen worktop, with the
magnet sunk into the back of the worktop?

Interesting idea.

(BTW Japanese pull saws are the dog's danglies. I've been using a
Dozuki, a flush cut and a something else (forget the name) for years and
would not go back to a push saw for relatively fine work. The only minor
downside is that the dust gets pulled onto your line, there's a puffer
handle to get over this but I haven't bothered.)

I wonder how long it will take to get used to sawing while pulling
versus pushing. The YouTube videos I've watched certainly demonstrate
a lot of enthusiam for Japanese saws.

MM

On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 17:07:24 +0100, Andy Burns
wrote:

MM wrote:

Andrew wrote:

Nip into Dunelm or Range and buy a ?melamine tray, and cut the
rolled-up edges off.

Also, ~quite~ a good idea, except that such a tray is likely going to
be too thick, more like 3mm.

set your magnet into the back of the tray? You can get "slippy" HDPE
cutting boards pretty cheap, might suit the job?

Are you talking about the kind of very thin cutting mats I use in my
domestic kitchen? I have plenty of those in several colours. I get
them from Morrisons. But what does the designation "slippy" signify
here?

MM

MM wrote:

Are you talking about the kind of very thin cutting mats I use in my
domestic kitchen? I have plenty of those in several colours. I get
them from Morrisons. But what does the designation "slippy" signify
here?

about 5-6mm thick, slippy as in HDPE being a waxy/low friction plastic,
ok it's not quite UHMW as often used for jigs, but probably good enough
for sawing against, especially as you can set the magnet(s) into it to
be close to the other surface (you'd need a flat endmill drill bit to
avoid breaking through)

In article ,
MM wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 05:12:15 -0700 (PDT), jkn
wrote:

On Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 11:18:20 AM UTC+1, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

FR4 single-sided PCB offcuts? probably a lot cheaper than Tufnol. eBay,
probably.

Ah, now THAT's a good idea! Shame Maplins closed down. But I still
have several pieces of such board without the copper strips, just with
holes, but the holes wouldn't matter, and yes, that stuff is h-a-r-d.
It's obviously easy to get hold of.

You'll find it in various sizes, no holes or copper, on Ebay.

--
Is the hardness of the butter proportional to the softness of the bread?*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 14:27:32 UTC+1, wrote:
On 15/07/2020 11:26, tabbypurr wrote:
On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 11:18:20 UTC+1, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

Put 4 spacers in a frying pan. Put an HDPE bottletop between them. Heat gently until molten. Put a flat surfaced weight onto the gloop, resting on the nuts. Wait until cold. If you need more strength you could do this twice to get 2 pieces, then remelt them stacked with glass (etc) fibres between.

On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 16:56:48 UTC+1, MM wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 13:07:32 +0100, charles
wrote:

In article ,
newshound wrote:
On 15/07/2020 12:13, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Wed, 15 Jul 2020 11:18:13 +0100, MM wrote:

I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

As a hard surface for alignment or wear resistance? Brass would have
been used in the past. Brass sheet is fairly easy to come by in small
sizes, can probably be cut to the size you want by the supplier.

I'd wondered about brass sheet too. The other stuff that is quite
impressive (and about the right thickness) is the glass sheets sold to
go on mobile phones, although you would have to figure out how to cut it
to size.


when I used to use metal type for printing, I went to a glass merchant and
bought a piece of 1/4 inch glass about 6 inches square. I even got the
sides smoothed on one of their machines.

The glass route is too thick. I have a neodymium magnet embedded in
the 50mm x 50mm timber block, it's purpose being a magnetic saw guide.

The end face is covered with a 3mm thick piece of birch plywood, glued
on with PVA wood glue. I want the 0.5mm - 0.8mm layer of Formica to
protect the birch plywood from the saw.

Ideally, I'd attach the Formica layer with some kind of mount glue
that keeps it in place,but readily lets the Formica be separated from
the wood block in order to replace it with a new piece if and when the
Formica gets badly scuffed. The strong magnet is powerful enough to
pull the tenon saw against the surface and it works very well to cut a
piece of wood dead square, but a 1/4" piece of glass might reduce the
magnetic effect considerably.

I'm getting a new Japanese pull saw on Saturday and this may cause
less side-scuffing. At the moment I'm using a tenon saw.

MM

In that case get a couple of thin sheets of bendy thin card, smear very thinly with epoxy and weight while it sets. If you need it dead flat, put it on polythene on glass. You get something fairly similar to FR3 PCB.


NT

On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 17:14:33 UTC+1, MM wrote:
On 15 Jul 2020 15:23:49 +0100 (BST), Theo
wrote:

MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

I don't quite follow - what properties does it need? Is this about
flatness/rigidity, or about resistance to tools?

It has to be flat and it has to resist wear from a tenon saw or
Japanese pull saw. And my kitchen worktop has withstood 16 years of
wear and tear (albeit not with saws!) and is barely marked. So I
reckoned that that's the material to use. Just the thin hard plastic
coating.

Ah. Formica, worktops, plastics, FR3-ish, none will offer any significant resistance to sawblade wear. Spring steel does.


NT

On Thu, 16 Jul 2020 11:45:21 +0100, Andy Burns
wrote:

MM wrote:

Are you talking about the kind of very thin cutting mats I use in my
domestic kitchen? I have plenty of those in several colours. I get
them from Morrisons. But what does the designation "slippy" signify
here?

about 5-6mm thick, slippy as in HDPE being a waxy/low friction plastic,
ok it's not quite UHMW as often used for jigs, but probably good enough
for sawing against, especially as you can set the magnet(s) into it to
be close to the other surface (you'd need a flat endmill drill bit to
avoid breaking through)

Oh, the hard plastic cutting mats I buy from Morrisons kitchen
department are only about 1mm thick. These are exactly they:

https://groceries.morrisons.com/prod...mats-389060011

MM

On Thu, 16 Jul 2020 09:34:58 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Wednesday, 15 July 2020 17:14:33 UTC+1, MM wrote:
On 15 Jul 2020 15:23:49 +0100 (BST), Theo
wrote:

MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

I don't quite follow - what properties does it need? Is this about
flatness/rigidity, or about resistance to tools?

It has to be flat and it has to resist wear from a tenon saw or
Japanese pull saw. And my kitchen worktop has withstood 16 years of
wear and tear (albeit not with saws!) and is barely marked. So I
reckoned that that's the material to use. Just the thin hard plastic
coating.

Ah. Formica, worktops, plastics, FR3-ish, none will offer any significant resistance to sawblade wear. Spring steel does.

Maybe, but if I attach the "face protector" slip using e.g. spray
mount, I could replace it with a new piece when it gets scuffed.

MM

On 15/07/2020 11:18, MM wrote:
I need thin (0.5mm), very hard plastic sheet (Formica, Melamine etc)
for covering a capentry wood cutting jig.

So far I've searched on Amazon and eBay, but have found very little
*small* sheets. Nearly all such sheet material comes in large sizes. I
only need a piece approximately 50mm square.

I even thought of buying a length of white Contiboard and sawing with
a hacksaw just under the surface so as to separate the plastic from
the chipboard. Another idea would be to immerse a piece in water for
24 hours, which should soften the chipboard considerably, perhaps only
needing a craft knife to separate the plastic from the chipboard.

MM

I had about a dozen pieces of such surface coverings, each with a
different pattern and about 2"x3" with a hole punched in the corner and
held together with a small chain.

Samples from a kitchen unit supplier, like this...

https://www.worktop-express.co.uk/ki...orktop-samples

Or type "Formica sample" into ebay...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAMPLE-Fo...AOSw09ZeOe1 r

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GALACTIC-...AOSwDRxbZZU E

Incidentally, 'Formica' was originally developed as a replacement for mica.

--
Cheers
Clive