On Jan 24, 10:47*am, Steve Turner wrote:
Since we're searching for low cost sources (and having some success)
what about suppliers for sheets of phenolic for something less than the
price of gold? *I don't see why it should cost $25 to $50 to make a
silly zero-clearance table saw insert or a router plate.

There have been several occasions where I've gone into a public bathroom
and found that the stall walls were made of solid 1/2" or 3/4" phenolic
sheets; certainly others have seen this too? *There's no WAY these
sheets can cost anywhere near what the woodworking supply companies are
sticking us for router plate material; it would cost upwards of $5000
just to put a few stalls in a bathroom! *Any ideas?

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Most of the higher-end washroom I've seen use Corian, which is
absolutely beautiful stuff, if you can afford it. (Runs around $200
square foot for a 3/8" thick piece.)

I am looking into the possibility of carrying phenolic in my store
online, but only if I don't have to cut it. One of my suppliers for
the other materials has Phenolic cut-offs, but I don't know how much,
what size, yada, yada yet and I'm up to my ears in other stuff to do
right now.

I would suggest a really good alternative is Delrin, which I do
carry. It's rigid, as slippery as UHMW, and pretty easy to shape.

Another good alternative would by Nylon, although it's a bit more
difficult to work. You have to slow your saw down a bit and there's a
danger of chipping the material instead of cutting it, so use very
sharp bits, but it's within the range of workability for any home
shop. Oil-filled Nylons, like Nylon 6, Nylon GSM, are just about as
slippery as Phenolic.

A last alternative is Acrylic or Lexan. If you go to a thickness of
about 1/4", it's reasonably rigid, and cuts quite well ( especially
Lexan). You can usually find it fairly cheaply at any plastics supply
store ( I don't carry it for online sales because I can't get a
regular enough supply for my wholesale market yet, but I'm working on
it)