Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene

>>1154183
>I'm planning on heating it to give it a slight curve
Are you mounting it to something? Like making the radius and bolting it down?

>You can heat it, but heat it slowly or you'll discolor it
>It dulls blades a lot faster than wood
>Don't use a cut-off wheel without a guard and gloves. It melts and sprays all over.

When I use it for work it's usually as wear strips for moving machinery. We cut on a table saw and mechanically fasten it to the piece. We never had much luck heating it. Also it doesn't deal with UV real well and cracks develop over time, starting at the radius.
Sorry I can't help more, we have limited uses for the product where I work.

>>1154183
It doesn't take a lot of heat to melt, literally a couple of minutes in the oven under 200C and its quite bendy

>>1154200
Couple of flavours are UV resistant, majority arent

>>1154200
I'll be painting it so discoloration won't be a problem.
>Don't use a cut-off wheel without a guard and gloves. It melts and sprays all over.
Lots of plastics seem to do this. Thanks for the heads up.

>>1154211
>It doesn't take a lot of heat to melt, literally a couple of minutes in the oven under 200C and its quite bendy
Cool. How thick was the sheet that you have used. I'm planning on a 1/2 inch thick.

>>1154329
Yeah it was about half-inch, 10-12mm or so as I was experimenting with it and HDPE for knife handles.

Melting point is about 130-140C, so it really only takes about a minute or so to get its plasticity, what you don't want to do though is do it too often as it's hard on the polymers. Couple of times though is fine, do a couple of test pieces and see how it runs with that particular material and oven.
You could probably half-arse it with some gentle blowtorching, but I wouldn't!

>>1154328
just what paint are you expecting to stick to it well when exposed to sunlight?

>>1154328
>I'll be painting it so discoloration won't be a problem.
Uhhhh...
Might want to worry about getting that part to work in a few tests first because unless you're acid etching it first, aint nothin gonna stick.

>>1154578
If painting doesn't work, I can cover it with fabric. Aesthetics doesn't matter; only strength

>>1154328

>I'll be painting it

Good luck with that, its about as easy to paint as Teflon.

I did read somewhere that you could hit the surface with a torch as prep for the uhmw to accept paint.
It's just a matter of time though.
>If it sees the light of day, it will eventually fail/wear off

If you absolutely need to paint it make sure the surface is as rough as you can stand it to be.

The other anon is right; uhmw is only slightly easier to paint than Teflon.

File: IMG_20170328_114049.jpg (2MB, 3264x2448px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3264x2448px

>>1154183
I just ordered some to use for a body lift on my truck. I hear it gets brittle below 0, but I live in Alabama so that's not an issue. I have no idea how easy it is to work with. I'll put a thread up about it when I'm done.

>>1154183
>>1154329
>>1154402
It sounds more like you're making body armor than knife handles

>>1154619
Bbq>>1154619
Kek. 2nd this. I have tried it.

>>1155295
If he wears this as body armour he is just going to turn bullets into shrapnel bombs on his body.

>>1155548
UHMWPE can be a fine body armor. They use it all the time in cheaper ballistic vests and helmets

>>1154827
It's easy to machine hence its popularity. My machinistbro makes a fuckton of parts using it.

Use proper Grade 5 or better hardware on your body lift with large flat washers to spread the load and LOCKING nuts. I anti-seize all my body bolts even if I don't expect to remove them.