What is this material?

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

The first time I used a lathe was at school, 20 years ago, the material I used I don't know what it was.

It was black rod and had a polished finish, it cut like plastic, but the outside finish was patchy grey and black, almost like carbon fibre. When cut the bar was black, so the grey was just on the outside?

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

[Bill MullParticipant @billmull]

Glass impregnated Nylon perhaps?

I used it once to make some panel stand offs,and looked and machined like you describe.

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

No, I've used GF nylon in injection moulding. The scarf was long and soft, GF Nylon swarf would be brittle and hard I imagine.

The grey patches were around 10-20mm randomly but regularly spaced from memory

[John McNamaraParticipant @johnmcnamara74883]

Sounds Like Hard rubber?

Often patchy grey black

**LINK**

Regards
John

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Ebonite?

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Sounds like Ebonite, often used for knobs on electrical instruments.

Clive

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

Is that quote a rigid material?

The piece I used was 6 foot long x 1.25" diameter with not much flex along its length.

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

Could it have been black delrin. I have some bits that have a greyish mottled outer surface but are solid black when cut.

Doug

[Anna 1Participant @anna1]

Nylatron, maybe?

Anna

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Send me a couple of feet and i will confirm the item.

Clive

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by Anna 1 on 05/12/2015 10:25:11:

Nylatron, maybe?

Anna

Yes, sounds like Nylatron to me as well, it's common enough.

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

Posted by Douglas Johnston on 05/12/2015 10:10:11:

Could it have been black delrin. I have some bits that have a greyish mottled outer surface but are solid black when cut.

Doug

Could be, can you post a picture when you have a chance please.

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

Posted by Clive Hartland on 05/12/2015 10:32:10:

Send me a couple of feet and i will confirm the item.

Clive

Unfortunately it was around 20 years ago and I no longer have it.

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

Could be Nylatron, I'll have a better look later, thanks.

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

Here's a photo of a handle I made from a piece of Nylatron rod. As can be seen in the short upright piece, the mottling is not very deep.

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

Hi Chris- I would love to post a picture of the delrin but I have recently installed windows 10 and my old card reader has stopped working with the computer. Just had a good look at the delrin and the mottled surface appears to be extrusion marks on the surface and looks a bit similar to the nylatron picture but more banded.

Doug

[martyn nutlandParticipant @martynnutland79495]

Dear Chris

Did they really never tell you what it was you were machining? Bearing in mind schools don't normally have huge budgets for this sort of thing, it can't have been from a wide choice.

Let's see now… black, maybe grey, cuts like plastic? Something 'ny-lony' it has been suggested? Sort of thing they are making troll suits from these days, I imagine.

Best

Martyn

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

I don't know what the troll suit means?

Mr White didn't know what it was, I do remember him telling me that all the material they had was donated.

He seemed to trust me to do anything, I was the only student allowed to use his solder remover, also the only person allowed to use the Harrison lathe unsupervised, no idea why. Strangely I now have the same Harrison lathe in my workshop.

[Robert DoddsParticipant @robertdodds43397]

Chris,

Could it have been a black grade of Tufnol? There were black grades a few years ago and one or two stockist still offer some but it appears to be becoming obsolete

Bob D

[Chris DentonParticipant @chrisdenton53037]

I don't think it was Tufnol.

[VicParticipant @vic]

The overwhelming "feature" of Tufnol is the smell when you machine it.

[MalcBParticipant @malcb52554]

Sounds like Nylatron to me as well or ebonite as also mentioned.

There is also a slim possibility it could be glass filled Noryl as I have seen this in sheet and rod in the past along with for injection moulding.

[Author]

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