Difficulty finding *small* sheets (A4 size approx) of Formica or similar

[MM]

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

[tabbypurr]

Put 4 spacers in a frying pan. Put an HDPE bottletop between them. Heat gen tly 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 t o get 2 pieces, then remelt them stacked with glass (etc) fibres between.

NT

[Andy Burns]

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

[newshound]

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.

[Dave Liquorice]

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

[newshound]

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.

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).

[spuorgelgoog]

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

[charles]

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.

[jkn]

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

[Martin Brown]

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:

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.

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.

[nothanks]

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 ;-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

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.

[Andrew]

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

[Dave Liquorice]

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

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

[Andy Burns]

Some are

Don't think you could cut it though

[Theo]

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

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

[MM]

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

[MM]

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

[MM]

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

MM

[MM]

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

MM