Strong insulating (electrical) sheet material.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I need to find a substitute for aluminium plate which doesn't conduct electricity. Thin ply would probably be strong enough, but would prefer something a bit easier to work, and the fixing holes would be rather close to the edge for ply.

Something like a few layers of the glass fibre used for decent PCBs would be good - or sheet of that about 5mm thick.

Size needed about 3x2" so small. Load less than a kilo, but supported at one end only, so a fair twisting moment on it.

Anything I could pop along to a shed and buy?

[Martin Brown]

At 5mm thickness and that sort of size cadging an offcut of Perspex from your local shop sign makers would be one possibility.

[nothanks]

Get yourself some fibreglass mat and resin. Place a weight on top while curing (use cling film to stop it sticking to everything) to make sure it's flat. You can make it any thickness/size you like. Laminate it with something (aero ply or plastic worktop laminate) to make it stiffer.

Alternatively, polycarbonate sheet might be OK.

[newshound]

The devil is in the detail so more info would help.

Perspex is a bit brittle. Nylon is tougher but may "creep" if the load is continous. How much does that matter?

My material of choice would be tufnol

A buy it now of this

gives you 5cm x 5cm x 6mm for £3 but he can do you 8 cm x 5.4 cm x 6mm

[tabbypurr]

Acrylic, PVC, hardwood, ply, glass, layers of card plus a thin smear of epoxy between each (very strong), FR4 PCB, random plastic from bin, etc.

NT

[Robin]

no-name plastic chopping board (and no need to travel further than your nearest discount shop)?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Tufnol. The name I couldn't remember, thanks. Was hoping I could pop out and pick some up today, though.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not sure we have one of those anymore. Plenty of sheds close.

[GB]

Can you buy Kevlar sheet?

[John Rumm]

Perhaps a thin cutting board from a cooking shop?

[Bill]

In message [e-mail]>, newshound [e-mail]> writes

In my garden shed here, I have a DBX card mounted on "perspex" to adapt it to a 19" rack while keeping it insulated. The perspex (whatever it actually is) has indeed shattered.

I always liked American valve guitar amps that used what looked like vulcanised cardboard as the "chassis". Perhaps cut up an old suitcase?

[Bill Wright]

Buy some cheap sandwich boxes from Range and cut the bottoms out.

Bill

[TimW]

white UPVC for soffits and the like might do? Often 6mm thick I think. TW

[The Natural Philosopher]

paxolin is available in 4mm thickness

Or epoxcy glass..

[newshound]

Of course. eBay is your friend.

One of the nice things about tufnol is that you can drill and tap it, which is useful in some applications like this. It's used in industrial switchgear, IIRC. So it might let you make a more compact structure than using nuts and bolts to attach the "electrical" bits. Obviously, only quite small bolts in 5 mm thickness.

But for "I need it today" I reckon the chopping board is the answer. Either the thermoplastic sort, or the older rigid melamine laminates. In fact they probably come close to tufnol in mechanical properties.

[FMurtz]

We used to use , ttp://

[FMurtz]

OOPS

[John Rumm]

Often double wall with an air gap... which might or might not be good depending on the application.

[Rob Morley]

That's just off-brand Tufnol.