Thread: Home made Micarta......

Ok Fellas, I'm turning to you for some advice. I've always thought about making a solid block of Micarta to turn a brush handle out of, and last night I made an attempt. I cut so much freaking Linen, I wasn't about to count how many layers I had. I had 3" of material, and that's 3" with me pushing it down with my hand. I made a form, as you will see from the pics, soaked all the pieces and clamped it as hard as I could. I gave it the night to cure and took it out this morning to see that I only had 1 1/4" of material to work with. I couldn't believe I compressed all that down to 1 1/4".

My question to you guys is, do you think it's possible to add more material and epoxy to this existing blank, to get to the size I need. I was originally shooting for 2". After seeing it was not big enough, my initial thought was, oh well I'll just adhere a cool piece of wood or acrylic to the side of it to make up for the material I need.

Whatcha think guys?

Judging from my boatbuilding days there should be no reason you can't add more layers to what you have.

Just make sure that you get the surface you're adding to is really, really clean.

I'm with Pensacol Andrew.
I used to have to do laminate repairs in aviation. Assuming you clean the last surface, possibly rough it up a bit with sandpaper and wipe with acetone or solvent, safe to resume building layers. cloth direction, and weave had amazing strength, and flexibility depending on orientation and cloth materials used.
Vacuum bagging also is a great tool for laminates, if you have a pump.
Look forward to the results.

Ok, thanks fellas. I'm depressed because I think I need to make another form, and cut around the same amount of linen again...... Not even sure if this stuff will turn well on my lathe. Sure hope I don't invest too much into this project.

Again, thanks for the advice guys.

Can you just cut that piece in half and put the two pieces together?

With paper epoxy micarta, I find the finish thickness to be really close to the paper thickness X N. In other words 12 pieces of .007" paper yields a finished sheet ~ .084" thick. Even though the loose stacked paper would be much thicker.

It has been my experience that we learn a lot from what we throw out. I think there is a great projects ahead for you!

Originally Posted by bluesman7

Can you just cut that piece in half and put the two pieces together?

With paper epoxy micarta, I find the finish thickness to be really close to the paper thickness X N. In other words 12 pieces of .007" paper yields a finished sheet ~ .084" thick. Even though the loose stacked paper would be much thicker.

Hey, you may have something here. I have some cold cure epoxy that would sure ho the 2 pieces together. Maybe the solution I need and is what I'll do. Thanks for the easy fix idea!

Originally Posted by RezDog

It has been my experience that we learn a lot from what we throw out. I think there is a great projects ahead for you!

Trial and error is always a rough path, but I find in the end is very rewarding. You experience the problems first hand and know what not to do in the future.

I love you guys! Hugs to everyone.

If you are making small repetitive cuts in fabric, a sharp paper cutter will crank them out, the rotary type cutters work well, but a sharp, (strop the blade with a paint stick coated with Chrome Oxide) guillotine cutter will work for pieces under 12 inches, make sure it is well adjusted.

If you are doing a lot of cutting, find a commercial fabric cutter, most large cities have a garment district. If you lay it out for them, they can make a straight cut up to about 6 inches thick in seconds. A couple buck or some beers would probably make a good trade. You can buy used cutting machines pretty cheap, $50 or so, if you get into production, kind of like a hand held jig saw in reverse with a sharp blade in place of a short toothed one.

I think a vacuum bag with a spacer in your block jig would work well.