cutting nylon sheets or ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)

[jeffs55]

That UHMWPE is the stuff you see that is used to provide a nice slippery surface for things to slide on. I anticipate using it to make a table saw sled. The nylon or plastic or whatever I have is about 3/8 inches thick. It is a solid sheet. Can you cut this on a table saw or what is best? thanx

[Herman Trivilino]

I have this sheet of plastic that I think may be the same stuff.  It has a paper glued to one side, for protection I think.  Once the paper is removed it's closer to 5/16" thick.

You are supposed to use a special "triple chip" blade to cut this stuff.  I couldn't find one at the home centers.  Some sources say it's ok to use a 60-tooth carbide tipped blade, but I wasn't about to test that theory with my good saw blade.  I purchased a cheap plywood blade, and it works fine.

[Rob]

Ive cut that stuf many times and now I use an 80 tooth blade on the table saw which is brilliant (for any fine cut in fact).  In the old days before I had that expensive blade there are two approaches:

Firstly set the fence and then set blade height to about 1mm above the table.  Run the plastic through so you just score it with the low blade. To be ultra safe you could this on both sides.  Then raise blade height to just a hair above the surface of the plastic and finish the cut.

Second approach. Mark and set the fence, then use some decorators tape to tape over where the cut will be.  This helps to hold the edges from fraying and splintering.  Dont use duck tape as thats to thick and sticky, use that buff coloured decorators masking tape thats papery and tears easily.  That way you wont get any blade problems.

Hope that helps. Incidentally, you could also pre-score the cut line by hand with a sharp craft knife first but you'd have to press dam hard, thats why the mini score works well.

[jeffs55]

So far it is two different opinions as I see it. Is there any reason to NOT use a standard carbide toothed blade on this beatch? Further, it is anticipated that this material may well have to be machined to fit the various groove sizes on my table saw. This would require a mill, so is this stuff millable? thanx again

[Herman Trivilino]

The opinions don't differ in one regard.  We both recommend a blade with lots of small teeth.  Rob's carbide-tipped blade has 80 teeth and a plywood blade has even more.

I didn't take any of the precautions Rob described because I felt they weren't necessary.  I got clean cuts with no burning.  Even the saw dust was bright white.  It seems you could use either with success.

I have only two carbide tipped saw blades for my 10-inch table saw.  The 30-tooth that came with it and a 50-tooth that I bought for fine work.  I figured the 30-tooth isn't anywhere near fine enough for plastic, and I'm not sure the 50-tooth is, either.  As I said, I wasn't about to use my precious carbide tipped blade on plastic.  They are expensive to replace or have sharpened.