Lafayette Bruce ya shoulda warned me......

[brackish]

...but no, so I'll warn everyone else.  I decided to make my ladder treads out of UHMW.  First time I've worked with it so I started by blanking out the treads on my table saw.  All was going fine until I was cutting the fourth tread and the saw came to a grinding halt, locked up and kicked the breaker.  The blank wasn't bound up so I wasn't sure what happened.  Took the blank out, removed the table insert and found that the arbor, arbor pulley and the motor pulley and any other motion component in the saw was locked up with a plastic material that resembled steel wool.  So I spent most of the day taking my Unisaw apart to get all the stuff out of there.  Ended up with a beach ball size wad of stuff that was produced by making three and a half 12" long cuts on three inch stock.  See below:



Well at least I know what to expect and maybe I can protect the other machines.  Still have to run it through the shaper to get the bottom half round groove, drill press to get the half round ends, and the radial arm saw to get it to final length.  I hope the Admiral appreciates this sacrifice to help out her delicate feet.

[Lafayette Bruce]

Sorry I wasn't there for you.  Have you thought about making a pillow out of the shavings?
Lafayette Bruce

[brackish]

LOL, it would make a great pillow filling.

Well I'm through the drill press, radial arm saw and shaper and so far, no more disasters, despite the fact I'm knee deep in various chips from those machines.  Going to take them to the boat to check the rough fit before I finish them, chamfer the edges and smooth them out.  Wonder how this stuff will sand, or if it will. 

I think they will turn out nice.  Decided on the UHMW because the boat stays in the water most of the time and I didn't want to add more teak where I would have to refinish hanging over the transom.  Suspect this stuff is maintenance free.

[Tom L.]

Brackish, where did you get your stock? Is it very similar to star board? Hope you will post pictures of your work. I was thinking of using the plastic deck boards cut down to size available at Lowes or HD but I am afraid the material may not be strong enough. It's weather resistant for sure but its not very strong.

Tom L.

[brackish]

Brackish, where did you get your stock? Is it very similar to star board? Hope you will post pictures of your work. I was thinking of using the plastic deck boards cut down to size available at Lowes or HD but I am afraid the material may not be strong enough. It's weather resistant for sure but its not very strong.

Tom L.

I got my stock on Ebay.  There are always folks selling various sizes of left over shorts of UHMW, HDPE, Delrin/acetal, Polycarbonate, Acrylic and about every other type of plastic you may consider.  You just find one about the size you need and buy, usually cheap.

Yes, I'll post pics but you can go here and see what I'm aiming to end up with.  I'm copying the treads that Lafayette Bruce made and installed.

http://cpyoa.geekworkshosting.com/forum/index.php?topic=8141.msg60274#msg60274

I think Starboard is similar in chemistry to HDPE, probably cost less from Ebay without the brand name attached.