Modern Plastics Machining Service

For expert plastics and metal machining, Modern Plastics has over 60 years of experience. We can offer this service to you with speedy quoting and fast product turnaround, with assurances of a superior quality product. Our ISO certified company follow strict quality standards and our vast list of inspection equipment is certified and calibrated.

With access to our in-house inventory, we can also offer you a competitive advantage and perhaps significant cost savings. An abbreviated version of our equipment list includes:

• 2-Lathes
• 4-Presses
• 5-Millers
• 18-CNC Machines
• 2-Grinders
• 5-Screw Machines
• Various other machinery such as routers, CNC saws, sand blasters, cut-off saw, vapor and flame polishing equipment, buffers, forming ovens, automatic heat benders, etc.

For quotes, please call Dave A. Altieri at 800-243-9696, extension 207 or email your prints and specifications to daltieri@modernplastics.com

Machining Tips: How to Select the Right Coolant for Machining Plastics

Coolants are not generally required for most machining operations involving engineering thermoplastics. The two most common exceptions are drilling and part-off operations. Both involve more tool-part friction than milling and turning operations. Some highly filled, high performance materials, which are very hard by their nature, benefit from the use of coolants, but most general purpose materials such as UHMW, nylon, acetal and PTFE (Teflon) can be machined dry. This process makes part clean-up and handling easier. Examples of high performance materials that almost always require the use of coolants are Torlon PAI and Celazole PBI.

Sawing Tips: How to Improve Product Quality

Machinists often struggle with the first stage of the part making process, the saw cutting of a blank when working with engineering plastics. Although plastics are far softer than traditional metals (even the softer ones like aluminum), they can be far more challenging to cut into blanks without the right tooling and set-up. Whether you are using a band saw to cut a few dozen blanks or a CNC panel saw to cut hundreds of blanks, some basic considerations are required given the inherent differences between plastics and traditional metals.

Drilling Tips: How to Minimize Heat When Drilling Plastic

The thermal insulating characteristics of plastics requires one to take a few special precautions that are not as common when machining metals especially when hole depths are greater than twice the diameter. Excessive heat build-up at the drill-plastic interface is the enemy and should be minimized. The use of flood coolants, peck drilling and special "slow spiral" drills are all helpful in evacuating heat for the cutting interface. The proper selection of tooling, feed rate, RPM and coolant will enhance the surface finish and tolerances of IDs while prolonging the life of tooling.

How to Prevent Machined Parts from Warping

One of the more difficult aspects of machining plastic parts can be keeping them flat; especially when the final geometry is particularly asymmetric. We have chosen the words "can be" because there are some tell-tale signs that make certain parts a lot more troublesome than others and there are a number of adjustments to the machining sequence that can help one overcome the difficulties associated with keeping flat parts flat.