Palram PALSU - Manual (Page 27)

PALSUN® Technical Guide
27
Routing
A versatile technique, enabling diversity of edge fabrications and trimming of PALSUN sheets, notably for parts too large or of irregular
shape for a band saw. With sharp two-flute straight cutters, this technique can produce very smooth edges.
ƒ The feed rate should be slow, to avoid excessive heat buildup and shattering.
ƒ As a safety measure, when routing, always guide the sheet with a suitable jig.
ƒ A jet of compressed air can be used to cool the bit and the sheet at the spot of cutting and assist in chip removal.
Static bench routers: Fast, strong and stable, for complex and accurate straight-line fabrications.
Portable routers: Less powerful, for smaller or on site jobs. Also used for trimming and edge fabrications of irregular shapes.
Can perform certain small milling jobs like butt shaping on rectangular or round apertures or tongue and groove butt finish
on thicker sheets.
Applications - Primary Edge Finishing
ƒ Quick and accurate trimming or finishing of straight-edged or curved cut PALSUN sheets.
ƒ Easily produced straightedge corners or curved butts.
ƒ Preparation of varied lap and butt joint fabrications.
Applications - Tooling
ƒ Routers: Universal, commercially available equipment.
ƒ Routing cutters: new metalworking cutters, kept at utmost sharpness.
Recommended Band Saw blade Properties
Property Units Value
Clearance angle 5 - 10°
Rake angle 0 - 10°
Router speed - w/o load rpm 15,000 - 22,000
Cutting speed m/min. (ft./min.) 100 - 500 (330 - 1640)
Feed rate mm/rev. (inch/rev.) 0.1 - 0.5 (0.004 - 0.07)
Routing and milling tips For clean, smooth routing work ensure cutter’s sharpness and faultless alignment before starting work.
Compressed air jet cooling following the cutting head improves the culter’s speed, cut quality and blows the swarf away. Let
the tool reach its maximum (unloaded) operating speed before commencing work.
Milling & Joining
A portable router, with suitable cutters, can be used for small milling jobs.
A standard woodworking jointer-planer, preferably with carbide or high-speed blades/cutters, can be used for trimming, resulting
in a good quality edge finish.
Avoid excessive stock removal, which may result in shattering or rough edges. A cut of 0.4 mm (0.016 in.) or less per pass is
recommended.
Finishing Recommendations for Well Done Sawing and Cutting
Unintended saw marks, rough or jagged corners, or uneven, drawn edges created by imperfect shearing may result in crazing
and cracking, that can develop further to failure under load.
Palram recommends finishing the edges of cut PALSUN sheets by finishing the edges to a smooth appearance.
This will ensure that no cracks will develop from the irregularities at the edges.
Smoothing techniques are discussed in
“Finishing” Section on page 29 .