bushing material

[MikeO]

Has anyone used corian or aluminium to make bushings. I wanted to try and make some to see how hard/easy it is. Any info gratefully received.

 

[flexi]

I have some ptfe ones to stop CA sticking.... I can't see them being long lasting and may cause problems with sanding dust residue..... But I am a pessimist not an optomist

 

[Curly]

Aluminium transfers to the wood and makes it black all to easily. If you have ever worked with aluminium before you would understand how black your hands can get. For that reason I would not use it. Up to you though.

Pete

 

[Penpal]

My confirmation that Curly said Better stainless or plastic.

 

[MikeO]

I wont use aluminium thanks for advice but what about corian its popular in usa??

 

[Rich Aldrich]

Delrin.

 

[Bill Mooney]

Corian is fine for pens but I wouldn’t use it for bushes. It will soon lose it’s true diameter when turning & sanding & it would stick to the blank if you used ca as a finish.

 

[monophoto]

All bushings shrink with use - even steel bushings become smaller due to sanding. So all bushings gradually 'wear out', at least relative to their use as dimensional references.

Delrin, HDPE, corian and similar materials can easily be turned to make bushings for the purpose of mounting blanks for turning - just understand that you need to actually measure the diameter of mating parts and turn the blank to the proper measured diameter.

I've used aluminum for specialty pen-making purposes - mandrels for closed-end pens, etc. It can be easily machined on a wood lathe, especially using carbide tools. But as others have noted, it can leave marks on the finished piece.