It's probably a question you've caught yourself asking when you've come across the word. What is machine grade plastic (AKA machinable plastic) and why do we make a point of emphasizing the 'machine grade' capabilities of our plastics across multiple mediums? The answer - as you may have already guessed - can be found below.
A Short Explanation
While machining plastic that is manufactured using an extruding or casting process, you may face the possibility of the part warping into a potato chip shape after machining is complete. The primary cause of this warpage is internal stresses that are captured inside the plastic during the manufacturing process. These stresses can be released during machining, and can ultimately ruin an otherwise perfect part.
To minimize the potential for this kind of warpage to exist you should heavily consider using machine grade plastics. We use proprietary technology to injection-mold each and every one of blocks and rods. Our equipment creates very minimal pressure throughout the molding process and therefore doesn't introduce any stresses in the first place. When you don't introduce any stresses, there's no stress to relieve!
We recommend trying out some machine grade plastics to prove out this theory. One such plastic is ABS, an engineering plastic that is easy to machine and fabricate. ABS is widely used for machining samples and prototypes since it has excellent dimensional stability and is easy to paint, glue, and sand. ABS offers the relatively unique position of being a plastic that can be categorized between general industrial plastics and other higher performance engineering thermoplastics. Trust us, you'll love it!
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
The Plastics Technology magazine recently published an article revealing a bit more information about the machines that we will be using in our push into manufacturing.
You can read the full article in the March edition of their magazine or read it online by visiting pages 10-12 of the following link.