Sean Delaney: Machining resin for the first time

Follow Sean's weekly blog as he completes a three-year advanced manufacturing apprenticeship.

Week ending February 12

This week, I’ve been using our HAAS CNC lathe to machine some resin tensile test specimens. The reason I needed to do this on the CNC lathe rather than the manual one, is because the specimens needed to have radii on them which can’t be machined on the manual. This was the first time I’d machined resin so I assumed that it would not need coolant, as the resin got thinner it began to buckle under the pressure of the tailstock. Consequently, I halved the pressure on the tailstock but they were still buckling, I then realised that it was because the resin was becoming warm and soft, so once I started applying coolant the problem was resolved.