Hdpe sr

[JJBoatman]

Hi Everybody, I realize this may not be the proper place to ask this question, but its a good place to start. Iam seeing Polyethylene ,high density stress relieved used for several applications in the baotyard. Backing plates, shims, motor mount bases, as Iam not familar with its characteristics, specs,Iwould apreciate some feedback or websites that may help. I realize its waterproof and rot resistant but know little more. Thank you

[Dale Genther]

Go on McMaster Carr's website. I think they have a description of the physical properties of the various PE products. I know their catalog does.

[TerryLL]

Here's the link to McMaster-Carr's plastics section.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#plastics/
(http://www.mcmaster.com/#about-plastics/=2c0do4)

[Bruce Hooke]

MatWeb has a variety of listings for HDPE. If you can figure out which exact version you are dealing with (I think HDPE-UHMW may be one of the readily avilaible types) there is lots of engineering data here.

http://www.matweb.com/search/QuickText.aspx?SearchText=HDPE

[David G]

Grainger's:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/guideBrowse.shtml

[JJBoatman]

Thank you everybody,lots of good information for me, thanks for the web-sites. Wikipedia sent me in good directions, along with help here Iam catching up. As usual a great place to come, Jerry

[JimConlin]

I am not familiar with 'stress relieved' PE.
The ordinary PE stuff is good at being beaten on, is chemically inert and has pretty low friction. It does creep and split and get soft at fairly low temperatures.
It's good for tanks, sheathing something that gets banged and things that slide, like bearings. It can be bonded with West System G/Flex epoxy.
I would not use it for backing plates, shims or near something warm, like an engine.
Another manufactured plastic material that's used in boats is G-10, a glass-epoxy laminate. It comes in bars, sheets, rods and tubes, is quite strong and bonds well with epoxy. Available from McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/#grade-g-10-garolite-sheets/=2cj7sc) and other plastic distributors.

[Don Kurylko]

Try these guys: www.professionalplastics.com/ (http://www.professionalplastics.com/) They have a really good website with a Marine section. They are in California, but if you have the stuff sent by regular post to Canada the brokerage fee is very low. Courier services, on the other hand, will ding you with massive charges - beware.

[Flying Orca]

Courier services, on the other hand, will ding you with massive charges - beware.

Only if you forget the magic words. The magic words are "Clears own". ;)

[Don Kurylko]

Huh? :eek:

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Maybe they like it because nothing sticks to it, not even 5200.

I would think creep would be a problem for a backing plate, though HDPE is a lot more creep resistant than other rigid PE.

HDPE is one of most expensive polymers, too, so using it just because it is handy doesn't sound reasonable.

Moby Nick

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Forgot to add:

HDPE is what they make artificial ice skating rinks out of. It is tough enough to withstand the slicing of a sharp ice skate.

Moby Nick

[Flying Orca]

Huh? :eek:

The couriers charge you massive charges for clearing items through customs because they can, and it's a huge money-maker for them. If you clear an item through customs yourself, you only pay the actual shipping charges, which tend to be reasonable.

Typically takes a bit of running around (pick up the paperwork from the courier, take it to customs, then back to the courier to pick up your goods), around an hour when I've done it. That's assuming you're reasonably close to both the courier and customs (I live about 5 km from both, which are within a couple of blocks of each other, so it's no problem).

Anyway, assuming you're in a position to do so, if you instruct the shipper to notify the courier that you will clear the item through customs yourself (hence the magic words "clears own", courier code for "this guy has figured out the clearing charge scam and isn't going to fall for it" :D), you can save a LOT of money.

Example from the incident that taught me this lesson: goods cost $50 US, shipping around $10 IIRC, and UPS wanted to charge me $75 CDN to clear it through customs. I cleared it myself for under $8.

[Don Kurylko]

Example from the incident that taught me this lesson: goods cost $50 US, shipping around $10 IIRC, and UPS wanted to charge me $75 CDN to clear it through customs. I cleared it myself for under $8.

Thanks Orca. For the above example, Canada Post would charge you about $15. (That is, they would have a year or two ago - not sure about rates now, but worth checking into. Still a damn site cheaper than UPS, FedEx, et all!)