Has anyone tried Macor machineable ceramic?

Interesting. I just found out it is about £70 for a square metre by 10mm, which, if its strength is viable, could be a very useful product.
Needs researching. I would be interested to see what you can find out about it.
Whilst talking about alternative products, I've often wondered if there is a material with similar properties as a light coloured wood, from a carving point of view, but was devoid of grain and also able to be burnt and chard with a laser?
Plastics can perform like wood from a carving point of view, but to find a material to char in a similar manner is tricky.
Reference: Macor Machinable Glass Ceramic Square Sheets
Any ideas?

 

Oops. Can't get used to this Foreign measurement system.

 

Come, come Sir. I am a Feet and Inches Englishman, not a Metric man.
Although I will admit, this heathen form of measurement is very good, far better than Imperial, but one still makes mistakes.
I can still "picture" feet and inches, but have great problems visualising 200mm etc.

 

Keep us posted Please.

 

hey Gray,
for a rough idea divide it by 25. 200mm is about 8 inches.

@Bob R I have a small slab at my desk.
What do you want to know about it? From experience it doesn't like tooling shock (like any brittle). small cross sections will breakout if not approached with the right feeds, speeds, and path strategy. You have to plan toolpaths well especially around edge geometry. CVD tooling will be the most forgiving and will leave better finish. They can also break your bank! Fresh carbide should get you by. Stick to the corning documentation that's out there. It's the best place to start.
You may also want to consider mullite for your application. I've had decent success with this and the cost is not bad. It can be tricky to find. If needed I could forward you a supplier.

Joe

 

Haha agreed. Down here in the states we're stuck with both. I'm fairly well versed in either myself. I just read your post and remembered when I had a hard time visualizing metric. Figured I'd add my 2c (US).

 

I can't say. Since you ordered some I guess we'll find out. I mill it at work from time to time on a 2hp knee mill. That gives me more direct control based on the feedback. I haven't machined it on my router. Even if I did that is a bit more stout than the cbeam. I think ones best bet is to use a MPG pendant. That will allow feedrate override. Spindle override would be an additional bonus. If your using economy electronics then you might plan on wasting a little more material to get the cut right. You'll also be throwing a little bit more math at it. You'll want to reference the corning document and get chipload. https://www.corning.com/media/worldwide/csm/documents/a273d3bb4f134c31be5343db861eb3ba.pdf
Then run through your machine stats (motor torque curves, spindle capacity, rpm range, etc) to help determine what diameter cutter to order and what feedrate to start off with. I'd shy away from the DOC and feedrates in the pdf for your situation. Once you figure a good starting point then go light on the DOC say .01-.015"
Then work it down from there. If you don't have coolant cabilities then use a vacuum with fine particle filtration or one that exhausts to outside. It's not a deadly dust, but might bug the crap out of you if you inhale too much.

Joe