Westlake Publishing Forums

Most satisfactory. -- Russ

Very nice!

Some paint work done with a few bits of touching up left to do - some of the cables on a mission of there own to be sorted
Don't think I would like to walk under one of these beasts when in action with all the rattling and water dropping  down
Barney

Quote from: Stuart on April 14, 2025, 06:30:29 PMThank you Kevin and Frithjof.  I'm going to need to scout around to see if I can find a similar product in my location. What I have discovered so far is that this material is costly and comes in large sheets which would be much more than I would need or could store conveniently.

Stuart

Years ago I walked into a premises manufacturing switchboards and raided their off cut bin.  I don't think I paid anything, but if I did it wasn't much.  I'm still using the material for jigs etc.  Harder to find local manufacturing these days. You can buy small pieces cheaply from China. (Not as cheaply if you are in the US of course).  eBay also has listings (mostly Chinese) but some are from the US.  Search 'phenolic sheet'.

This is very inspirational! Congrats!
BTW. when I read your thread, I was reminded in some way of the «Broken Houses by Ofra Lapid», an Israelian artist. His work is based on photographs found in the web while pursuing an amateur photographer from North Dakota. Lapid printed the pictures on paper/cardboard before shaping them into houses.
Here an example - there are similarities...

Very nice design and modeling. dimensionally, everything seems to be spot on! 

Thank you Kevin and Frithjof.  I'm going to need to scout around to see if I can find a similar product in my location. What I have discovered so far is that this material is costly and comes in large sheets which would be much more than I would need or could store conveniently.

Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Properties of hard paper (Pertinax is a brand name):
The material is weather-resistant, moisture-resistant - but heat-resistant only up to approx. 120° Celsius.

In addition to Kevin's statement, I would also like to point out that soldering produces fumes that are said to be carcinogenic - at least classified as hazardous to health!
A dust mask and extraction should be the rule!

When soldering with my resistance soldering device, the hard paper is only heated at certain points - with the soldering iron I have much larger dark spots in the soldering gauge.

The advantage over MDF or wood is the stability, it can be used much more often when soldering the same parts. After a final cleaning with detergent and water, I can solder further parts without losing dimensional accuracy after drying with the airbrush. I could not achieve this with MDF.


Soldering jig 01 (fspg2)


See also post scrolling down 20.08.2015:
https://www.finescalerr.com/smf/index.php?topic=1424.210

Examples of solder fume extraction: Click

Before you compare prices on the internet, you can also look for plastic processing companies in your area.
I like to have a look at the leftover stock at a dealer near me.
Even if they don't always have all material thicknesses in stock for €4.00 + VAT/kg, it's worth it!

Pertinax is a trade name for a type of compressed phenolic-resin-impregnated paper material. FWIW the brands I've used are Tufnol and Industrial Formica. Doubtless there are others. You'd have to ask at your local engineering supplies company (if you can still find such a thing these days).

Frithjof -

Just a question.  I am unfamiliar with the Pertinax product you commonly use for holding brass pieces in position for either milling or soldering operations.  Is this material unaffected by the heat of a soldering iron?  I use MDF to hold things in position when I do my soldering but it burns and is only good for a single usage.

Stuart