Thinking of producing a batch of ZCTP???

[whitecobra]

Count me in for 6 to 10 depending on price

Will they be height adjustable with holes in the back to accomodate screws for leveling?

Dr D

[big tim]

Not quite ready to offer them yet...I want to make sure they work well for at least the BT3100 & the 21829 . Although monday night after I installed the first one I had a small project where I needed to cut some narrow strips of about 2mm styrene and it was great having the ZCTP installed, some of my offcuts were only 1/8" wide but they stayed on top of the table!

The other ZCTP's that had been offered by T-Nuts were Polycarbonate material of .250 thickness...I'm not sure why that material was chosen...it's tough for sure, but maybe have been a bit of overkill for the job. I've used an expanded styrene material which is more forgiving and has enough strength in a 3mm thickness, since weight is not directed straight downward on it. Plus it is a lot easier to initially raise the blade up through it (caution is still required for that operation though). I'll continue to test for awhile to make sure they hold up well.

I'm not sure that I would necessarily agree with you about lack of downward pressure. Most of the time indeed there would not be much downward pressure, but when you are making non through cuts to a specific depth as for instance for dado's or rabbits, you do have to apply pressure to keep the wood from rising up. At the end of the cut that pressure might deflect the ZCTP and make the cut deeper. The same could happen at the beginning of the cut.
I made a ZCTP using 6mm lexan and routed the front, back and narrow side edges to the correct thickness for support all around the edges. Caution is definitely required cutting through such thickness.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Tim

[Thom2]

The other ZCTP's that had been offered by T-Nuts were Polycarbonate material of .250 thickness...I'm not sure why that material was chosen...it's tough for sure, but maybe have been a bit of overkill for the job.

I beg to argue here, the latest offerings from Jeff were actually Santoprene IIRC, in either a red or a blue. The lexan plates haven't been offered in quite some time as I'd actually been thinking about bringing them back.

[LYU370]

Which Chicago Suburb are you in? I'll be glad to test some for you on my BT3100.

[Stytooner]

I beg to argue here, the latest offerings from Jeff were actually Santoprene IIRC, in either a red or a blue. The lexan plates haven't been offered in quite some time as I'd actually been thinking about bringing them back.

I don't know that Jeff ever used polycarbonate. I used to make them with that. When it got too much for me to handle, Gugie took over making them. At that time we were using Sanatec. 1/2" thick material. Jeff took over for Gugie when Gugie got a raise and less free time. Now it appears Jeff doesn't have as much time as he'd like. He may still be offering ZCTP's but may just be having trouble with his website and can't find the time to fix it. I noticed the Shark part of T-nuts is also on hold.

As for using thin material, I don't think anything less than 3/16" will work very well. Perhaps with phenolic in 3/16". Something more flexible just won't do. There are many times as stated before by Tim, that you do indeed need strength. When cutting on an edge, its a must.
The 6mm polycarbonate I used to use was okay, but on the thin side for these type cuts.
It really should be more rigid. This is why I started making them out of Sanatec to begin with.
3/8" polycarbonate would do well, but be costly.
The type of material you are talking about sounds good, but I think it needs to be thicker by at least double to 6mm.

I'd like hear more about your progress.