DIY Machinable Wax for Your Lathe or Mill

If you have a CNC machine, lathe, or mill and like to use plastic blocks for prototyping the material cost can add up quickly if you're prolific or make a lot of mistakes. Consider using machinable wax?a very hard wax that is reusable and won't gum up the cutting surfaces of the equipment like pure paraffin or beeswax.

Instructables user rawkstar320 figured out that if you melt paraffin wax from any hobby store in a deep fryer and one-at-a-time add in several plastic shopping bags (use recycling symbol #2 or #4 only). Continue adding bags until they won't dissolve anymore and pour the wax into a mold (perhaps a loaf pan) to cool. Keep in mind that paraffin will melt at 300 degrees Fahrenheit but if you get it to 400 it will ignite so keep an eye on your temperature with a candy thermometer.

The resulting wax will be very hard, works well in metal machining equipment, and the shavings can be remelted into your next block.

Machinable Wax | Instructables via Hack-A-Day

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/I4doySKwtDw/diy-machinable-wax-for-your-lathe-or-mill

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