I just milled, turned and drilled a 7" chunk of PVC to make an inlet strainer for a water pump. Hmmm, wonder what you would call what I was doing? Plasticing? Syntheticing? Plastismithing?........... Miserable stringy "chips", BTW..............Bob
Ok, you have piqued my interest. But I'm a bit confused after seeing your vid as there was no machining plastic mentioned but only molding.
Your opening statement "remember when?" was something that is very timely and close to all our hearts. One MAJOR component of this statement that's missing is more jobs have been lost from automation initially and is now really ramping up in the offshored jobs too as they are being replaced by automation. There is now 1/8 of the workforce that was being employed just a couple of years ago. Quickly the jobs of even tending machines is even going to dwindle. But these mega factories have a hole and that's specialized small runs. This is where small,smart, light, local and fast is going to find a niche IMHO. I believe the relatively cheap transportation over vast distances is also going to play havoc with bottom lines for even the mega corps. So a bleak as it looks right now there might be a place for the right next thing.
Problem with plastic is there needs a drastic evolution. It's synonymous with cheap throw away so this stands in contrast to your "remember when they were durable, repairable and they would last for a very long time? "
My small biz exists because there is a bunch of folks who love that they know the guy who makes it. They don't want something that has been churned out by a mega corp by the millions/billions. Granted this is a percentage of the whole, but I've talked to others in other fields and they see the same thing. Unlike the mega corp's we don't need it all. Just enough to make it worthwhile. In my case it's my retirement as I never worked for anybody who offered a real retirement like my dad has.
It's interesting this is being pitched to this forum. For me it's because I've always been a junkyard dog repurposing before the word was popular because I HATE waste, planned obsolescence and never was a chaser of the latest and greatest. Some us saving old iron and keeping manual techniques alive seems to dovetail. But I'll admit plastic is not my preferred medium as I mostly work in mild steel and aluminum. I love UHMW and Delrin for their specific wear properties but don't see making a machine or tooling out of it. I guess I just need more examples of applications?
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