Ebonite

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DozerMite

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What is Ebonite?

Not the materials that make it what it is, not where it comes from, not the inventor or the year it was invented.
Google will not help you.
 
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As we use it, it is what's called hard rubber. Its made by mixing a polymer with fillers, processing aids, some functional additives, colorants and a curing agent. The filler for black ebonite is carbon, the filler for colored and swirled ebonite is a type of clay. The main curing agent is sulfur which is what makes it stinky. The hardness is a function of how much filler is used, how little softeners are used and how much it is cured.

Not to be confused with the trademark Ebonite which was and may still be used for bowling balls which at one time were made from a similar mix.
 
Funny that this post should come up this evening. I was just looking at some trying to decide if I wanted to give it a try on one of my high end kits i just got. Any advise on what a good way to finish it would be? I would like some gloss to it, but don't want to lose the "feel" of the blank. BTW, don't want to hijack this thread, but figure it's all related...
 
BRobbins629 said:
As we use it, it is what's called hard rubber. Its made by mixing a polymer with fillers, processing aids, some functional additives, colorants and a curing agent. The filler for black ebonite is carbon, the filler for colored and swirled ebonite is a type of clay. The main curing agent is sulfur which is what makes it stinky. The hardness is a function of how much filler is used, how little softeners are used and how much it is cured.

Not to be confused with the trademark Ebonite which was and may still be used for bowling balls which at one time were made from a similar mix.
Click to expand...


Being serious, this is all very consistent with the info Dawn & I gained in our meetings with the ebonite person, from Germany.

Additional information--the heat and pressure processing process is subject to great difficulty. While they are very proud of their extremely high quality raw materials, the "barrier to entry" that she cited most often was the "curing" process.

But, that was NOT what you asked.
 
ed4copies said:
BRobbins629 said:
As we use it, it is what's called hard rubber. Its made by mixing a polymer with fillers, processing aids, some functional additives, colorants and a curing agent. The filler for black ebonite is carbon, the filler for colored and swirled ebonite is a type of clay. The main curing agent is sulfur which is what makes it stinky. The hardness is a function of how much filler is used, how little softeners are used and how much it is cured.

Not to be confused with the trademark Ebonite which was and may still be used for bowling balls which at one time were made from a similar mix.
Click to expand...


Being serious, this is all very consistent with the info Dawn & I gained in our meetings with the ebonite person, from Germany.

Additional information--the heat and pressure processing process is subject to great difficulty. While they are very proud of their extremely high quality raw materials, the "barrier to entry" that she cited most often was the "curing" process.

But, that was NOT what you asked.
Click to expand...

Ed,

This is called vulcanizing and is not as difficult as she tries to make it out to be. We do it daily in large quantities with several autoclaves. We get our raw materials from her (that company). They seem to have a new representitive that was at the show in CA.
I get to work with this material every day. I have tons of it laying around.
It can be finished just like any plastics material. Buffing will yield the best finish and depending on the sheen you want to achieve, the type of compound you would use. We use special compounds to get a semi-gloss sheen. It will take on a high gloss sheen very easily.


But as Ed said, not what was asked.
 
omb76 said:
Funny that this post should come up this evening. I was just looking at some trying to decide if I wanted to give it a try on one of my high end kits i just got. Any advise on what a good way to finish it would be? I would like some gloss to it, but don't want to lose the "feel" of the blank. BTW, don't want to hijack this thread, but figure it's all related...
Click to expand...


I get a great polish on Ebonite by sanding to 2000, MM to 12000 and buffing with white diamond.
 
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