On Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:46:56 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch
wrote:

On Jan 22, 11:16*pm, Frogwatch wrote:
Cap Dan gave me a Seacook stove for my daughters cruise on my
sailboat. *It works very well. *However, the female part of the
mounting bracket is cracked and the stove is no longer made. *Looks
like an opportunity.
The original parts are made from plastic that will eventually crack.
I can easily make replacements from the glass/plastic composite called
G10 that will probably never crack. *G10 cannot be molded which is why
it is not normally used. *However, it can be machined with carbide
tooling.
G10 is an amazingly strong material due to the glass imbedded in it.
I made backing plates for the cleats on my Tolman from it and the
rudder mounts for my MiniCup sailboats. *It can be threaded although
I'd still rather have a backing nut
One could easily make outboard bracket plates from it or other parts.
These will always cost more than molded parts but the G10 parts are
better. *It holds dimensional tolerances far better than molded or
stamped parts. *It is also somewhat lighter than even Aluminum and of
course is a non-conductor.
So, anybody have any interesting ideas for parts to be made from this
stuff. *The idea is to find some parts people need made in quantities
of a few dozen to a few thousand via CNC milling and lathe work. *It
seems to me that some outboard parts might be good candidates.

I walk into the shop this morning with the stove bracket and pull out
some G10. Suddenly, I have the two machinists hovering over me with
worried looks on their faces. Before long, they decide they'll make
it for me. of course, they will do a much better job than I could
do. I was going to use three pieces of G10 glued together because I
do not trust myself on the mill. They simply pulled out a big piece
of G10 and a dovetail cutter to make it out of a single piece on the
mill.
Anybody else need a stove bracket?

What do you figure that part cost you? If it was Garolite, it had to
be at least $250 plus machinists labor because it runs about $2,500
per 36"X48" sheet at 3" thickness which you would need for that mount
at least. G10 only comes in 1/2" thickness so your still looking at
the same amount of money.

Dude - that just ain't cost efficient. A small block of aluminum
would be a hell of a lot cheaper.