Best Way To Bend Plastic Sheet

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Best way to bend plastic sheet.

To set up your plastic or acrylic sheet to bend simple curves for your miniature and model projects you need to first remove the protective covering from the material you wish to bend. Use long thin 1 inch or so in width test strips to practice your technique and learn how your particular heat source affects your chosen thickness of plastic. This is the completed form you will use to bend your acrylic sheet. Both using hot water and using a hair dryer are the best options as you need something to stay hot as you heat your plastic.

Mark your plexiglas sheet along the line where you want to bend it. 01 15 2012 08 39 am 7. Ensure good ventilation because heated acrylic creates mildly toxic fumes. I have foung that simle carpeners square will damn close 90 degree.

Overheating will melt the plastic. Use the spare piece of flat scrap wood to push the acrylic back and down while you aim the heat gun at the acrylic. Principally using a heat gun to bend a polycarbonate sheet is the same as hot line bending. Start at the wool setting and slowly increase the iron temperature until the plastic feels warm.

Heating is a slow process in order to make sure that you get a straight bend in the acrylic. You can see this in the video below. First experiment with a few scraps to get the time and heat right. Put on cotton safety gloves.

Make your pressure on the acrylic as even as possible while you push. The foil will not stick as long as the plastic does not melt completely. Slip the kevlar on and position the assebly on your choice of straight surfaces energize place plastic on element and wait till bercomes taffy like and make your bend. Mark the location where you want to bend your plastic sheet using a permanent marker to make a light tic at either edge of the line.

You can also sandwich the shaped plastic between a folded sheet of foil and iron the foil to heat up the plastic. Secure the sheet in place by using clamps on both ends.