Cold Forming Acrylic Sheet

The two best tools for this are a small butane torch the type used in the kitchen work well or you can also use an embossing heat tool used by card makers and.

Cold forming acrylic sheet.

Hln supplies leeds plastic fabrication moulding specialists. To reduce the length of the forming cycle pre dry the sheet in a spare oven and transfer it directly into the forming oven at 176 f 80 c after the drying period. Twenty four hours at 176 f 80 c dries most sheets. The only major variable that can affect the forming process is the thickness of the plastic sheet.

Uk educational supply center centre mindsets online sells variously sized 3mm thick sample sheets of eastman s spectar copolyester at not completely outlandish prices. It is important to provide sufficient clamping of the sheet during the forming process. The recommended radius of curvature should be a value greater than 180 times the thickness of the sheet for plexiglas g sheet and 300 times the thickness for plexiglas mc sheet see table below. Spectar supposedly looks and handles much like acrylic but with the surprising property that it can be cold formed without breaking or whitening and exhibits a memory effect holding a cold bend until reheated.

Modify the timing as necessary. A mold any object shape you can press the acrylic into to give it shape mallet and or a peen for shaping caution i ve only tried this in an electric oven. It can also shorten the time required to transport the heated sheet from the oven to the forming equipment thus minimizing the possibility of cold forming. Cold forming plexiglas sheet can be cold formed bent at room temperature in a smooth arc and held to a radius by forcing the material into a curved channel support.

Never heat acrylic sheet in a kitchen oven. Tighter radii may result in crazing or cracking of the coating. For thicker sheets it will take longer and for thinner sheets it will take less time. I can t recommend for.

Cold forming is possible. Acrylic oven baking sheet aluminum foil timer felt for handling the acrylic and to prevent scratches tools for forming tools for forming may include. This article uses a sheet about 1 4 thick so all times are about 10 to 15 minutes per step. Line bending or thermoforming a brasion resistant acrylic sheet is not recommended.

To calculate the minimum bend radius of curvature multiply the thickness of the sheet to be used by 330. To bend sheet plastic and acrylic you will need. This device can reduce appreciably the labor required for clamping and unclamping sheets preparatory to forming.