Cold forming is possible.
Bend radius acrylic sheet.
Then aim a heat gun at the point on the acrylic you want to bend.
Never heat acrylic sheet in a kitchen oven.
Ideal for perspex acrylic plexiglass polycarbonate.
As the acrylic heats up move the heat gun from side to side and steadily push on it with a piece of scrap wood to help it bend.
Once you go past a 48 x 96 sheet costs can skyrocket.
Set up plastic or acrylic sheet in a simple bending jig.
Tutorial for how to.
Preparing hot air gun w.
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.
To calculate the minimum bend radius of curvature multiply the thickness of the sheet to be used by 330.
Minimum cold forming radius sheet thickness x 100.
Before you bend acrylic set it between 2 pieces of scrap wood and clamp them together with a vice.
Please keep in mind the bigger and thicker the part is the more it cost to bend.
Ensure good ventilation because heated acrylic creates mildly toxic fumes.
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.
Line bending or thermoforming a brasion resistant acrylic sheet is not recommended.
The freight on a 1 2 x 48 x 96 sheet of clear acrylic is 0 0.
In the image above the values are all in inches but the principle often holds even if the units are in mm.
Acrylic sheet for better energy efficiency.
Bending shaping plastic with hot air gun heat gun.
Screw the boards together through the second board straight into the base board placing a screw every 6 inches.
The rest of the sheet is heated largely by conduction.
Tighter radii may result in crazing or cracking of the coating.
Since plexiglas acrylic sheet is opaque to most wavelengths in the infrared spectrum the surface exposed to the heater absorbs almost all the energy.
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 radius is applied in all cold bending procedures.
Since plexiglas acrylic sheet is an excellent insulator the surface.
This is the completed form you will use to bend your acrylic sheet.
