Best Acrylic Plastic Sheet To Heat Bend

Acrylic strip heater an acrylic plastic sheet can be placed on these heavy duty strip heaters until it is soft and pliable enough to bend to the desired form.

Best acrylic plastic sheet to heat bend.

Bending shaping plastic with hot air gun heat gun. For thicker acrylic you will need to use a metal bar clamped very securely and you may only be able to work with narrow strips of material as your heat source may not be able to heat wider areas of thick material. Then aim a heat gun at the point on the acrylic you want to bend. With your sheet plexiglass clamped securely to your work surface under a straight edge that defines where the bend will be it is time to heat your material.

Preparing hot air gun w. Score the acrylic several more times along the same line then place the acrylic on the edge of the table and use light quick pressure to snap the piece in two. Never place the acrylic sheet on a grid but on a flat heat resistant plate or tray. I was only putting in a simple bend so i used wood blocks cut at the angle i needed one for each side of the acrylic plus the cool metal bench to press against.

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. For straight cuts in acrylic a plastic scoring blade can be used. Easy to use this professional grade acrylic strip heater is great for everything small jobs to high volume production. Bending polycarbonate sheet with a heat gun principally using a heat gun to bend a polycarbonate sheet is the same as hot line bending.

Plexiglas or acrylic sheet this system works well for small pieces of plexiglas in thicknesses of up to 1 8 inch. When the set temperature is reached 160 degrees celsius let the acrylic lie for 4 to 5 minutes thinner sheet thicknesses up to 5 millimetres are more bend ready. Place the acrylic in the oven during preheating and allow it to heat gradually. How to make a successful straight bend in sheet acrylic or plastic.

Fyi tonight i oven bent 10mm acrylic. Once heated it will bend easily. Only that the operator is now forced to move the heat gun constantly along the bend line and flip over the polycarbonate sheet to ensure both sides get heated. The reason this works is because acrylic plastic actually melts at 405 f.

The object of heating the sheet is to heat it evenly along a line just in front of the straight edge of your clamped jig. I baked it at 180 celsius 350 f for about 12min. Tutorial for how to. If the area to bend is on an outer curve or bend or if you want to create a tighter corner try using a frying pan on low heat to hold the plastic area to bend.

If you need to make further bends let the first bend cool before continuing so you don t lose it.