casting my own plastic sheets

[superben51]

i've been working on melting plastic in an atempt to make my own sheets of plastic but my attempts have not been going well. i tried first with a heat gun... it didn't get hot enough even on max setting. then i tried in a glass container over the fire....NEVER DO THIS the plastic inside melted for about 30 seconds then promptly caught fire. i'll keep trying with differents methods but i dont think i'm really going to get what i need/want. any tips? besides just buying the sheets i'll do that if i have to but not for now

 

[Hermaphroditus]

Yeah just buy sheets. Short of injection molding and epoxy-like mixtures, casting plastics is a Sega. And if you're going to cast plastic you may as well just cast it in a mold instead of sheets...assuming you want to vacuum form.

I actually have parts coming in for an injection molder.

 

[superben51]

hey how thick should my sheets be for abs plastic or the like? also any recommend sellers that will ship to canada?

 

[vskid3]

I would suggest looking in the case section. There you will find a sticky that has a link to a vacuum forming guide.

(Give a man info, he is set for the day. Teach a man how to find info, he is set for life.)

 

[TheChemist]

Rather than trying to shape the plastic thermally, depending on the type it might be easier to dissolve it, press it flat, then reconstitute the plastic. ABS will dissolve in many common volatile organic solvents like acetone, and with a little research you could likely apply the same methodology to other sorts of plastic.

 

[superben51]

you know? i would have never even come close to thinking about that. when i get some time and money i'll defiantly try that

 

[βeta]

Why would you want to do any of this?

 

[Ashen]

Why would you want to do any of this?

 

[superben51]

Because I can

 

[βeta]

But you can't.

 

[superben51]

but i can try

 

[Ashen]

You will be wasting your time, and you will fail.

Just buy sheets of Styrene or ABS.

Everyday I go to work I have access to over 50 injection molding machines. I don't delude myself at all that I could make plastic sheeting with even the tools I have at hand there.

 

[βeta]

You should delude yourself into accidentally making the mold set for a GCp.

 

[Ashen]

The thought has crossed my mind more than once. I actually got quoted a for having a mold frame (just the frame not the core/cavity) built. and Zenloc and I tossed around the idea of an epoxy resin molder a while back. Still working on the perfect design for the application though.

 

[βeta]

How much was the quote?

 

[Ashen]

For a standard cheapo steel 2 plate mold frame with cooling channels and ejection plate I was quoted just under $10,000. Thats without the core and cavity inserts, which would probably run about the same each as the whole frame, depending on various factors. Keep in mind this was a local toolshop that quoted me. Someone who has contacts in china may be able to get a mold built much cheaper. But then you'd either have to incur the cost of shipping it here or source a company over there to actually run the mold for you.

The epoxy resin molding was quoted MUCH more affordable. I still have that contact info if your interested.

 

[βeta]

Epoxy molds are nice because they don't have to be thermally resistant. You could probably 3D print one, even.

 

[Hermaphroditus]

You could probably get a milled aluminum mold for cheaper than a stainless, or is there any reason why stainless would be advantageous other than the fact it's more durable?

 

[βeta]

He didn't say stainless, and injection molds are often aluminum.

 

[Ashen]

Yea, aluminum molds don't hold up very well over time though. They are mostly used for in shop prototyping/engineering or for parts that require very low clamping pressures and low production runs. Not really practical for this application. To mold a dimensionally stable case halve we'd need at the very bare minimum 50 tons or so of clamping pressure, which would destroy anything made of aluminum quickly.

Fun fact: Proctor and Gamble just bought a new stack mold to run at our facility. The mold cost roughly $600,000 and weighs about 12,000lbs. The injection molding machine we run it in (a Netstal 8000) I could drive my truck inside of and crush it like a soda can.