Temp needed to form acrylic?

[daytonians]

I am gong to play with trying to form sheet acrylic. Anybody know what temperature is needed to make it moldable?

 

[MinibowMatt]

around 300 should allow thinner (1/4" or less) the thicker the plastic, the more controlled and hotter it needs to be. It is very difficult to bend anything over 3/8" without scorching/bubbling the surface...

 

[cougarguy]

Today I made a cone for the skimmer I am making and I used 3/16" acrylic. I put it in the oven for 15 min at 285* and it formed over my mold very well and didn't bubble at all. I had about 8 min to work the material until it was not flexible any more.

 

[BruiseAndy]

strip heaters heat to 280 degrees so about there. Would figure regardless of thickness it would melt at the same temp just have to leave the strip on longer. Would also think anything over 3/8" would be a pain without specialized equipment.

 

[god910]

The hotter you get the material the better off you'll be as far as molding is concerned. IOW, you won't have as big of a problem with bubbling, burning/pulling, etc. Most forms of acrylic melt at around 400*. We used to cold bend (90* bends and everything in between) lexan. I was amazed that it didn't break. But you're most likely not dealing with lexan, probably lucite or something else? Or do you know what it is? This could probably help me get you a better answer.

The best way really would be to use a heat gun and temp. gun. This would obviously need a buddy for help, but would get you pretty good results. Also, what shapes are we talking about?

 

[Icefire]

The best is an heating rod.

 

[Acrylics]

If you are line bending, then a heating rod, nichrome wire, or similar strip heater is fine. But if you are actually forming sheet as you say, then an oven of some sort at 300F or so is about right. Thicker material does not need specialized equipment, just needs to heat up more slowly to heat the material evenly. Smaller pcs of 1/4" acrylic can be stuck into an oven at home on a cookie sheet at 300F for a few minutes and you're good to go. You can make larger ovens at home (or shop) using anything but heat lamps work well and make a hot box out of drywall with a small fan to circulate air for even heating. More importantly is the quality of the form so more care should be put into that.

Lexan (up to 3/16") can be cold bent on a brake for line bending but then it's not acrylic so...

Lastly, do this in a well ventilated area. Acrylic monomer vapors can cause nausea in some folks and eye irritation in most. Don't buy into the myth about explosive vapors - buncha garbage.

HTH,
James

 

[douggiestyle]

ive used a toaster as a strip bender for small pieces. works incredibly well. turn on regular pop up toaster. place area to be bent over slot. wait, then bend.

 

[ThaNgBOm321]

hum... i like that toaster idea!!! ill keep that in mind.. but then agin last time i bent something i use the range top... it's electric to i was able to controle the temp with a twist of a knob... only thing was that the heating surface was small so i had to move it around some..