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Making custom plastic (?) shapes

E

eggrock

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Messages
4,102
I'd like to build a few odds and ends for a project I'm contemplating, but I know nothing about where to start. Too much info on google to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Basically I'm looking for something that can be easily molded, glued (or otherwise fastened) and doesn't look like garbage when it's finished.

Here I use my mad Paint skills to give you a basic idea:

duct.gif


I'm not necessarily planning on making an air duct but it's a good example to illustrate some of the basic problems I'm going to run into; bending the top/bottom pieces, fastening the baseplates to the duct work securely and fitting it all together with a minimum of size increases.

Any ideas on where to start, what tools I'll need etc.? Looking at Crim's Mars City mod (amazing BTW) I see a few hints like Bondo, styrene and instant dry superglue...
 
hire an injection molder to do that for you?

of course your going to have to play for tooling :p
 
you would be really suprised what you can do with a heat gun and some pvc pipe... i do theatre work and we use PVC for alot of things that are wierd shapes... you can get it in flat sheets.... use welding gloves to mess with it
 
nealio said:
hire an injection molder to do that for you?

of course your going to have to play for tooling :p
Click to expand...

I'd like to keep the 'manufacturing process' to my garage, and definitely the minimum of molding, so resin and the like are out.

Footer4321 said:
you would be really suprised what you can do with a heat gun and some pvc pipe... i do theatre work and we use PVC for alot of things that are wierd shapes... you can get it in flat sheets.... use welding gloves to mess with it
Click to expand...

That's a definite possible. ;) Looks like the guns are cheap and, better yet, versatile. I'm somewhat used to shaping steel with oxy/acetylene torches so that would fit in with what I'm looking for. Have to look into where to get PVC sheets from, thicknesses and so on. That's definitely tough enough for my needs and sturdy stuff so I shouldn't have to worry about paint (thinner) melting it. Have to check that out too, I don't want to screw around with toxic fumes.
 
Have you considered carbon fibre? Its pretty cheap and very easy to work with assuming you have a few basic tools, knife + breathing mask being the main ones, basically all you do is clingfilm over your template, paste it with layers of epoxy and mat and youre golden.
 
Herulach said:
Have you considered carbon fibre? Its pretty cheap and very easy to work with assuming you have a few basic tools, knife + breathing mask being the main ones, basically all you do is clingfilm over your template, paste it with layers of epoxy and mat and youre golden.
Click to expand...

That like fiberglass at all? Fiberglass makes me break out, bad.
 
you can use a blowtorch with the pvc... just be sparing of course.. and were a mask it can give of fumes... the pvc sheets shouldnt be to hard to find... a good lumber yard should have them
 
eggrock said:
That like fiberglass at all? Fiberglass makes me break out, bad.
Click to expand...
Similar, but its carbon fibres not glass ones. Also, if youre careful with it you get next to no shards, its not like rockwool insulation or anything, just big cloth like sheets.
 
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