I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

i

Ignoramus25935 wrote:
I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

i

heat. ideally a strip heater. you can do this with a torch if you're
careful. bend it over something.

"Ignoramus25935" wrote in message
...
I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

i

McMaster Carr used to sell, and probably still does, heat rods that you use
to heat up plastic sheet for bending. This should work for polycarbonate, I
have a vacuum former and it works with polycarbonate.

RogerN

Ignoramus25935 fired this volley in
:

I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

i

Sheet metal brake with radius nosing.

Lexan bends and holds its shape wonderfully.

(WARNING!!! A BAD THING just happened. I just discovered that blue
Loctite destroys Lexan almost as quickly as chlorinated solvents do. It
doesn't dissolve -- no. It sits for 15 minutes without visible changes,
then collapses into tiny "kenerbles" about the size and shape of tempered
glass fragments.)

LLoyd

On 2011-03-09, chaniarts wrote:
Ignoramus25935 wrote:
I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

i

heat. ideally a strip heater. you can do this with a torch if you're
careful. bend it over something.



What about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Craftics-48-Pl.../dp/B003GUESEU

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message
. 3.70...
Ignoramus25935 fired this volley in
:

I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

i

Sheet metal brake with radius nosing.

Lexan bends and holds its shape wonderfully.

(WARNING!!! A BAD THING just happened. I just discovered that blue
Loctite destroys Lexan almost as quickly as chlorinated solvents do. It
doesn't dissolve -- no. It sits for 15 minutes without visible changes,
then collapses into tiny "kenerbles" about the size and shape of tempered
glass fragments.)

LLoyd

Now I wanna try that. I need to get me a couple beers and a bottle of blue
loctite.

I used to run a plastics forming company for Point Of Sales displays
and bent all manner of plastics. For a bunch of bends then you will
need two lengths of square aluminum tubing with water fittings to flow
cooling water through. Space them about 1" apart. Then use a straight
electric heating element in between them and about 3/4" down below the
tube top surface.

Place the Lexan over the heating element and then gently lift an edge
ever few seconds to feel when it is soft enough. You may have to flip
it er to heat the other side, but do some test bends. Make the bend
then shut off the power an hold the material until it sets. You can
have a fan blowing on it after the heating element shuts off to speed
up the setting.

For a one-off item you an do what I did to make a chip guard for my
big mill. Run two strips of 2" masking tape about 3/4" apart either
side of where you want to bend. Use four or five thicknesses of tape.
Use a paint-stripping heat gun and move it up an down the bend area.
The masking tape will absorb some of the heat either side of the bend.
Again, you may want to flip it over to heat the other side. Don't get
too close with the heat gun as it will blister. Take your time, maybe
two three minutes to heat the Lexan through then make the bend. For my
guard I just leaned the Lexan up vertically then heated both sides,
made the bend then let it sit to cool down.

As another poster mentioned cyanoacrylate thread lockers will
crystallize the Lexan (many other plastics too) and it will fall
apart. Also do not try to bolt anything tightly through as that will
cause stress cracks over a few weeks and it too will fall apart. If
you have to bolt it, use thick soft rubber washers and minimal
tightening torque.

Good luck.

Dave

"chaniarts" wrote in message
...



careful. bend it over something.


I love it when you talk dirty...

"PrecisionmachinisT" wrote in message
news:TqudnZDCaelAQuvQnZ2dnUVZ_v6dnZ2d@scnresearch. com...

"chaniarts" wrote in message
...



careful. bend it over something.


I love it when you talk dirty...


That's why leftists breed like cockroaches!

Ignoramus25935 wrote in
:

On 2011-03-09, chaniarts wrote:
Ignoramus25935 wrote:
I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do
that?

i

heat. ideally a strip heater. you can do this with a torch if you're
careful. bend it over something.



What about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Craftics-48-Pl.../dp/B003GUESEU

Perfect. Ideally, you want to mount it to something rigid with
fiberglass mat insulation under it, and then rig up a couple of support
strips on either side to hold the sheet just off the heater. Try a
couple of test pieces first, but once you have the timing figured out,
heat it up & it will bend in a nice straight line.

Doug White

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in
. 3.70:

Ignoramus25935 fired this volley
in :

I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do
that?

i

Sheet metal brake with radius nosing.

Lexan bends and holds its shape wonderfully.

(WARNING!!! A BAD THING just happened. I just discovered that blue
Loctite destroys Lexan almost as quickly as chlorinated solvents do.
It doesn't dissolve -- no. It sits for 15 minutes without visible
changes, then collapses into tiny "kenerbles" about the size and shape
of tempered glass fragments.)

Doesn't have to be blue. The red stuff will destroy Lexan just fine. We
had an overly concientious technician ruin a big job right before it was
supposed to get shipped overseas. He decided adding Locktite would be a
good thing. The machine shop had to work a lot of overtime to make a new
assembly for us.

Doug White

"Bob La Londe" fired this volley in
:

Now I wanna try that. I need to get me a couple beers and a bottle of
blue loctite.

Later, I put some on the surface of a piece, and it did not damage it.

However, when some was trapped between a nut and the surface of a sheet
(torqued lightly, and I'm certain there were no defects in the piece) and
allowed to cure, just about the time it hardened, the piece fell apart.

It might be mechanical -- the compound searching out microscopic defects,
then (perhaps) expanding to break it apart. But I've seen this same kind
of deterioration before, when I cleaned a lexan item with GC "Cloro-
Cleen", and it disintegrated about five minutes later. Again, there was
no solvent action, it just fell apart into granules.

LLoyd

Doug White fired this volley in
:

Doesn't have to be blue. The red stuff will destroy Lexan just fine.
We had an overly concientious technician ruin a big job right before
it was supposed to get shipped overseas. He decided adding Locktite
would be a good thing. The machine shop had to work a lot of overtime
to make a new assembly for us.


Glad to know I wasn't hallucinating! Thanks.

LLoyd

On Tue, 08 Mar 2011 19:16:21 -0600, Ignoramus25935
wrote:

On 2011-03-09, chaniarts wrote:
Ignoramus25935 wrote:
I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

i

heat. ideally a strip heater. you can do this with a torch if you're
careful. bend it over something.



What about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Craftics-48-Pl.../dp/B003GUESEU
My strip heater is only about 42" long. It is a heater element out of
a dishwasher straightened out and mounted in the channel from a single
tube fluorescent fixture. These elements are 120V. When I have ice
dams on the roof eve, I turn it upside down to melt channels for water
drainage.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On 2011-03-09, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
"Bob La Londe" fired this volley in
:

Now I wanna try that. I need to get me a couple beers and a bottle of
blue loctite.

Later, I put some on the surface of a piece, and it did not damage it.

I am gonna try it too.

i

However, when some was trapped between a nut and the surface of a sheet
(torqued lightly, and I'm certain there were no defects in the piece) and
allowed to cure, just about the time it hardened, the piece fell apart.

It might be mechanical -- the compound searching out microscopic defects,
then (perhaps) expanding to break it apart. But I've seen this same kind
of deterioration before, when I cleaned a lexan item with GC "Cloro-
Cleen", and it disintegrated about five minutes later. Again, there was
no solvent action, it just fell apart into granules.

LLoyd

Ignoramus25935 wrote:

I need to bend some 4 foot long (almost), 1/4" thick Lexan sheets. It
does not have to be super pretty, just good enough. How can I do that?

Do you have a heat gun? Make a fixture in the shape of your bend, and
blow the heat gun at the lexan on the part that needs to do the bending,
and let it droop as it softens, to conform to your mold/fixture.

A hair dryer isn't hot enough - you need one of those heat guns that
says "CAUTION!!!!! DO NOT USE ON HAIR!!!!!" ;-)

Good Luck!
Rich

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote:

"Bob La Londe" fired this volley in
:

Now I wanna try that. I need to get me a couple beers and a bottle of
blue loctite.

Later, I put some on the surface of a piece, and it did not damage it.

However, when some was trapped between a nut and the surface of a sheet
(torqued lightly, and I'm certain there were no defects in the piece) and
allowed to cure, just about the time it hardened, the piece fell apart.

It might be mechanical -- the compound searching out microscopic defects,
then (perhaps) expanding to break it apart. But I've seen this same kind
of deterioration before, when I cleaned a lexan item with GC "Cloro-
Cleen", and it disintegrated about five minutes later. Again, there was
no solvent action, it just fell apart into granules.


Which "Cloro-Cleen" The original was Carbon Tetrachloride.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid™ on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

"Michael A. Terrell" fired this volley in
:

Which "Cloro-Cleen" The original was Carbon Tetrachloride.

Nah... this was mid-80s, so I presume it was perc, not CT.

LLoyd

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" fired this volley in
:

Which "Cloro-Cleen" The original was Carbon Tetrachloride.

Nah... this was mid-80s, so I presume it was perc, not CT.


You could have got old stock at that time. Some still had bottles on
the back of the shelf that had been there 10 years or more. The only
time they cleaned out old stock was when GC changed labels. I had
several bottles that were Carbon Tetrachloride bought at the end of the
'70s. The newer version would break down in the bottles and stink.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a Band-Aid™ on it, because it's
Teflon coated.

"Tom Gardner" w@w wrote in message
...

"PrecisionmachinisT" wrote in message
news:TqudnZDCaelAQuvQnZ2dnUVZ_v6dnZ2d@scnresearch. com...

"chaniarts" wrote in message
...



careful. bend it over something.


I love it when you talk dirty...


That's why leftists breed like cockroaches!


Poor little Tommy he has to keep changing his email address on almost dailey
basis he keeps getting plonked because nobody wants to listen to his
vomitous filth...

I feel so ****ING sorry for his TROLL ASS really I do.

(plonk)

--