I made this kind of things with heat gun when I was in engineering... There I bended pvc tubes to make structural frames.... This is awesome technique..... BTW if you are making that drag type turbine you made with oil drum few days ago with this....which was spinning nicely in 2m/s... This will definitely spin faster at even slower speeds.... Awesome
A suggestion if I may. If it would be advantageous for it's form to be smoother, you could put it back on the drum half, stand it up on some saw horses, throw a blanket over the whole thing and use two space heaters inside the blankets. You would of course not be able to walk away from it because of the fire risk, but probably within 30 minutes it would become hot enough to form the entire plastic piece in one go and leave a nice uniform finish.
@@Gainn I was also thinking this, but you could run the risk of melting the plastic to the metal drum, since the metal will me hotter than the plastic.
@@purvel you'd need to control the process carefully for sure. It would be useful if you were producing them because the following ones would be going on an already heated mould.
well done on your attempt to drape form the plastic. Spot heating it like that expands the surface more than the underside, till the heat 'soaks' through and it fully relaxes, but areas you already heated are cooling, so you get uneven heat, uneven relaxing. In this case it seems to meet the needs. If you need a more accurate form next time, you need to 'oven' the plastic to get uniform heat soaked into it so it drapes all at once. You could tent your setup and heat the barrel slowly from the underside with the heat gun, and between 300°F and 350°F you will see the plastic relax itself over the barrel half.
Great work. You should look into "binder clips" from office supplies to be used for clamps (and for material for springs). Really think that your plastic will make a great turbine.
Lol!! I Know you are right about that, and thank you so much for the giggle!! I hope you are having a great weekend!! Andrea, Jasper and George the Pigeon. XxX
Thanks for the video. Should go without saying, but for anyone else using a heat gun on plastic, it's best to be in a well ventilated area(like in this video) or wear a mask.
HDPE warps for fun, sometimes it just will not go where you put it and stay there. The best results come through using +ve and -ve moulds and plenty of pressure. LDPE sheeting makes a superb glue or joint sealer on HDPE too.
You have just answered a question I've had in my mind. I wondered if you could form HDPE with heat. Now I know that you can I'm off to make some wind turbine blades. Thank you very much ! 👍
maybe placing a space heater under the barrel would help. Did you plastic weld the ends on? I was thinking maybe a small boat or roof for one of the electric cars
Why don’t you use the other half of the oil drum to make a barbecue? Put it beneath the other drum over which you want to bend the plastic sheet. Make height of last drum adjustable to collect more or less heat. Would result in more even heat distribution and hopefully less stresses in the sheet.
should have just made some ink & painted a heater on there,feed it with one or two of the better turbines (trial run pretend off grid style) , to get a far better shape. stick it all in a BIG bin bag ( or make one with an old tarp) & pull a mild vacuum with the vax to get a cleaner shape while heated for 2 minutes... remember it Will try to shrink like all blown plastic, coke bottles, plastic sliced chicken containers etc, so clamp it until it cools. alternatively use hot water (dip it in a tub /hot power wash/steamer?) works far better for that size of plastic than air. want (one off) weird simplistic shapes.. again make a reusable painted flexible heater to a given size,or just paint directly on the plastic, get/make a tarp or whatever bag, this time -make a kite- go down the beach fill the bag with some sand, make the -sand castle- required shape, lay the plastic & flexible heater on the inside of the bag shape ,heat & pull a vacuum (reversed/box bellows?) until it takes the shape....
Rather than using bungees, could you not just clamp the bottom edges with something flat (aluminium strips or something) and then heat it from the back of the mould to give a more even finish? That would remove the need to drill holes as well.
@@edwardcdg That was my initial thought too, but clamping removes the need to make holes in it at all. With aluminium you could also bend it to conform to the shape of the mould and still keep it very light. and then another thought hit me.. lol.. Why not just put a small rod on the edges that stands off enough to accept the plastic, and just slot it in... Easier and very repeatable with no extra parts to lose.
Your videos never seem to make much sense? You had a PVC half barrel, you put it over a similar metal barrel, and you melted it a bit??? Did I miss a load of steps here?
Excellent job. What you're doin'g is a whole industry. Plastic cups and plates for example. Parts for cars, casings .... Many others.
I made this kind of things with heat gun when I was in engineering... There I bended pvc tubes to make structural frames.... This is awesome technique..... BTW if you are making that drag type turbine you made with oil drum few days ago with this....which was spinning nicely in 2m/s... This will definitely spin faster at even slower speeds.... Awesome
A suggestion if I may.
If it would be advantageous for it's form to be smoother, you could put it back on the drum half, stand it up on some saw horses, throw a blanket over the whole thing and use two space heaters inside the blankets. You would of course not be able to walk away from it because of the fire risk, but probably within 30 minutes it would become hot enough to form the entire plastic piece in one go and leave a nice uniform finish.
Heating from the back side of the mould usually does give better results.
@@Gainn I was also thinking this, but you could run the risk of melting the plastic to the metal drum, since the metal will me hotter than the plastic.
@@purvel you'd need to control the process carefully for sure.
It would be useful if you were producing them because the following ones would be going on an already heated mould.
well done on your attempt to drape form the plastic. Spot heating it like that expands the surface more than the underside, till the heat 'soaks' through and it fully relaxes, but areas you already heated are cooling, so you get uneven heat, uneven relaxing. In this case it seems to meet the needs.
If you need a more accurate form next time, you need to 'oven' the plastic to get uniform heat soaked into it so it drapes all at once. You could tent your setup and heat the barrel slowly from the underside with the heat gun, and between 300°F and 350°F you will see the plastic relax itself over the barrel half.
Great work. You should look into "binder clips" from office supplies to be used for clamps (and for material for springs). Really think that your plastic will make a great turbine.
The project is to make a speed bump to slow down the bamboo quad bikes.
Lol!! I Know you are right about that, and thank you so much for the giggle!!
I hope you are having a great weekend!!
Andrea, Jasper and George the Pigeon. XxX
Well done 👍
Thanks for the video. Should go without saying, but for anyone else using a heat gun on plastic, it's best to be in a well ventilated area(like in this video) or wear a mask.
Hdpe as a very low melt point ,it will bend even in hot water, so no fumes.
HDPE warps for fun, sometimes it just will not go where you put it and stay there. The best results come through using +ve and -ve moulds and plenty of pressure. LDPE sheeting makes a superb glue or joint sealer on HDPE too.
I'm surprised the plastic did not shrink as it cooled and hug the barrel half perfectly. Have you ever tried the vacuum forming?
You have just answered a question I've had in my mind. I wondered if you could form HDPE with heat. Now I know that you can I'm off to make some wind turbine blades. Thank you very much ! 👍
How do you think it's formed..
maybe placing a space heater under the barrel would help. Did you plastic weld the ends on? I was thinking maybe a small boat or roof for one of the electric cars
Thanks for the video. How think was the hdpe sheet? I wonder if the way in which you heat it (edges first, middle first e.t.c) has much affect.
Hello Luke, I'm very curious to know how you melted the top and bottom on the HDPE?
Regards,
Mark
Have you looked into.the Precious Plastic project?
If you want spare some energy, using the heat gun, from the outside, insulation between hdpe and metal would help.
Nice technique.
Cheers.
Why don’t you use the other half of the oil drum to make a barbecue? Put it beneath the other drum over which you want to bend the plastic sheet. Make height of last drum adjustable to collect more or less heat. Would result in more even heat distribution and hopefully less stresses in the sheet.
Would it not have been easier and quicker to put a small heater, or light a small fire, inside the half barrel?
How did you put the top and the bottom on Luke?
should have just made some ink & painted a heater on there,feed it with one or two of the better turbines (trial run pretend off grid style) , to get a far better shape.
stick it all in a BIG bin bag ( or make one with an old tarp) & pull a mild vacuum with the vax to get a cleaner shape while heated for 2 minutes... remember it Will try to shrink like all blown plastic, coke bottles, plastic sliced chicken containers etc, so clamp it until it cools.
alternatively use hot water (dip it in a tub /hot power wash/steamer?) works far better for that size of plastic than air.
want (one off) weird simplistic shapes.. again make a reusable painted flexible heater to a given size,or just paint directly on the plastic, get/make a tarp or whatever bag, this time -make a kite- go down the beach fill the bag with some sand, make the -sand castle- required shape, lay the plastic & flexible heater on the inside of the bag shape ,heat & pull a vacuum (reversed/box bellows?) until it takes the shape....
What type of plastic did you use?? DVD:)
Rather than using bungees, could you not just clamp the bottom edges with something flat (aluminium strips or something) and then heat it from the back of the mould to give a more even finish?
That would remove the need to drill holes as well.
I was thinking, screw down flat wood slats. Then heat it any way you want.
@@edwardcdg That was my initial thought too, but clamping removes the need to make holes in it at all. With aluminium you could also bend it to conform to the shape of the mould and still keep it very light.
and then another thought hit me.. lol..
Why not just put a small rod on the edges that stands off enough to accept the plastic, and just slot it in...
Easier and very repeatable with no extra parts to lose.
Roll it smaller, put it in hot water, not very hot 60 celcius leave it to cool. no warps
U guys are awesome
Get a poly drum and cut it in half...
Are you making a raft for the river?
Is ti going to be a plastic BBQ? ~ just asking?
Mold
Mould!
sorry.. it doesnt look awesome.. it looks awful. i love how the kid learns physics and stuff.. but just keep it real..
Your videos never seem to make much sense? You had a PVC half barrel, you put it over a similar metal barrel, and you melted it a bit??? Did I miss a load of steps here?