Cold Forming Plastic Sheet

Spectar supposedly looks and handles much like acrylic but with the surprising property that it can be cold formed without breaking or whitening and exhibits a memory effect holding a cold bend until reheated.

Cold forming plastic sheet.

Our tanks are formed from sheet stock typically 0 25 in. This is a type of vacuum forming where thin or thick gauge plastic sheet is placed over a die heated to a temperature that allows the material to become pliable then is stretched over the surface of the die while vacuum pressure pulls the sheet down and into its final shape. Uk educational supply center centre mindsets online sells variously sized 3mm thick sample sheets of eastman s spectar copolyester at not completely outlandish prices. Sheet too cold inadequate vacuum heat sheet for longer time period check vacuum system for leakage increase vacuum.

Modify the timing as necessary. Sheet too hot. For thicker sheets it will take longer and for thinner sheets it will take less time. Uneven heating check heaters screen hot areas.

Sheet too cold to form heat sheet for longer time period. Cold forming plexiglas sheet can be cold formed bent at room temperature in a smooth arc and held to a radius by forcing the material into a curved channel support. Thick thinned in the bent areas along the circumference and wrapped into a rectangle with radiused corners. This article uses a sheet about 1 4 thick so all times are about 10 to 15 minutes per step.

The recommended radius of curvature should be a value greater than 180 times the thickness of the sheet for plexiglas g sheet and 300 times the thickness for plexiglas mc sheet see table below.