Cold Forming Plastic Sheet

Thick thinned in the bent areas along the circumference and wrapped into a rectangle with radiused corners.

Cold forming plastic sheet.

The only major variable that can affect the forming process is the thickness of the plastic sheet. Uneven heating check heaters screen hot areas. I am forming plastic not metal but i am applying metal bending principles to my application after a few years of iteration we have developed an accurate flat pattern method for our tank bending operations. For thicker sheets it will take longer and for thinner sheets it will take less time.

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. Sheet too cold inadequate vacuum heat sheet for longer time period check vacuum system for leakage increase vacuum. This article uses a sheet about 1 4 thick so all times are about 10 to 15 minutes per step. Uk educational supply center centre mindsets online sells variously sized 3mm thick sample sheets of eastman s spectar copolyester at not completely outlandish prices.

Incomplete part formation detail. Sheet too cold to form heat sheet for longer time period. 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. Sheet too hot.

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.