Forming Styrene??

[limoman39]

I used to build model cars and trucks as a kid, got back into it in my early 20's. Now at age 50 I decided to get serious.

Have several model projects I am working on these days and am like a kid in a candy store with all of the items available to

detail the new creations I have come up with.

My question:

What have others found to be the best method of shaping plastistruct/evergreen?

I am in the process of building my own roll cage for my 06 Mustang and although this stuff is fairly easy to shape, but it does not stay...

I have tried shaping it then holding it under hot water from the fawcet, tried heating it under the light-bulb of my table lamp.

What works??

I did buy some alum tubing which shaped up nicely but I am not very proficient at soldering so I threw that out the window.

Can anyone help me here??

Thank you

Edited October 28, 2009 by limoman39

[diymirage]

my two most used methods are fire (if im in a hurry and just wingin it)

and a pot of very hot water

just submerge the part for a few minutes and then it should be bendable

[limoman39]

Thanks diy,

Thought about putting my elec. coffeepot in the room where I do my builds.

Only use it for when company comes anyway...

Maybe just leave the coffee out and use it to heat the water.

Ureka!!! a new tool for the model bench.

Thanks again buddy

[B_rad88]

hey limoman, i have one of these, its a bernzomatic micro torch! i unscrew the solder tip, and it becames a heatcoil! and it works really well!

[Abell82]

A tip I learned is to use incense sticks, to bend styrene. It's cheap, easy to find, and readily available. They provide a much lower heat then flames, which can help control your bends. They tend to give me a headache though, so i have to use them outside.

Edited October 28, 2009 by Abell82

[Peter Lombardo]

For making roll gauges, I found that my local hobby shop sells thin metal rods that are coated in styrene. I don't know who makes them, but they are in the rack with the plain styrene rods. They have them in two sizes which is perfect one for the outer bars and one smaller for support units. I bend them with my small pliers to fit the application. They hold their shape and stay together with super glue and/or epoxy. The aluminum tubing can be used and works best if you insert a thin brass rod in the aluminum tube to help keeping it from losing its shape at the point of the bend.

just added to the post....I remembered that some months ago I began a gaser dragster where I built the chassis from scratch. You can see in these quick photos how the two sizes of plastic tubes work together. This is all bent with pliers and glued together. Sorry the pictures are not better, but it was a quick shot. I also shot the two size tubes so you can see them raw.

I hope this helps.

Edited October 28, 2009 by Peter Lombardo

[randx0]

you can also try sliding a small wire, I have found that welding wire is a nice size ,inside plastic tubing to help keep the shape .if you are just using plastic you should be using rod (solid)instead of tubing as it doesn't squish when bent.also if you do decide to use heat ala open flame be careful as a lot of the materials and glues can catch fire easily .I know it is common sense but it bears repeating .another option for roll cages would be solder of appropriate size or craft wire from michaels .you can always use epoxy to get stuff to stick together.

Edited October 28, 2009 by randx0

[B_rad88]

and i don't use the open flame, i use the "heat coil" type thingy, it only puts out heat and not flames, thats the main reason why i got it! so i didn't catch anything on fire, or serverly melt stuff. LOL!

[Nick Winter]

I use a lighter works perfect for me, oh and 1 peice of advice if I may, when doing a roll bar try to get rod rather than tubing, rod bends 1000000% easier than tubing especially when it's a very small diameter.

Nick

[old-hermit]

I use a portable hair dryer and bend the plastic rod around a piece of pipe or socket.

[Sixties Sam]

I've used a heat gun held about 8 to 10 inches away from the plastic. You gotta be careful, or the plastic will just shrivel up! Guess how I found that out?

[limoman39]

Thanks for all the tips..

I did buy the tubing instead of the rod.

But I like the idea of inserting a metal rod inside of the tubing.

And especially the tubing that Peter was talking about the metal rod wrapped in styrene.

Bet that stuff is expensive though.

Can't wait to get to it. Maybe this weekend I can try a few of your ideas.

[Lownslow]

I've used a heat gun held about 8 to 10 inches away from the plastic. You gotta be careful, or the plastic will just shrivel up! Guess how I found that out?

x2 best way to do it

[coopdad]

Thanks for all the tips..

I did buy the tubing instead of the rod.

But I like the idea of inserting a metal rod inside of the tubing.

Limo, I have used both solid rod with heat and tubing with "rod" and prefer the latter. I always seem to overdo the heating and ruin it.

For the tubing I use heavy floral wire, very cheap and I just happened to have some in the garage. I like the fact that the wire holds the tube in the shape without the risk during heating. Another great thing about tube/wire is if you get a bend in the wrong location, you can just rebend it in the right spot.

John

[Smart-Resins]

Just a quick note on your latter comment. I have never heard of anyone having sucess at soldering aluminum. Aluminum is a different beast. Buy brass to solder. My trick has always been to buy tube brass. One the size you need and one the next size smaller. This way, on the joints, I can try to get some od the inner tube to go into the joint onto the other side so when its soldered, it holds much stronger. Also, although I do very little of that at this point, so I have not bought one, a Weller soldering station is supposed to be best so you can control the heat that you use. Silver solder like that of the jewlers has worked best for me! Use some small clamps for heat sinks or submerge the part into sand up to your joint you are working on. As for the plastic, I think everyone has answered that just as good as I could if not better. Have fun and build! Jody

[Art Anderson]

Just a quick note on your latter comment. I have never heard of anyone having sucess at soldering aluminum. Aluminum is a different beast. Buy brass to solder. My trick has always been to buy tube brass. One the size you need and one the next size smaller. This way, on the joints, I can try to get some od the inner tube to go into the joint onto the other side so when its soldered, it holds much stronger. Also, although I do very little of that at this point, so I have not bought one, a Weller soldering station is supposed to be best so you can control the heat that you use. Silver solder like that of the jewlers has worked best for me! Use some small clamps for heat sinks or submerge the part into sand up to your joint you are working on. As for the plastic, I think everyone has answered that just as good as I could if not better. Have fun and build! Jody

I concur! Aluminum is very difficult to solder, even with "aluminum solder", due to aluminum's melting point being so close to that of solder of any sort.

Brass, on the other hand, solderes readily, but sufficient heat is the answer here, you have to have the metal hot enough for the solder to melt and "flow" on it. Also, I tend to shy away from rosin or acid core solders, as rosin tends to burn when using a torch, and acid fluxes like to keep on eating even after the soldering job is done, and can really interfere with a nice paint job. My favorite soldering flux is "Tix Flux" which I get locally in a large specialty electronics store, and it works equally well with either soldering iron or my miniature torch. Also, silver solder is much, much stronger than ordinary lead-tin solders, so I use that for major joints, and find I can add detail parts with 60-40 lead/tin solder without threatening a nearby silver solder joint as silver has a higher melting point than the more common solders. But, in any event, heat sinks (mine are aluminum, look for all the world like miniature spring clothespins in aluminum.

As for the brass stock, if it's to be bent to shape, solid K&S brass rod works far better than tubing, as it doesn't collapse or try to kink when being bent (tubing benders only go down so small). To make the stuff easier to bend, I simply anneal the rod stock in the area to be bent, by heating to dull red heat with my torch, which makes the brass very soft and bendable.

Hope this helps!

Art

[Brendan]

I've had good success bending plastic rod by placing it into a metal container of hot sand. But not so hot as to melt it. Once you start bending, it will cool down. Then you stick the rod back in the sand, repeating the process till it's the way you want.

This also works well with metals. Of course, you heat the sand more. I heat the sand in a metal container in an oven. It keeps the heat for quite a long time so be careful. It's easy to burn yourself which I have done several times.

[Wayne Buck]

For making roll gauges, I found that my local hobby shop sells thin metal rods that are coated in styrene. I don't know who makes them, but they are in the rack with the plain styrene rods. They have them in two sizes which is perfect one for the outer bars and one smaller for support units. I bend them with my small pliers to fit the application. They hold their shape and stay together with super glue and/or epoxy. The aluminum tubing can be used and works best if you insert a thin brass rod in the aluminum tube to help keeping it from losing its shape at the point of the bend.

just added to the post....I remembered that some months ago I began a gaser dragster where I built the chassis from scratch. You can see in these quick photos how the two sizes of plastic tubes work together. This is all bent with pliers and glued together. Sorry the pictures are not better, but it was a quick shot. I also shot the two size tubes so you can see them raw.

I hope this helps.

^^^ What he said.

In my LHS, there are a few different sizes of plastic coated metal rod in with the plastruct styrene stuff. I primarily use the 1/16" for roll cages.

I think its called butyrate...

I made this with the smaller rod the other day....

Edited October 29, 2009 by NJ-Wayne

[James Flowers]

^^^ What he said.

In my LHS, there are a few different sizes of plastic coated metal rod in with the plastruct styrene stuff. I primarily use the 1/16" for roll cages.

I think its called butyrate...

I made this with the smaller rod the other day....

That is cool. Did you use Hot Wheels car tires? You should show how you did this under Work in progress thread. What do you plan for a drive train?

Edited October 31, 2009 by mustanglover1951

[Wayne Buck]

That is cool. Did you use Hot Wheels car tires? You should show how you did this under Work in progress thread. What do you plan for a drive train?

Thanks. The wheels are off of a little HO scale tyco Indy Car.

Not sure what to do for a motor yet, but thinking about trying to scratch build a 5hp Briggs or tecumseh.

I just threw it together real quick to put in a diorama I've been working on.

Gotta have an old go kart sitting in the corner of the shop!

By the way, not trying to hijack the thread at all, just wanted to show the nice easy bends you can make with this tubing.

Here's a better picture of the frame

sitting with a couple WIP's

[limoman39]

Thanks for all the tips.

bought some wire to go into the plastic rod.

this worked out great.

Have not tried soldering the brass rod yet.

I think I made my 1/25 cage with 3/32 rod, am now thinking I should have gone smaller.

Live and learn.... Thanks again everyone