homemade plexi strip heater

[SXRguyinMA]

alright I need to bend some plexi for Rockin Case and I've seen all the plexi strip heaters, etc. Now, I can get my hands on some cheap snowmobile handwarmer elements of various sizes for a good price, and I'm thinking of using those to heat the plexi, then forming it in the wooden mold I'm going to make. I'm working now on findng out the temps these things get to, they have a lo and hi setting as well. heres an example of one I can get:

http://www.denniskirk.com/denniskirk/b2c/product_images/3/9/1/600pix/391958.jpg

the other is similar in construction, but about 1/2" wide by about 12-13" long. They've got sticky tape on their backsides, as they're designed to stick to steel handlebars.

I could stick them to a thin vynil sheet, like a transparency sheet for inkjet printers or something, and witer them up in parallel to a spare car battery. Anyone think this could work? :think:

[rendermandan]

honestly, I doubt they will get hot enough to melt the pexi. I don't know for sure.

[SXRguyinMA]

they get hot enough to physically burn your hands if you dont have gloves on :?

[ShadowNyfe]

definitely interested in this experiment of yours :O I need to bend some plexi too and I have no idea where I can get someone to do it for me haha

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Well, if they'll burn (actually burn) your hands, they should at least soften the plexi. Certainly worth looking into.

[Eclecticos]

You will need a heatgun that is atleast 1000watts to bend plexi.

[SXRguyinMA]

any idea of the temp plexi needs to be to soften? I'm going to fire up a sled here at work and turn the heaters on high then check the temps

[FrooP]

youll need a 1000 watt heatgun to bend plexi, those heatpads run at 12V, that would draw about 83 amperes, you would need a cable that is as thick as your leg is.. this wont work for sure

[Spawn-Inc]

youll need a 1000 watt heatgun to bend plexi, those heatpads run at 12V, that would draw about 83 amperes, you would need a cable that is as thick as your leg is.. this wont work for sure

car audio (4 gauge) would work just fine :)

[OvRiDe]

You know if you just use the 4 gauge wire hooked directly to 3 car batteries, you could probably just use that to heat and bend the plexi. :D

[BuzzKillington]

craigslist for a free oven maybe?

[xmastree]

youll need a 1000 watt heatgun to bend plexi, those heatpads run at 12V, that would draw about 83 amperes, you would need a cable that is as thick as your leg is.. this wont work for sure

Nah, a 1kW heatgun heats a lot of air as well as the plexi. If those elements were placed on the plexi, and the whole thing was insulated well enough, you could achieve the right temperatures providing there's no thermostat to limit it.

[Collinstheclown]

You can salvage a toaster. They use special wires capable of reaching 1000+ degrees in seconds. I watched a show called "Deconstructed" on Science channel last night and they took apart a toaster. They said that this wire heats up almost enough to smelt aluminum.

Open one up, pull the wire out and make an enclosure. Toasters have all the needed things too. Like a timer, or temp. controller.




-CollinstheClown

[nevermind1534]

I have one that I might be able to send you lol

[BuzzKillington]

Somehow you'd need to make an enclosure with the toaster though and that'd only be good for tiny pieces of plexie.

[SXRguyinMA]

Unless you used 2 or 3 toasters :devious:

[Collinstheclown]

Actually, the wire in the toaster is quite long. Dunno exactly, but it's one wire zigzag'd tto cover the whole toasting area.

Plus, you could get a double wide toaster which should all be one wire. Each toasting slot should have 2 wires, so with some extension wires and what not you could made a pretty long one.

Actually this all sounds like a good idea to me. If I had the time, and need for one I would definitely do it myself.




-CollinstheClown

[FrooP]

wow lol, mod a toaster to bend plexi.. thats
http://media.ebaumsworld.com/picture/snacktrain24/Brilliant.png

ive gotta get a toaster or five :>

[SXRguyinMA]

lol