Heat forming PVC sheet plastic
 

Kristkustoms and others have mentioned heating and forming 1/8" PVC sheet plastic on a couple prior threads. I have a couple questions:

1) Does this require an industrial strength heat gun or would a decent hair dryer do the trick?

2) Can you form compound curves (i.e. something like the swooping curve of a 32 Ford front fender or the corner of a pickup truck roof)?

Dewey

I plan to take a stab at this shortly for my headliner. I have 1/16" PVC sheet and an industrial heat gun. I only need to make single curvature bends. Will know in a couple weekends if it works or not.

-Greg

I plan on getting into this, too ... probably in the Spring.

Looking forward to your progress, guys!

Alan
54 Chevy Pickup

Where did you find the 1/16" sheet?

No way a hair dryer will work. I use my industrial heat gun on "HI" and heat up the plastic for a couple minutes for it to curve and form.

The plastic will form to a 3D shape, but to do it best you will need a mold and a way to uniformly heat the entire sheet of plastic (like an oven). I do some 3D forming of the plastic, like for humps and bumps to clear things like fuse boxes behind panels. I made some wood bucks that are carved to certain sizes and shapes. I heat the crap out of the plastic, so hot it is just starting to curl up (melting), then push and form the plastic around the wood buck. It takes ALOT of practice. You also need some welding gloves. The plastic get so hot, I use welding gloves when forming it.

The way the factory does it -- roll the sheet through an oven and into a light progressive stamping press. What you are doing is a good home alternative. Wouldn't try it without a buck or mold.

Thanks for the responses. That gives me a good base to start experimenting.

McMaster-Carr (www.mcmaster.com)

KristKustom - my heat gun will melt vinyl and remove paint (adjusts rom 130 to1000 deg F), so I'm expecting it will get hot enough to form the vinyl. I was thinking of puting some of the temp indicator strips on while I heat it if I can find what temp range I would need.

-Greg

Any place that sales sing supplies should sell the PVC board in alot of sizes.


http://www.grimco.com/0012c/html/location.html

Umm ... what am "sing supplies," precious?
:confused:

Alan
54 Chevy Pickup

S I G N :smash:

I know I can't spell read or write! That's whys I works with my hands!! :nono:

HA!
:thumbup:

Thanks, man. I'm on the same page now.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Alan
54 Chevy Pickup

another good tool is this plexiglass/plastic bender for forming plexiglass/abs etc...
http://www.abbeon.com/tools/bendt.html

i don't have the time right now to search.. but i'm sure it can be made out of if i remember correctly drier heat coils... search the net and you can save yourself some money by building one of these instead of buying it.. selectproducts.com sells one for about $250ish i think (in the plexiglass accessories section) i think you could build one for under $50.

Forming PVC
 

Use a heat gun. Maybe on thinner sizes like .030" or .060" it might work but on thicker sizes use a heat gun. I buy acrylic a lot from http://www.iplasticsupply.com/materi...ite-sheet-rod/ I use a heat gun and it works perfect.

Not for nuthin' . but this thread is SEVEN YEARS OLD. :welcome:
Any way I found the heatb gun way to slow. More like u need an oven.