Using mouldable plastic

[Roger HartParticipant @rogerhart88496]

Recently used some mouldable plastic – where you tip granules into hot water and get a mass of clear plastic. Useful stuff but I found hard to manage.

Are there any easier ways to use this than attempting to handle a hot, incredibly sticky mass. I did my job OK but found avoiding blowholes and water pockets a bit of a problem. Even getting the stuff off swmbo's saucepan and ladle was a problem.

[Roger HartParticipant @rogerhart88496]

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Search for Formcard. There was a post on here about it not long ago (thanks Fizzy),that's how I know about it.

David.

[Douglas JohnstonParticipant @douglasjohnston98463]

You don't need to use hot water, I have found a hair dryer works well but you have to contain the granules or they blow all over the place until they start to melt and stick together.

Doug

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Why not take this a step further and isolate the water and plastic from each other? boil a saucepan and place a glass bowl over it, let the steam heat the bowl and let your granules melt into that instead?

Buy a cheap pyrex dish from wilkos or wherever and keep it for the granules. 

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 23/08/2016 09:22:01

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

I think you are right track, Michael

… Re-inventing the traditional wood-workers' Glue Pot.

MichaelG.

[Roger HartParticipant @rogerhart88496]

Thanks for the replies all. I think I was heating up too much. Instructions said boiling water which is probably a bit too hot, as the stuff cools down it gets more tractable and less sticky. Other instructions say 60 degrees C which looks more sensible. I'll know next time….

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

You've got the answer! It works well at 60*C but if you go much hotter it actually melts and acts like hot melt glue. There is a lower temperature version available as well – in one of my jobs we used it to make personalised pencil grips and the like for disabled children. I've never used it for any precision jobs though.

George

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I always clean out and hang onto those microwave food dishes because they are fine up to boiling point and can be used for any guffy jobs which crop up

[Author]

Posts